Web Policies & Procedures

The goal of Web Services is to ensure accurate, timely, and consistent information that is published across the college’s information network (WooInfo). Web Services has developed the following policies and procedures to assist in creating an information system that is methodically consistent.

Defining Official/ Non-Official Pages

Official Web pages include The College of Wooster home page (http://www.wooster.edu/); academic department and program pages; office, administrative, and support unit pages; and news and information pages. Non-official pages include individual faculty and staff Web pages, student organization groups, and personal pages.

Commerce and Advertising on Official Web Pages

In accordance with the Scot's Key (Pp. 33-34) Web pages on the WooInfo system cannot be used for commercial advertising, financial gain (buying, selling; auctioning goods or services); or other forms of commerce. As a virtual representation of the campus, the College of Wooster Web pages, official or otherwise, may not feature commercial advertisements. Non-commercial advertising of a department or program event is, however, permitted on official and personal Web pages. If you are unsure whether your site is conforming to this policy, or have questions, please contact Web Services.

Understanding Copyright and Fair Use

In accordance with U.S. copyright law, material that carries a copyright may not be reproduced without express permission from the copyright owner. Permission, however, is not needed when utilization falls under what the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 deems fair use. Additional information about copyright is available through the U.S. Copyright Office online at http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright.

If a copyright complaint is filed with the College, the material in question will be removed from the College's Web site immediately–provided that the complainant sufficiently identifies the copyrighted material and asserts that use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. The college's copyright complaint process is online at http://www.wooster.edu/about/copyright.html.

Appropriate Content, Implementation, and Purpose

Official and unofficial pages must not violate state or federal law, or any college policy. Also, official and unofficial pages must not feature obscene, harassing, or discriminatory content or contain any other inappropriate information.

Examples of appropriate Web page content include up-to-date contact information (phone, fax, e-mail, mailing address); the latest department, office, or center news and events; original articles; commonly requested forms; and other resources. Official Web pages should convey professionalism and resemblance of the college's mission.

Advanced Web Technology Usage

The following Web technology guidelines have been established to address security concerns, continuity and purpose of the WooInfo system. It you have any concerns pertaining to the following guidelines please contact Web Services.

• CGI- (Perl and C++) Running these types of scripts on non-official pages is prohibited. Deployment of these scripts on official pages is under the discretion of UseIt. Any problems encountered on the Web server due to an official use deployment will be the responsibility of the department.

• PHP- PHP is available for official college pages only. Executing PHP on non-official pages is prohibited, and is unavailable on the personal pages server.

• ASP- ASP is currently unavailable on the college’s Web servers.

• Java- Applet execution is currently unavailable on the college’s Web servers.

Usability Guidelines

Web sites should be accessible, easy to use, and relevant. A clean, navigable site that features useful, up-to-date content will serve users whether they have low- or high-speed connections. To enhance usability, Web Services recommends using the following guidelines:

1. Fonts

• Text should be readable (sans serif fonts at size 2–that is, 12 pt.–are recommended for body text).
• Font color should be selected from the 216-color (browser-safe) palette.
• Font color should contrast page color for maximum visibility (black text on a white background is recommended).

2. Page color

• Select page color from the 216-color (browser-safe) palette.
• Background and text should contrast for maximum visibility.

3. Background images and other graphics

• Use the "alt" tag to describe images.
• Use non-interfering background images.
• Keep graphics as small as possible to reduce download time.
• Graphics should not exceed 50KB (optimally, graphics should be less than 25KB).
• Include "height=" and "width=" tags to reduce download time.
• PNG format is not suggested because of its tendency to be larger in size, which increases page loading time.

4. Subject Matter

• Post relevant and up-to-date content.
• Convey text in short and easily scannable paragraphs.
• Avoid long, text-heavy pages.
• Incorporate white space into pages.

5. Site architecture

• Name home pages "index.html" or "default.html" (Mac users must use the appropriate extension).
• Lowercase file names and directories (www.wooster.edu/screen/, not www.wooster.edu/SCREEN/).
• Using the "title" tag, give each page a descriptive title.
• Include a link back to The College of Wooster home page (http://www.wooster.edu) on every page.
• Optimize pages for viewing on as many screen resolutions as possible (640 x 480, 800 x 600, etc.).

6. Downloads and plug-ins

• Use file compression, when possible, for faster download.
• File size should accompany all downloadable files.
• Provide concise how-to information for plug-ins or extras needed to access items.

Testing Web Pages

It is suggested that web pages be tested in a variety of Web browsers including MS Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, and Safari. Currently, WooInfo official sites are tested at Internet Explorer version 5.0 or higher, and Netscape version 6.0 or higher. We cannot guarantee proper loading/ viewing on older browsers. Official pages should be viewable at all screen resolutions, on both the Mac and PC platforms, and through as many Web browsers as possible.

Outdated Content

Offering visitors up-to-date content is important for community relations, and for the communication of information about your Web subject. This is especially true concerning department pages, and student organization pages. Web Services, in association with UseIt, have established the "Outdated Content" policy to benefit the WooInfo system.

Student Organizations- Pages that have remained unchanged for six months will not be linked from any Official Tier page (i.e. Student Organizations) until the content is updated. The organization will be alerted if this procedure is enacted.

Official Pages- Most official pages are constantly being updated, and are frequently being observed for out-of-date content by Web Services. Therefore, there is no "Outdated Content" policy currently enacted on official pages. Web Services reserves the right to enforce a policy if needed.

Personal Pages- Web Services respects your right to control your own content; therefore we will not enforce any "Outdated Content" policy on personal pages. Please note: because personal pages are now dictated by your Novell username, UseIt policy states that your username expires six months after departing the college, consequently removing your personal page as well.

Web Publishing Standards

Web Services would rather not become a policing organization, but in times when a site is hindering the development of WooInfo or is infringing a particular policy, Web Services may intervene to assist the site in question.

Server Administration, Backups; Outages

The WooInfo Web server is backed up on a daily basis; currently there is no standard backup retrieval policy. The server is configured to shut down through a UPS if there is a power outage and will reboot when the power is restored. Any problems encountered with the Web server should be referred to the UseIt helpdesk. Server administration, backup and maintenance are overseen by UseIt.

College Relations' Role in the Campus Web

College Relations is responsible for the overall structure, design, and content of the wooster.edu presence, which is intended for use by prospective students, current students, donors, alumni, and the general community.