Web Task Force (WTF)
4/9/2002 Meeting Notes
(These are not comprehensive notes.)
Schedule Future WTF Meetings
WTF meetings are now scheduled through the end of May. We may also continue our bi-monthly meetings through the summer.
- Tuesday, May 7, 2002
- Tuesday, May 21, 2002
Same time, same bat channel, er, place.
Discuss the Website Portal Page Organization Plan
There was some confusion about the multiple worksheets in the Excel file so Cheryl did not collect any commented-on printouts of the organization plan.
The due date for review and comments on the 26-page document has been extended to Friday 4/12/2002 [which Cheryl extended to Monday 4/15 in her 4/10/2002 email to WTF members explaining how to view and print the 13 worksheets in the Excel document]. THIS IS HOMEWORK FOR WTF MEMBERS.
Draft #1 of the Website Portal Page Organization Plan will be photocopied and distributed (by Shirley) with a cover memo to the members of the Instructional Services Deans group for their review and comments in preparation for Cheryl/Shirley's presentation at their Wednesday 4/17/2002 meeting.
Discuss "Class Schedule" Links Throughout the Web Site
The old "lookup" method of displaying the Class Schedule was replaced in the past two weeks or so with the "Search for Classes" WebAdvisor feature. This means that current class schedule information for Summer 2002 and Fall 2002 can be found only in WebAdvisor. However, "Class Schedule" links throughout the web site still point to the old "lookup" script located in the "/schedule/" directory.
Cheryl has asked Pat Lane in the IS Department to redirect all calls to files in the "/schedule/" directory to the WebAdvisor "Search for Classes" URL.
UPDATE: 4/10/2002 - Pat Lane has added the redirect on the server.
Discuss How to Get Information for Items that Currently Do Not Have Content
The last worksheet in the Website Portal Page Organization Plan Excel document lists items on the web site for which there are no links -- i.e., no information/no content.
What is the best way to go about getting this information?
Because we do not want "under construction" pages on the website, placeholder pages will not be created. In some cases, the item will be listed (but not linked to) to indicate that it does EXIST on campus. In other cases, the item will be deleted. Some of the deleted items will be "tracked" as good ideas for possible future implementation (for example, the "Tour" of the campus).
Discuss (1) Communicating to Deans re Content for Their Division and Department sites, (2) Getting a Count of which Divisions and Departments the Web Team will be Managing, and (3) Getting a Count of which Divisions and Departments Will Continue to Manage Their Own Site
Cheryl/Shirley will discuss these issues at the Instructional Services Dean's meeting on Wednesday 4/17. Shirley will help her prepare for this meeting. Ideas:
- Provide an outline listing the required information for a Division website. (Based on the Web Page Guidelines) (Cheryl)
- Provide an outline listing the required information for a Department website. (Based on the Web page Guidelines) (Cheryl)
- Prioritize the Divisions and Departments that will be converted to the standard template design and managed by the Web Team (Shirley/Cheryl).
- Plan in "catch up" days for information not received on time.
Business Services requires a meeting with Deanna Waltson to determine her plans for that web site and for her to begin to create content.
UPDATE after Shirley and Cheryl met 4/10/2002:
- The first 3 Divisions the Web Team will convert to the standard template design in Zope will be:
- Health Sciences - their accreditation is coming soon
- Social Sciences - no site currently exists
- Language Arts - no site currently exists
- All other Divisions will continue to maintain their own websites until the Web Team can meet with them. This means that Deans must designate one person for their Division site and one person for each Department site to maintain those web pages. These people will receive Zope training starting in August 2002.
- An tentative priority list for converting remaining Division web sites to the standard template design and then management by the Web Team (does not include their Departments) is:
- Deaf Center
- Fine & Performing Arts
- Workforce Development
- Math, Science & Engineering
- Business Services
- Learning Resources Center
- Athletics
- Business & Technology
- Cheryl cannot determine the complexity or ease of converting a site to the standard template design -- or the length of time required to do so -- until she has worked with the 3 Divisions listed above and has gained more experience with Zope. Therefore, a timeline addressing other Divisions and Departments cannot be created at this time.
- In the Wednesday 4/17/2002 Instructional Services Deans meeting, Shirley and Cheryl will provide the outlines listing requirements for Division and Department websites and notify the Deans of Health Sciences, Social Sciences, and Language Arts that content for their site needs to be created and ready for the Web Team to work on by X date (to be determined).
