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Web Task Force (WTF)

4/10/2003 Meeting Notes

(These are not comprehensive notes.)

Review the 4/10/2003 Agenda

Members Present

Bob Bradshaw, Paula Cassano, Kevin Kirk, Cheryl Lambert, Mark Lieu, Shirley Peck, May Seet (12:00pm-@1:00pm), Rob Smedfjeld (12:00pm-1:00pm), Lisa Waits (12:45pm-2:00pm).

Review Chabot College's New Tableless Website Design

Cheryl demonstrated Chabot College's new tableless website design for the committee's information (http://www.chabotcollege.edu/ - select New Home Page link). She thought it interesting that Chabot had decided to design their new website using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) instead of tables for layout. This means that the site will look completely different in older browsers that do not support the "positioning" features of CSS (such as Netscape 4.7x). Cheryl is not suggesting, however, that Ohlone's design be switched to a tableless design until the default browser used on campus computers is no longer Netscape 4.7x.

Possible Addition of an International Students Resources Page (discussed at the March TACO meeting)

During the March 2003 TACO meeting, the possible addition of a resources page for International Students was mentioned. Cheryl did some basic research into information provided by other colleges/universities and sent those links to Ron Travenick (who is responsible for decided what information would be appropriate for the proposed International Students resources web page).

Instead of a separate resources page for International Students, the WTF would like to use a subcategory on the Students resources page. A subcategory could also be used for links targetted to Disabled Students.

Combine the Faculty and Staff Resources Pages (they're almost identical)

Cheryl suggested that the Faculty and Staff resources pages be combined since they are almost identical in content. The WTF agreed.

Change General Public to Visitors & Community (friendlier)

Cheryl suggested that the "General Public" resources page be changed to "Visitors & Community" as a friendlier and more welcoming term. Kathy Phelan emailed Cheryl and would like "Alumni & Visitors" instead. The WTF agreed to change the link's name to "Visitors" until a page of information for alumni is available on the website when the link could be changed to "Visitors & Alumni".

Refine Links on the Resources Pages

Cheryl will review the Resources pages to refine them.

Use PDF files or HTML files for Board Agendas/Minutes and other content originally created using Word, etc.

Cheryl asked whether the WTF wants to standardize on providing HTML or PDF files for Board Agendas/Minutes, Cabinet Notes, and other content typically provided in Word documents. Currently, Cabinet notes are published as PDF files which hold the format of the original Word file nicely, and Board Agendas/Minutes are converted to HTML. Because the original Word documents received by the Web Team do not use styles consistently, the formatting of the HTML documents is not consistent (inconsistent indentations and numbering which make them difficult for a sighted person to follow, never mind a person using an assistive technology).

Lisa commented that the original Word documents should be provided to us in the correct format (using styles correctly) so that converting the document to HTML is straight-forward. She also pointed out that an incorrectly formatted Word document converted to a PDF file probably makes an incorrectly formatted PDF file which is difficult for a assistive technologies to read properly.

Adobe Acrobat 6.0 is due to be released in mid-May 2003

Cheryl announced that Acrobat 6.0 is due to be released in mid-May 2003. Lisa wants Cheryl and Paula to get a copy of this software so that they can begin using it's accessibility features for PDF files provided by the College.

Anonymous Complaint from Website Visitor

Someone submitted a complaint about the website anonymously to the "webmaster" email address using the website's Comments and Questions Feedback form. The complaint starts out very strongly criticizing the website for being "the most awkward, clumsiest site to navigate". Upon further reading it becomes obvious that the target of the complaint is the online Class Schedule in Web Advisor. Cheryl forwarded the complaint to Ron Travenick in Admissions & Records. Since the complaint was sent anonymously, Cheryl was unable to respond to the site visitor seeking more specific information about his/her complaint.

Update re Server Updates and Name Changes Project

At this time, we still plan to update the development server's operating system and other software in early June. An announcement will be released when a specific date range has been schedule for that server's estimated 3-day scheduled downtime and the ½-day scheduled downtime for the main web server.

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