Template Website Guide & Consulting Process - University of Denver

UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Branded Template Website
Process Guide
2010

Template Website Guide & Consulting Process
A Guide
If you are a University of Denver department, organization or other affiliated group interested in bringing
your Web presence under the umbrella of the University of Denver brand, then this guide is for you.
This guide has three main objectives. The first is to outline and explain the process by which the University
Communications team will offer you guidance in creating your website within the DU-branded template.
This includes navigation structure, content, and image assets. The second objective is to provide you some
best practices regarding information architecture and content with examples of the page templates. The
third and final objective is provide you with the image assets necessary to create your site.
You will be responsible for creating your website, from navigation structure to content to building
the actual Web pages. Once you have completed and published your page, you will be responsible for
maintaining and updating your website.
Table of Contents
Process Flow Diagram ...........................................................................................................................................
Process and Handoffs ..........................................................................................................................................
Kick Off ........................................................................................................................................................
Information Architecture & Content .................................................................................................
Design and Development ....................................................................................................................
Training .......................................................................................................................................................
Review and Site Launch ........................................................................................................................
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Template Website Guide & Consulting Process
Process Workflow
KICK OFF
YOU contact UCOMM
with a request for a new
website.
Assets:
YOU should gather all
photos, graphics and
videos for the project.
Design:
YOU & UCOMM will
create graphic assets as
needed
Final Review:
UCOMM reviews the
site before notifying
UTS to publish it.
LIVE WEBSITE:
YOU continue to
manage and update
your website via the
CMS.
UCOMM explains site
creation process and
deliverables.
KICK OFF: Yammer is used throughout the process to keep everyone involved
up to date as far as the progress of the project. Yammer also provides a
convenient central source for sharing and keeping �les.
Content:
UCOMM will review your
content documents and
o�er suggestions.
IA (INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE) & CONTENT: Determines site organization
and navigation, which both inform and are in�uenced by content
requirements.
Development:
UCOMM will review
any requirements for
special site features.
Production Review:
YOU review the site
and let UCOMM know
it’s ready to go live.
UCOMM creates a
Yammer group for
YOU and the project.
IA & Content:
YOU write the page
content based on IA.
Design/Dev:
UCOMM relays any
special requirements
needed for training to
UTS.
DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT: Based on IA and content, you should know what
assets you need (images, online forms, buttons, URL redirects, videos, etc.)
and work with Design and Dev to implement.
Site Creation:
YOU create the pages,
navigation and content
and place assets via the
CMS.
TRAINING & LAUNCH: The CMS templates are �exible with multiple content
formats and a highly customizable right rail for banners, videos, brief info
bullets or other call outs.
Once the process is complete you can continue to develop, re�ne and
update content on your own.
IA:
YOU create the site map
for UCOMM review.
IA:
UCOMM reviews IA doc
and provides feedback.
Development:
UCOMM creates server
directories, permissions
and URL per the Site
Checklist.
Training:
YOU & UTS schedule
training to learn how to
create your website
within the CMS.
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Template Website Guide & Consulting Process
Process & Handoffs
Even for a small website, the creation and launch process requires the contributions of a number of people
in different areas at different times. Any breakdown of communication during the process slows the
whole procession of efforts required to launch the site. This document and the supporting documents
are intended to keep everyone on the same page throughout the process and give all contributors the
necessary lead time.
Where possible this document will indicate who’s responsible for each stage and who takes up the following
stage. The “stage handler” will indicate on Yammer when the stage is finished so everyone will know.
There are a number of additional supporting documents that will be
referenced here as they enter into the process. Their initial reference in this
guide will be marked with a document icon on the right side of the page.
Kick Off
Once you notify Loren Kielly (loren.kielly@du.edu) that you want a new
site, then things get under way. To facilitate conversation and keep
everyone up to date, we use Yammer. Loren or someone in University
Communications (UComm) will create a Yammer group for the project and
invite you to join.
In addition to sharing conversations, Yammer is also used to post and share
files throughout the process. As things progress, the Yammer group will
contain site maps, content documents, images, style guides and checklists.
The first document you’ll need is the Site Checklist. This checklist
will inform all the following steps and get everyone on the same page
regarding your website’s requirements. Please answer all the questions
and feel free to ask about anything you’re unsure about. Once you’ve
completed this step, post the Site Checklist to the Yammer group.
You’re ready to move on to the Information Architecture and Content
phase.
NEW
DOC
Kick Off Steps
1. You Contact Loren at
UComm regarding a new
website.
2. Loren creates a Yammer
group for the project.
3. Via Yammer, UComm
provides this guide
and the Site Checklist
document.
4. You fill out the Site
Checklist and post it to the
Yammer group.
NEW
DOC
Example Doc.pdf
Site Checklist.doc
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Template Website Guide & Consulting Process
IA & Content
Information architecture (IA) is the broad term for the organization and
navigation choices in your website. In tandem with well-constructed
content, it allows a visitor to your website to find information as quickly
and easily as possible, especially if they’ve never visited your website
before.
Accessible content depends on good information architecture. Intuitively
useful architecture depends on well-organized content. Typically, people
find it easier to create a site map first and then develop content based on
the architecture of the site map.
As this is a big task, we provide several additional documents to help you
out. The Site Map Example is a good model to follow when creating your
site map. Use whatever software works for you when creating the site map
diagram, but post it in a widely accessible format such as .ppt, .pdf, or .doc.
The Content Questionnaire will help you consider your full content
needs. Remember, content incorporates more than just text. The content
phase may involve collecting existing photography and video or setting up
shoots for new photos and video.
The Content Style Guide helps maintain a consistent formatting style and
language tone through all DU communications. Following the Content
Style Guide will accelerate the content review process.
The Content Template document gives you an easy model to consider all
the components of your Web page. Typical components include the main
body of content, page titles, metadata, keywords, banners and call outs for
the right rail area.
As you are compiling the content and organization of your website, it’s
helpful to keep in mind the Web page formats available within the DU
templates. Click on the images below to view the typical page formats in
your Web browser.
Template Page Types
One Column Three Column Two Column Left Two Column Right
IA & Content Steps
1. Look through the Site
Map Example, Content
Style Guide, and Content
Template documents.
2. Assess the information
that’s valuable to your
users, categorize it by
page, and organize it into
a site map.
3. Fill out a Content
Template for each page
based on your site map.
4. Post your site map and
content templates to
Yammer for review by
UComm.
5. UComm provides
feedback via Yammer.
6. You make changes as
necessary and repost.
Repeat steps 4 - 6 until
everyone is happy.
7. UComm notifies the
Yammer Group that the
IA & Content phase is
complete.
NEW
DOC Site Map
Example.doc
NEW
DOC Content
Questionnaire.
doc
NEW
DOC Content Style
Guide.doc
NEW
DOC Content
Template.doc
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Template Website Guide & Consulting Process
IA & Content (cont.)
In addition to viewing the templates, it’s helpful to see how some other groups have implemented their
websites using the templates.
Site Examples
• Marisco Institute
• Campus Safety
• Sustainability
Once you’ve completed your site map and content documents, post them to the Yammer group for review
by UComm. Kate Johnson (kate.johnson@du.edu) and Valerie Singleton (valerie.singleton@du.edu) focus
on providing feedback on content. Ross Mansfield (ross.mansfield@du.edu) focuses on providing feedback
on the site map. Suggestions, advice and edits will all be posted on the Yammer group. Use the feedback
to update your site map and content documents and post the latest versions back to Yammer. The feedback
and revision loop continues until everyone is satisfied. With the final versions of the site map and content
documents on Yammer, Kate, Valerie and Ross will indicate via Yammer that the project is ready to move to
the next phase.
Design & Development
This phase depends heavily on the information you provided in the Site
Checklist.
Identifying and creating the visual assets for your site is the first part of this
phase. After creating the content and site checklist, you should already
have an idea of the assets you want to use on your site. The Template-
ImageAssets-Preview.pdf document shows you the types and sizes of the
various images, banners, call outs and buttons used in the DU templates.