- We will also let the Deans group know that January 1, 2003, is the deadline for all websites not maintained by the Web Team to meet the guidelines in the Web Page Guidelines document. These include: Division sites, Department sites, Committee sites, Faculty sites, Staff sites, and Union sites, etc. The Web Development site will contain much of the information required to learn how to accomplish this.
- Shirley indicated that some of the part-time librarians may be available to do research into some nice-to-have information for the About Ohlone section of the site
Review and Select a Website Design to Recommend to TACO
Three variations of side navigation for Design 4 (see below; reviewed in the 3/26/2002 WTF meeting) were reviewed and discussed at length.
Design 4
[The actual contents of the bottom area has not been finalized. And, at this time, the events and news information may not be on the home page in phase 1.]
In addition, we reviewed two coded prototypes, one using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)-generated "buttons" and the other using an HTML <table> to create the "buttons" for the side navigation. After viewing the differences in the amount of code to generate the side navigation using CSS-generated buttons and HTML tables, the general consensus was that the code for the CSS-generated buttons was easier to maintain.
Final Website Design Selections
Home Page and Portal Pages
The final website design selected for the homepage and portal pages uses CSS-generated buttons for the side navigation menu (no images are used). This menu will be maintained in a single file that is "included" on the home page and each portal page. Either JavaScript or Zope's DTML script will be used to highlight the currently-displayed section.
The background of the CSS buttons will be teal with a thin gold bar across the top and bottom, and the text links will be white, centered, and without underlines. When the mouse rolls over a button, the buttons will change to gold with a thin teal bar across the top and bottom and the text link color will change to black.
(this is a Photoshop screen shot; the actual implementation of the side navigation may differ)
Netscape 4.x and Older Browsers
Older browsers, including Netscape 4.x (the commonly-used browser for the Ohlone campus -- for now, anyway), do not understand the code used to create the CSS-generated buttons in the side navigation of the home page and portal pages. Therefore, those browsers will see a solid teal background and left-aligned white, underlined text links. This is identical to the side navigation style that, as described below, will be used on all non-home page and non-portal pages.
(this is a Photoshop screen shot; the actual implementation of the side navigation may differ)
All Other Pages
The final website design selection for all other pages, including Division and Department sites adopting the standard template design and core pages that are not the home page or a portal page, will use a side navigation bar with a solid teal background and left-aligned white, underlined text links. These menus will use CSS to set font style, size and colors. The CSS "hover" command will be used to change the color of a text link when the mouse is positioned over the link (the color will probably be gold).
(this is a Photoshop screen shot; the actual implementation of the side navigation may differ)
Review Ohlone Logo Using the Official Font and the Closest Substitute Font
Fonts are licensed and required purchasing, unless a free substitute can be found. The font used for the word "OHLONE" in the official Ohlone College logo is called Fenice Bold. It is not a standard font. It can be purchased at MyFonts.com for $21.00 or at Adobe.com for $25.99.
Cheryl displayed an example of the logo using the Fenice Bold font and its closetst match, Times New Roman Bold. It was agreed that the official font (Fenice Bold) should be used.
Cheryl has been trying for several weeks to get this font installed on her computer by first contacting the IS Department which does not have the font in stock. Her department (Learning Resources Center) has run out of money for the semester, so last week at Shirley's suggestion she asked George Retamoza to purchase the font for her. George has been out of the office so Cheryl has not received a response to her request.
Lisa offered to purchase the font for Cheryl's computer. (Thank you, Lisa!)
Review Draft #3 of the Web Proposal
Minor corrections were made. The document will be modified and presented as a final recommendation by the WTF to the TACO committee on Friday 4/26/2002.
Lisa followed up on a Web Page Guidelines issue regarding the official logo on union web pages: She spoke with the President and he said that the logo should appear in the footer at least, optionally also in the top left corner of each page.
Very Brief Demo of Zope
Cheryl gave a very brief demo of Zope, reviewing that she had imported the entire Athletics website into Zope on the "learning" server and that it worked great!
Summary
The following documents will be presented to TACO on Friday 4/26/2002 for their approval so that they can then be presented to the Cabinet for their approval:
- Web Proposal
- Web Page Guidelines
- website design
Cheryl will attempt to get a working prototype of the home page and 1-2 portal pages created by the next WTF meeting on Tuesday 4/23/2002.
Emergency