June 8 , 2004
Members present: Jamie
Bethel, Charlie Kerlee, Jill Lenz, Erin Napier,
Mary Pridgen, Linda Tarnoff, Sallie Varner.
Guests Larry Cobb, JoEllen Linderer,
and Trudy Nicholls.
Sallie Varner, Chair, began the meeting at 9 am.
Old Business
Follow-up presentation on new web portal system by Larry Cobb, along
with a demo of the integrated “Channel Builder” tool.
Larry continued with the discussion started last
month. Larry reiterated that the
main advantage of the portal is that it consolidates electronic
CSU resources in one place for students, faculty and staff and allows pass-through
authentification for accessing other services. For example, once you are
logged into the portal, you can access WebCT without having to provide
your eID again, however, not all services will have pass-through authentification
including WebMail and the web version of Corporate Time.
Larry
showed what a typical faculty/staff profile looks like. There
are a series of tabs that lead to multiple channels. You can add
as many tabs as you want depending on your role at the university,
and there is no limit to the number of channels per tab. If you
have multiple roles within the university, for example, as a staff
person and student, you will have more tabs. There will be some
tabs and channels that are undeletable by default and others that
you can choose to delete or rearrange to one of the predetermined
available layouts. Larry mentioned that during this current phase
is the time to voice concerns on the number of tabs and channels,
especially if you feel it delivers too much information. Some channels
may open in new windows, which technically takes you out of the
portal. When this happens, you will prompted
after a determined amount of time to stay in or log out of the
portal for security reasons. Other options for opening Channels
include replacing the existing window when accessed or appearing
within the small channel itself.
"My Tab" is your
unique collection of CSU and outside links similar to Bookmarks or Favorites
in your browser, yet are available anywhere
in the world where you access the Internet which is good for traveling.
Access to all the ACNS email services like vacation notifications are
consolidated under the "My Account" icon. More icons in the top right
of the screen consolidate other functions such as the Outlook email and
calendar on the exchange server, the web version of Corporate Time, the
portal calendar and groups. Larry reviewed the Groups feature which may
be created as public, restricted or hidden and includes tools such as
public news, shared links, a message board, announcements, chat, photo
posting, file sharing, a group calendar and email.
The Channel Builder tool was demonstrated. There is one owner/author
per channel, with multiple channels that users can choose to add to "My
Tab". The interface was a series of drop down boxes to choose HTML elements
for different areas of the content in the channel. For example, a chunk
of text in the channel could be deleted,
moved, or edited where the author can designate it as
a certain HTML element, such as a level one header, list item, paragraph,
etc. Larry gave some examples of how departments in our college might
use the channel builder: department event lists, scholarships and awards
lists, quick links, and probably more uses will be thought of as the
project continues.
New Business
New Office of Development web site -- a major
cooperative effort by JoEllen Linderer,
Debby Morehead, and Paul Maffey from Development, Chris Weller from University
Relations, Larry Cobb, and Jill Lenz. JoEllen Linderer from the Office
of Development and Chris Weller from University Relations were invited
to attend the meeting to be introduced as we recognize their work
on this site.
Only JoEllen was available to attend.
The roles of each team
member, JoEllen's education in graphic design "lingo" and web design
training to maintain the page herself were discussed as we reviewed
the Development home page ,
the color-coordinated sub directories for Path of Honor
and the Miki Society
that all match the South Campus pages, also designed by Chris Weller,
at http://veterinarymedicine.colostate.edu/. JoEllen maintains all
the content for these pages with the exception of the South Campus
site, which is maintained by Chris Weller.
JoEllen explained the goals of the redesign: to acquire
the skills to maintain the majority of the site herself, to streamline
the information into easier-to-navigate sub sections, and to create
a cohesive look throughout the entire site that matches existing printed
materials. On a related
note, the Miki Society donation process has been modernized from filling
out a paper form manually to online giving, see https://advancing.colostate.edu/CVMBS/MIKI.
With direction from the Development staff, Chris Weller designed the
overall look for the Development home page at http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/development/,
Miki Society at http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/development/miki/ and
the Tribute Garden Path of Honor at http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/development/garden/ including
the top banner, left hand navigation, footer, dynamic HTML templates
and Cascading Style Sheets for each. The designs were made to match
existing printed pieces and the South Campus Expansion site already
designed by Chris Weller at
http://veterinarymedicine.colostate.edu/.
Larry Cobb from Network Services converted Chris Weller's pages from
server side includes, which we don't support on our college web server,
to Cold Fusion. JoEllen attended Jill's Web Design Basics
and Advanced workshops and sought one-on-one help from Jill until able
to maintain the pages herself.
JoEllen received many comments from the committee members on a job
well done.
The site is still a work-in-progress and future additions include converting
the Miki brochure from PDF to HTML and a searchable database of all
the bricks in the Tribute Garden Path of Honor section, coordinated
by Larry Cobb, with pictures of the individual bricks photographed
by Jenger Smith from the CATS Lab. This will allow users to virtually
find their brick location on the path and see it without physically
visiting the garden.
The meeting concluded at 10:00 am.
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 10, 9:00-10:00 am, W1 A/Z. Please note there will not be a July meeting.
Minutes submitted by Jill Lenz.
Return to Webmaster Committee Minutes page