I’d like to begin by introducing you to our department’s new web developer, Steven White. Steven, a Virginia Tech alum and New City Media veteran who joined us about six weeks ago, replaces Elaine Oliver, who has moved to Scotland but continues to work with us as a freelancer. Elaine has been working very closely with Steven to transition web development duties and develop the latest version of Virginia Tech’s Web templates.

The latest version (1.3) of the official templates is now available for download from University Relations’ Web Communications website. These templates are available to anyone at the university who produces an official college, department, or center website.

The biggest feature of the new Web templates is the ability to work in Dreamweaver's Design View mode. Prior to this release, users were required to make changes and edits in Source View mode.

This will be the last major template update for some time, as we are implementing a “design freeze” in order to migrate existing templates and style sheets to the university’s new Web Content Management System. That project is well underway; we’ll be moving http://www.vt.edu and a few subdomain websites to the CMS this fall. The design freeze will not prevent minor revisions to the templates to adjust for any bugs we encounter.

• To download the updated templates now, please go to the Template Downloads page at:
  http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/templates/downloads.php
• For more details, please refer to the Template Change Log at:
  http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/templates/change_log.php
• You can find the Overview page at:
  http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/templates/
• You can find the Instructions at:
  http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/templates/instructions.php

If you should have any questions or troubles using the new templates or updating your existing files, please don’t hesitate to call or e-mail either Steven () or Elaine (). Steven can be reached at 231-2522.

Greetings everyone.

Since updating the look of the VT Event Calendar earlier this year, I've been asked how other groups can get the same look for their calendars too. I've also gotten some questions about Survey.vt.edu.

So, without further ado, here's how to make your calendar and/or survey look like calendar.vt.edu:

Read More ››

The new web site covering the Branding initiative, the new Virginia Tech Identity Standards and Style Guide, and downloads of logos, etc. et al has been launched: http://www.branding.unirel.vt.edu/

This site updates the look of the previous Branding site, pulls in several sections from the University Relations site, and makes available the new and updated information from the newly-published Style Guide.

The downloads site, now including PowerPoint slides, newsletter templates, and brochure templates, is still protected and requires faculty/staff status and a valid PID to log in for access. http://www.branding.unirel.vt.edu/downloads/login.php

The Web Development Toolkit, with access to the variety of templates, is linked from the site but remains on the University Relations website: http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/

Hello everyone, 

Over the past week or so I've learned about two serious issues with the templates.

I am working on solutions, but in the mean time please read about these issues so you can minimize their affects on your website.

Many thanks to VT template users and my FDI class participants for pointing me in the right direction on this.

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Greetings everyone,

I was doing some research the other day and remembered this fun HTML slide show on layout tables and web standards.

Two caveats before you read:

1. This slide show was put together in 2003 when the web standards debate was really heating up, so they're really trying to make a point. If you're already familiar with this information, just file it away as something you can use to convince others if needed.
2. Though the slide show touts the benefits of accessibility, there's no text describing the background images (comic strips)!! Just goes to show that it's possible to create a page that is valid, but not necessarily accessible.

Enjoy!

Hello again,

Here are answers to a few more frequently asked questions about the templates:

How can I get help using and updating the templates?

If you need help with the templates, you can take advantage of the services offered by the New Media Center (free), or the Blacksburg Electronic Village (low cost).

New Media Center
1140 Torgerson Hall
(540) 231-4826
http://www.nmc.vt.edu/

BEV Web Support Services
http://www.websupport.bev.vt.edu/

Read More ››

Hello everyone,

I was looking at the VT web templates the other day (because I use them too), and realized that the copyright year in the footer was still set to 2006 (!). Needless to say, it should be 2007, or the current year. So, if you haven't done so already, now's the time to change that year from 2006 to 2007.

Read More ››

I've gotten some good questions about the template update today, so I'm writing up my answers here for everyone:

How often will template updates be released?

There is no set schedule for releasing template updates. I generally release updates to add new features, deal with changes in technology (such as IE 7),  or address a critical mass of smaller issues that have built up over time.

You can apply template updates on your own schedule, though it is a good idea to apply them as soon as you can.

Does a template update mean that I'll have to redo my entire site?

Not at all. It is possible to apply the template update to an existing site without recreating all the pages.

How do I apply a template update to an existing site in Dreamweaver?

I need to write up some documentation on this, but here's the quick and dirty version:

1. Make a back up of your site.
2. Download the latest version of the templates.
3. Replace all the stylesheets in the assets/css folder, all the images in the assets/img folder, and all the templates in the Templates folder.
4. Repeat Step 4 of the Instructions.
5. Perform a site wide template update.

You won't have to repeat Step 5 again because Dreamweaver will respect the individual settings for each page. 

Repeating Step 4 of the instructions is really tedious. Is there any way to make it easier?

If you have Dreamweaver or a good text editor, you can do a multiple file find and replace of all the placeholder text in the templates. I haven't tested this, but here's something you can try in Dreamweaver:

1. Go to Edit > Find and Replace.
2. In the Find and Replace dialogue box, go to Find in: Folder... and select the Templates folder.
3. In Find: put "Your Department" (without quotes).
4. In Replace: put the name of your department (without the "Department of" part).
5. Click the Replace All button.

If you have access to server-side technology, you can put all of your often repeated content (such as navigation) into include files. You'll still have to reinsert the include statements into the updated templates, but you won't have to redo the placeholders, and you might even be able to avoid Dreamweaver's template update process all together.

Abobe's website has a good article on when to use templates, library items and server side includes to manage your site.

Happy New everyone!

Version 1.12 of the Templates is now available.

This release looks forward the growing adoption of Internet Explorer 7, as well as the need for more navigation styling options. Several smaller issues from the last three months have also been addressed.

For more details, please refer to the Template Change Log at:
http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/templates/change_log.php

To download the updated templates now, please go to the Template Downloads page at:
http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/templates/downloads.php

The Template Overview and Instructions pages have also been updated with detailed code samples and information from the Web Symposium last November.

For the sake of simplicity, I removed references in the Instructions to topics such as site migration and server side includes. I'll do my best to write up these topics separately as time permits.

You can find the Overview page at:
http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/templates/

You can find the Instructions at:
http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/templates/instructions.php