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Revamping UCL's Web Structure: A New Era in Design and Standards

In December 2002, UCL commenced a significant revamping of its web structure, directed by Professor Roland Rosner. The initiative aimed to enhance the mapping and organization of UCL domains, focusing on user-friendly design, web standards, and streamlined content management. Key project members included representatives from various departments, ensuring a comprehensive approach to the redesign. The project emphasized the adoption of XHTML and CSS for improved accessibility and device independence. This document outlines the committee's goals, decisions, and upcoming timelines for implementation.

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Revamping UCL's Web Structure: A New Era in Design and Standards

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  1. WEBFORUM 11 December 2002

  2. Revamping UCL’s Web Structure Professor Roland Rosner Director of EISD

  3. Information Strategy organisation Information Strategy Committee Steering Groups Academic Systems Administrative Systems Infrastructure Web & Intranet Software & Standards Working Group on Web Structure

  4. Working Party on Web Structure- terms of reference • To further the Web and Intranet Steering Group's exploration of the structure of UCL domains and graphical mapping thereof • To consider the revision of the structure of UCL domains • To submit a final report and recommendations to the meeting of the Web and Intranet Steering Group in early Spring 2002

  5. Membership • Professor Roland Rosner (EISD) • Jeremy Speller (Registry) • Anthony Peacock (CHIME) • Marco Federighi (Engineering Sciences) • Professor Susan Hockey (SLAIS) • Nicholas Tyndale (Development Office) • Rachel Port (Secretary)

  6. Mode of operation • Short monthly meetings - from Dec 2001 • Early decisions • restructuring of top levels • target audiences • information about… • content management • pilots • Subgroups • design • content management • Budgetary constraints

  7. Conclusions • Design • New look and structure • Open source software for CMS • Zope • Provision of CMS server • IS - Web Unit responsibilities • Pilots • Registry, Bartlett, Engineering Sciences • XML group • preparation for portals and MLE! • Launch!

  8. WEBFORUM 11 December 2002

  9. UCLONLINE Introduction to the new look and the new structure • Why now? • WPWS Report • What does it mean for Departments/Divisions? • Timetable • Examples

  10. UCLONLINE Introduction to the new look and the new structure • Why now? • Ingram Initiative • Legislation • WPWS Report • Need to address target audiences • Need for consistent style and menuing • Visual & Production Design Project Group • What does it mean for Departments/Divisions? • Central Divisions / Faculties will be strongly encouraged to work with us to adopt the new framework • Departments will be encouraged and helped if they wish to adopt the new framework • Guidelines / templates / support will be provided AFTER the central site has settled down

  11. UCLONLINE Introduction to the new look and the new structure • Timetable • Merger delay • Existing examples • www.ucl.ac.uk/Registry • www.ucl.ac.uk/proposedmerger • www.chime.ucl.ac.uk • www.ucl.ac.uk/WebForum • Development site - wu4.reg.ucl.ac.uk/build2 • Launch • Examples

  12. WEBFORUM 11 December 2002

  13. UCLONLINE Web Standards Neil Martin Web Support Officer (Production Design)

  14. UCLONLINE Summary • Nature of web standards • XHTML and CSS • Web Accessibility • Context of new design

  15. UCLONLINE What are Web Standards? • Web technologies developed by the W3C • E.g. XHTML, CSS, XML, DOM • Separation of Style and Content

  16. UCLONLINE Advantages of web standards? • Inclusive design • Device independence & repurposing content • Better control over style - layout, colours • Reduction of costs/time consumption • Long-term viability of content • New versions of browsers are implementing web standards • It’s the future - XML, etc

  17. UCLONLINE Standards Used In the New Design • XHTML • Cascading Style Sheets (CSS1,CSS2) • Web Accessibility Standard (WCAG)

  18. UCLONLINE XHTML • Latest version XHTML 1.1 • Highly structured - headers, paragraphs, lists, etc • Ensure that all tags are closed (well formed) and properly nested • HTML as an application of XML

  19. UCLONLINE XHTML • Latest version XHTML 1.1 • Highly structured - headers, paragraphs, lists, etc • Ensure that all tags are closed and properly nested. • HTML as an application of XML <p>content</p> NOT <p>content <p><em>content</em></p> NOT <em><p>content</em></p> 3.<br> becomes <br />

  20. UCLONLINE CSS • Presentation of HTML content • Control of fonts, colour, positioning and layout • Style sheets for different media and output devices • Can make global changes to style of a web site thus dramatically reducing workload • Users may override your style sheet with their own

  21. UCLONLINE Web Accessibility • Legal Obligations - DDA,SENDA • W3C, WAI, WCAG • Levels of conformance to guidelines • Ongoing project to improve practice within UCL • See www.w3c.org/wai

  22. UCLONLINE Validation Tools • Dreamweaver MX • W3C Markup Validation Service http://validator.w3.org • W3C CSS Validator • http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ • Bobby (Bobby Worldwide) • http://bobby.watchfire.com/

  23. UCLONLINE Does the new design validate to all the standards? • Not quite • Designing for Netscape 4.0 - poor support for CSS in certain areas • Limitations of using Dreamweaver (and advantages of a Content Management System) • Production of guidelines and support from Web Unit (dissemination of good practice)

  24. UCLONLINE Useful Links • www.webstandards.org • www.alistapart.com/ • www.w3.org/wai • www.techdis.ac.uk • www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,55675,00.html

  25. WEBFORUM 11 December 2002

  26. UCLCMS Introduction to Content Management at UCL • Information strategy requires efficient access to accurate and timely information • The web is a common, readily available access mechanism • Current web development methods require a large amount of dedicated effort • A content management system can provide a flexible development framework that enables information integration, dynamic web views and delegation of responsibility for content Anthony Peacock 11 December 2002

  27. UCLCMS Introduction to Content Management at UCL The process • Content Management Systems Working Group (CMSWG) • Three pilot projects • Bartlett • Engineering • Registry • Attendance at international conferences • Consulted with experts Anthony Peacock 11 December 2002

  28. UCLCMS Introduction to Content Management at UCL The outcome • Zope • UCL supported server • Test server being installed now • Development and production servers being specified and ordered • Use of server for UCL ‘core’ pages • Development of service for other users Anthony Peacock 11 December 2002

  29. WEBFORUM 11 December 2002

  30. UCLCMS Engineering Sciences CMS: talk outline • Background and boundaries • Content • Management • Site design • Why Zope/Plone? • Functionality • What’s missing • Conclusions

  31. UCLCMS Background and Boundaries • 1997: online registration (EE) • 1998: online exam results (EE) • 2000 - 2001: paperless office (ENG) • 2001 - 2002: admissions (UCL) • early 2002: UCL website CMS • 2002 - 2003: student records (UCL)

  32. UCLCMS Content • Student records • Course records • Dept information (teaching, research) • Projects • Admin (committees……) • Audit trail, statistics • Events

  33. UCLCMS Management • Departments • Faculty • Central College • Committees • External agencies (QAA, ….)

  34. UCLCMS Site design • Departments • programmes and modules • research • Faculty • committees • projects • news • events

  35. UCLCMS Why Zope/Plone? • remote authoring via browser • workflow and version control • open source, platform independent • Zope: transactional object database • Plone: useful tools (form handling, searching….) • tailored for large organisations

  36. UCLCMS Functionality • Structured documents • Discussions: BB and comments • News • Events • deadlines • room bookings • Topics

  37. UCLCMS What’s missing? • Structured documents • Workflow • Audit trail (versions) • Reports

  38. WEBFORUM 11 December 2002

  39. UCLONLINE &UCLCMS Bringing it all together • Separation of content and design • Multi-purposing of content • Re-usability of content • Distributed authoring and workflow • UCL ONLINE and Zope • Flexibility • Zope and Dreamweaver • Content provider interface • When?

  40. WEBFORUM 11 December 2002

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