Information Technology

Web Design Standards and Policies

 

Design Standards for ALL Publicly Accessible* Web Pages for MSUM University Offices, Colleges, Departments, Programs, and Student Organizations.

 

Note: See Section Below for Standards for Faculty, Staff, and Instructional Web Pages

 

  1. The Publication and Graphic Standards Guide (http://www.mnstate.edu/publications/Publications_Standards.pdf) applies to all MSU Moorhead Web pages.  Those standards specify appropriate use of the university's logo and symbols.  The MSUM dragon is a licensed and copyrighted symbol.  It is the only emblem that should be used to represent the university dragon.  For example, the dragon must not be tilted.  It should not spin, explode or puff smoke.
     
  2. All MSU Moorhead Web pages will have a standard header at the top of each page. The common header will be designed by Information Technology.  The standard header will include:
    • A banner with MSUM, either in the form of an approved graphic design or written as four words.  This banner will return the user to the MSUM homepage.
    • Words indicating the college, department, program, organization, or office, such as Financial Aid, or College of Arts & Humanities.
    • A standard navigational tool bar.
       
  1. All MSU Moorhead Web pages will have a standard footer at the bottom of each page.  The common footer will be designed by the Information Technology.  The standard footer will include:
    • A link for assistance with accessibility questions or concerns.
    • The name and contact information (email address or phone number) of the person responsible for the website. The responsible party must be a permanent MSU Moorhead employee, not a student and it must be clearly stated that this is the contact person.  Example: Last updated on 05/15/06 by Web Team (webteam@mnstate.edu)
    • Date of last update.
    • A navigational aid or logo that will return the user back to the preceding level or levels.  For example, a faculty members course page should link back to the faculty members home page; a faculty members home page should link back to the departmental home page, and a departmental home page should link back to the MSUM home page.
    • The wording an equal opportunity educator and employer.
    • The wording a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.
       
  1. All MSU Moorhead Web pages must use standard university terminology in referring to departments, courses, and organizations. The MSU Moorhead Bulletin is a reliable terminology reference.
     
  2. The content of all MSU Moorhead Web pages must be current, accurate and understandable.
     
  3. Any reference to content that is already available on the MSU Moorhead website should provide a link rather than duplicating the material. For example,
            Admission information
            Department course descriptions
            Department degree requirements
            Other information provided in the MSUM Bulletin.
    All the above information is available on the MSUM website. Please contact Information Technology if you have difficulty locating this material.
     
  4. All links on Web pages should connect properly and should not produce an error message of any kind. Please correct links if there is no information for them or if they no longer work.  Make sure links dont start with file:// as these links often do not work correctly.  Please contact the Information Technology Department for more information or assistance.
     
  5. All university Web pages should comply with the MSU Moorhead Web Accessibility Guidelines (http://www.mnstate.edu/it/policy/adaweb/webaccessguidelines.shtml).

 

Design Standards for ALL Faculty, Staff, and Instructional Web pages.

 

  1. Design standard # 1 is mandatory for all faculty, staff and instructional Web pages.
     
  2. Design standard # 2 is optional for all faculty, staff, and instructional Web pages.
     
  3. Design standard # 3, the first four bullets are mandatory for all faculty, staff and instructional Web pages; the last two bullets are optional for all faculty, staff and instructional Web pages.
     
  4. Design standard # 4 is mandatory for all faculty, staff and instructional Web pages.
     
  5. Design standard # 5 is mandatory for all faculty, staff and instructional Web pages.
     
  6. Design standard # 6 is mandatory for all faculty, staff and instructional Web pages.
     
  7. Design standard # 7 is mandatory for all faculty, staff and instructional Web pages.
     
  8. Design standard # 8 is mandatory for all faculty, staff and instructional Web pages.

 

*Publicly accessible Web pages are those that are not password protected or those not available on an intranet.

 

Compliance/Review of Design Standards

Web authors will be notified when web pages are not in compliance with the standards.  An appeal process will be developed by the ad hoc committee listed below to deal with appeals and other issues.  Web authors with pages that have difficulty complying with these standards for whatever reason should appeal to the ad hoc committee.  After this appeal process is resolved, Web pages not in compliance with these standards may be edited or disabled, at the discretion of the Director of Information Technology and the Information Technology Web Team.

 

An ad hoc committee will be appointed by the President when deemed necessary by the Information Technology Director and the Information Technology Web Team to deal with compliance issues, accessibility issues and to serve as a board of appeals.

 

The University main home page design should be reevaluated every three years or more frequently as directed by the President.  The templates for a standard header, footer, and navigational toolbar as described above, should also be reevaluated at the same time.   A task force will be appointed by the President for the purpose of reevaluating and updating the main home page design and the coordinating templates.

 

When revisions to the Web Design Standards are deemed necessary by the Director of Information Technology and the Information Technology Web Team, they will consult with the President regarding appointment of a task force.

 

Assistance with Web Design

The Information Technology department will design standard headers and footers for use by MSUM colleges, departments, faculty, staff, organizations, and offices.  The Information Technology department is available to provide assistance in the development, design, or revision of Web pages.

 

 

Policies

 

  1. Quotas
    1. Departments and Organizations have 500 MB quotas and if you require to be over that we require written notification as to why.
    2. Personal websites have 200 MB quotas with no exceptions.
       
  2. All webs must have a permanent MSU Moorhead Employee as primary contact for the web.  All webs and usernames are administered by the Information Technology Department.
     
    1. Department and college webs will have the department or college chair, director, or dean as the primary contact, unless otherwise assigned to another person, by one of the above positions.
       
    2. Security access to the web can be granted by any person with current security access to the web site, with the exception that the chair, director, or dean can give other permanent MSUM employees right to grant security access to other employees or students. These requests must be made in writing.
       
    3. Students will be allowed to have user accounts on the web servers, if requested by a primary contact for a web. This access will only be granted to registered students and they must have an mnstate email account. Students are not allowed to have personal webs on this server.  The student web server provides this service.
       
    4. Student Organization web accounts will have the campus advisor as the primary contact. If a student is to be granted access to a student organization web, the student must be a registered member with Office of Student Activities for the organization to which the access will be granted.
       
  3. User accounts/webs
     
    1. Employee user accounts will be checked on a semester basis to make sure the employee is still employed by MSU Moorhead. Employee must have an mnstate email account.  If the user is not employed any longer the user account will be disabled.  Employees who no longer having a work assignment their user account(s) and their website(s) will be disabled. We will leave their folder(s) and files for 1 year and then remove the site and account(s). Minnesota State University Moorhead reserves the right to remove from the University website any web pages of former employees.
       
      1. Individual webs will be named the same as the individuals MSU Moorhead email account.
      2. Individual webs will have the individual as the primary contact.
         
    2. Student user accounts and access will be checked on a semester basis and disabled if the student is not registered.
       
      1. Students are not allowed to have personal webs on this server.  The student web server provides this service.
         
    3. There will be no generic user accounts. Each user that needs access to a web must have an individual user account on the web server.
       
      1. Each user account name will be created with the same user name as their MSUM email..
         
    4. Passwords will have aging and be set to expire in late March/early April and late September/early October.  Passwords will also be complex.
       
    5. Disabling accounts/webs
      Student organizations that are no longer recognized or employees who no longer having a work assignment, we will disable their user account(s) and their website(s). We will leave their folder(s) and files for 1 year and then remove the site and account(s).
       
  4. Redirections: We will set redirection for web pages to last for 6 months.
     
  5. Server side scripting is available on WWW. Please contact Information Technology to coordinate scripting/application development. If a user's script crashes WWW or causes other serious problems, we will be forced to disable or remove the scripts and/or account.

 

 

 

 

Questions & Answers