Web Services
Web Services Policy

Web Services
Web Services, as a unit within the Office of Information Technology, maintains the College website on a daily basis, overseeing the content management of all official College pages. This includes establishing and deploying standard templates for secondary and tertiary pages, on which all Web content is to be placed, as well as updating the web site in a timely fashion. Barring any technical difficulties, all site updates will be posted within 48 to 72 hours of receipt.

Web Services manages the web site content by overseeing the duties of Web Liaisons. These staff members have been charged with the sole responsibility of ensuring the accuracy of their web page content and keeping content up to date. Additionally, Web Services oversees the development and content management of all institutional web pages, including those of affiliated Centers, as well as any institutional pages/sites located on an external server using the imprimatur of Medgar Evers College (such as social networking pages set up by College offices). Before establishing a page on an external server, any College faculty or staff member must first obtain permission from Web Services. Pages should conform to existing graphic and content standards.

Web Services does not have oversight over web pages established by student organizations, faculty, or alumni, hosted outside of Medgar Evers College servers.

The Medgar Evers College Website
The Medgar Evers College website is an official publication of the College. Its mission is to represent the College and provide accurate, up-to-date information in an accessible and attractive manner to audiences inside and outside the Medgar Evers community. The Web Services department is responsible for setting policies governing the nature, content, format, maintenance, timeliness, and ownership of information contained on the official pages of the Medgar Evers College web site.

Official College Web Pages
Official pages represent the College and its offices, divisions and departments, to the College's various audiences: potential students, current students, faculty & staff, friends, and visitors. Official pages must conform to the design styles adopted by this office to maintain unity, coherence, functionality, and readability across the site.

Web Liaisons
One person will be designated by each academic or staff unit head with ultimate responsibility for its webpages, the Web Liaison. Other employees within the academic or staff unit may contribute to that unit's web pages, but the Web Liaison is the party accountable for any material published to the site and for communicating needs and requests to Web Services.

Updating/Revising Content
Requesting Changes to an Existing Web Page

*All changes requested of Web Services must come from the Web Liason and be pre-approved by the unit head.*

Steps:

Copy the existing page into a Microsoft Word document and edit the document. If the document includes hyperlinks, you may edit them by right clicking on the link (note: edit only the “Text to display”). If the document contains special components, such as submit buttons, you will not be able to edit them. To request changes in these components, describe the changes you are requesting in your email (e.g., “please change the label on the button to ‘send’ instead of ‘submit’). Attach the document that contains the changes you are requesting.

Changes should be submitted to webpost {at} mec {dot} cuny.edu.

Requesting a New Web Page

In order to have information posted to a new web page on the College’s website, you should complete the following steps:

For text, compose a Microsoft Word document that contains the information you wish to impart, and spell-check the document. If you would like to include a graphic, such as clipart or a photo, either place it in the document or include the graphic in a separate file. (Note: for all graphic design requests for marketing, please contact the Medgar Evers College design team via email at design@mec.cuny.edu or by phone at 6981.

Web services will only post high quality images and signage on the website. Keep in mind that file sizes are important on the Web: the smaller the file size, the better. We recommend graphics that do not exceed 25 kilobytes.) For all tables, please enter data into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and embed (Insert | Object... | Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet) within the Microsoft Word document. Do not create the table in Word!

Once the files have been received, you will receive confirmation from our team. Please allow 48-72 hours for publication (see “Priorities of Service”). If it is urgent that the content is published within 24 hours, the Dean or VP should state so in the forwarded email. Once the content is published, you will receive notification from the Web Services Team. You may then view the content and request any additional changes by following the procedures noted below for existing web pages.

Changes should be submitted to webpost {at} mec {dot} cuny.edu.

Adding Preformatted Documents (PDFs, etc.)

No document should be larger than 3 MB!

Send an email with the file attached, along with the URL of the page on which it will appear and both the location and name of the hyperlink, (exactly as you want it to appear) on the page.
Changes should be submitted to webpost {at} mec {dot} cuny.edu.

Home Page News and Events Requests
All requests for events to be placed on the homepage should be sent to the Director of Communications. Besides announcements from the Office of the President, or those concerning Registration, inclement weather, or emergencies, all announcements will be placed on the homepage at the discretion of the Director of Communications.

Events will be placed on the homepage for a maximum of 15 days from the date of the event. Home page announcements will be linked to text documents only. Homepage announcements will not open to PDF flyers or any other attachments. News/Events All news stories and events should be sent to the Director of Communications for posting on either the News or the Events page.

Events should be sent a minimum of two weeks prior to the event. Events should also be posted on the CUNY Events Calendar prior to submission to the Event page.

Home Page Announcements Requests
All requests for announcements to be placed on the homepage should be sent to the Web Services department at webpost {at} mec {dot} cuny.edu. Flyers to be linked to such events must be created by the Office of Graphics Services and then submitted for website posting.

Priorities of Service
The Web Services Team operates under a priority system similar to that governing the Division of Institutional Advancement and Development, as established by the College cabinet.

  1. President’s and Provost Office requests receive first priority.
  2. Registration/Admissions online requests will receive second priority.
  3. All the other college requests will receive third priority.
  4. Materials for individual offices and academic departments will be fourth priority.
    Because of limited resources, Web Liaisons needing help with any phase of their work or pre-publication review will receive assistance on a first-come, first-served basis, by appointment only.

Guidelines for the Establishment of Official Pages

  1. The content of all official pages should reside on the Medgar Evers College server. The decision to allow/disallow the establishment of official pages on a separate server is made at the discretion of the Web Services Team.
  2. All official pages are built using template pages supplied through Web Services/Division of Institutional Advancement, and are regularly updated by the College offices or departments responsible for them.
  3. Each official page within the Medgar Evers College web site must be readily identifiable with the use of the College logo and CUNY logo; the approved color palette and typefaces.
  4. Each official page contains the e-mail address of the department or office responsible for its upkeep. Each Web Liaison is responsible for responding to inquiries regarding the page(s).
  5. Official pages must be accurate, well written, concise, free of spelling and grammatical errors; and must otherwise present the College, its mission and values in a positive light.
  6. Academic departments' pages contain navigational links to faculty members’ home pages hosted on Blackboard or to the e-mail addresses and office telephone numbers of those faculty members who do not have a home page.
  7. All official pages will be regularly monitored by Web Services to ascertain that material is current. Those with outdated materials will be notified to update their page or remove the outdated material within five working days.

Guidelines for the Use of Graphic Elements and Photographs
Official pages within the College's website have been designed with several factors in mind, chief of those being the advancement of the College's mission and image, facilitating site maintenance, maintining accessibility for site visitors without state-of the- art Internet access, and for persons with disabilities.

Graphic Standards:

  1. Graphics are limited in size to no larger than 75 kb, with 50 kb or less recommended.
  2. Graphics must be saved as .gif or .jpeg files.
  3. Graphics should be 72 dpi.
  4. Photographs should always be adjusted for color balance, light adjustment, and size.
  5. Photographs should be sent to College graphic designer for proper image adjustment.
  6. Only colors within the designated color palette will be used for graphic images.
  7. With the exception of hyperlinks, all body text (text not used in graphic images) will be black.
  8. No moving, blinking, or flashing objects will be used on the official pages without prior approval by the Communications Department.
  9. The official Medgar Evers College logo/logotype and CUNY logo will be used only on official College pages and is not to be changed in any way.
  10. Graphics and photographs will be chosen to enhance the informational content of the page.
  11. