Webmaster Committee Meeting Minutes

August 12, 2003

Members Present: Marty Fettman, Charlie Kerlee, Jill Lenz, Erin Napier, Linda Tarnoff. Jill led the meeting in Sallie Varner's absence.

Old Business
1) Redesign Committee report presented by Jill Lenz for Mary Pridgen - Discussed three sample designs Sallie posted which incorporate most of the things talked about in the last Redesign committee meeting.

http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/index_4a.htm
This one is supposed to have the text links across the top on a gold bar (gold background to the cells) and while it works from Sallie's computer, it doesn't work from the server (because of style sheet programming? Jill supposes so, but didn't have a chance to revise). It also uses the green Insight logo.

http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/index_4b.htm
This one uses a graphic bar with the link areas mapped. It uses the white Insight logo.

http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/index_4c.htm
This one is the same as 4b but Sallie incorporated the more recent stories/pictures and centered the tables.

Overall, the members present liked design #1 best. They liked the links as a second row with the same appearance as the links in the top banner better than the gold buttons presented in designs #2 and #3 or a gold background (the visited gold links would disappear in the gold background). Recommended moving "Photo Gallery" to bottom of news area as a text link as it is not so important to deserve prime space at the top of the page. John Chandler also mentioned that the top banner should taper down with the shortest list of links on the bottom. Those present considered a centered page as shown in design #3 by testing a print of centered and left justified position to see if there was a difference, but there was not. They decided that a centered aligned page would be inconsistent with other College web pages that are currently left justified; but perhaps this is a design idea to consider if we ever move to Site Objects or do a major overhaul design. The generic Insight logo vs. a thumbnail version of the Insight cover was discussed. The majority preferred the generic logos better as the small cover is too small to decipher. Suggestion from Charlie Kerlee, "box the white"; suggestion from John Chandler, "add the word 'magazine' spread out at the bottom of the white"; and suggestion from Marty Fettman to try colors other than black for higher contrast on the green version. Jill worked on four new versions which are available towards the bottom of this page http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/intech/jill/2003redesign/.

2) Follow-up - Vethousing & Vetjobs websites have had header updated by programmer Trudy Nicholls, however, an extra text link was added to the header and broke the gold line through the CSU logo and under the college name. Suggestion to add this link elsewhere in the page instead of as a second line of links. Also, "CSU Directory" text link and URL should be replaced by "Search CSU" at http://search.colostate.edu/.

http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/vethousing/
http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/vetjobs/

Jill noted that Janine Gentile, one of the programmers, had come to her for help in preparing top navigation banners for several new applications. Jill taught her how to customize the banner in Photoshop/Image Ready. An example of one Janine produced without any text links is at https://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/PVMsis/

3) Follow-up -- Request for posting of "TSE in Animal Populations announcement" on CVMBS page. Placed under "Related Links:
http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/aphi/TSEMain.htm.
It was agreed that a link to the announcement along with the APHI logo be placed under "The Latest News" area through September 11th with the following suggestions sent to the requester: spell out OIE and TAFS on the main page and provide a better contrast between text and background - the grey links are hard to see on the dark blue-gray background.

Next meeting: Tuesday, September 9, 9:00-10:00 am, W1 A/Z. We will nominate and elect the chair and secretary for the next season. Those willing to fill those positions should contact Sallie Varner before the next meeting.

Submitted by Jill Lenz

Return to Webmaster Committee Minutes page