If you already have photos for your website, post them on Yammer with
their intended usage (large title banner, inline photo, right rail banner, etc.).
If you need to find additional photography, DU has a large collection of
photos available in various sizes on the DU Internal Flickr account.
If you are handy with Photoshop, Ross Mansfield can provide a Photoshop
template that will help you create the image assets to the proper
dimensions. If image editing isn’t your thing, Ross can work with you to
create the desired images. Either way, all final image assets are posted to
the Yammer group.
In order to place videos on your website, the video files need to be
Design & Dev Steps
1. Identify images and video
you want to use.
2. Find additional photos on
the DU Internal Flickr
account.
3. Post photos and intended
usage to the Yammer
group.
4. For videos, you will need
the Web address (URL) to
the video .flv file on the
DU media server.
5. Using the Template Image
Assets document, you
and UComm create your
image assets and post
them to Yammer.
NEW
DOC
Template-
ImageAssets-
Preview.pdf
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Template Website Guide & Consulting Process
Design & Dev (cont.)
converted to Flash flv files and added to the DU media server. You will
need the Web address (URL) to the video file on the media server in
order to add the video to your website. If the video was shot by a DU
videographer, chances are that the video already resides on the DU media
server in the proper format. If you’re unsure about the format or location of
your video, please contact your videographer or the Penrose Library media
group for help.
While you and Ross work out the images for your website, Matt
Eschenbaum will use the information in your Site Checklist to create the
server directories, users and permissions necessary for your upcoming
CMS training with UTS. At this stage Matt will also address any specific
functionality requests regarding URL redirects, forms, remotely managed
pages, etc. New code development for the DU templates is frozen, but
Matt may be able to point you toward existing functionality and widgets
that do what you need.
Once design and development are ready to go, Matt and Ross will inform
you and Mary Sue Brown via Yammer that you’re ready to move into
the training phase. Usually, training should not be scheduled until the
previous phases are complete.
Training
Training will introduce you to the CMS (Content Management System) that
is used to build and manage the DU website.
Work with Mary Sue in UTS to schedule your training session. She’ll look
over the requirements of your website and tailor the training session
accordingly. Depending on your situation, she can break the training into
two sessions for building and populating the website. You should plan on
sending at least two people to the training session for continuity purposes.
Once in training, you can create the pages and navigation for your site and
then add the appropriate content and imagery to each page. A typical
training session lasts two to three hours.
Upon completion of training, you’ll have the knowledge and access to the
CMS necessary to finish building out your website.
Design & Dev Steps
6. UComm creates
users, directories and
permissions in preparation
for training.
7. UComm informs UTS of
any special requirements
and redirects.
8. UComm and UTS confirm
everything is ready to go
via Yammer.
9. You and UTS schedule a
training session.
Training Steps
1. Schedule training with
Mary Sue in UTS.
2. Plan on sending at least
two people from your
group to training.
3. Complete training and
finish building your
website through the CMS.
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Template Website Guide & Consulting Process
Review & Launch
Initially, your website will live on a staging server. The staging server is
only visible within the DU network. This gives all involved an opportunity
to review the site in its finished form and make any tweaks necessary. Once
you and your group are satisfied with the staging site, you can ask UComm
for a quick review.
At this point, you should work with Matt Eschenbaum in UComm to
schedule the launch date for the new site. UTS will enable any redirects
and launch your site to the live server. At this stage, it’s also a good idea to
confirm that all content on a pre-existing website is accounted for as the
old site will go away.
Once the site is live, your access to the CMS will allow you to continually
update and manage the website as necessary. You can also schedule other
members of your group for a shorter CMS training course that focuses on
the maintenance of a website. Mary Sue is the contact for scheduling these
training sessions too.
Review & Launch Steps
1. Review your completed
site on the staging server
and make any necessary
changes.
2. Ask UComm to review
your site on the staging
server.
3. Schedule a date with
UComm and UTS to
launch your site to the live
server.
4. Continue to update and
maintain your website on
your own!
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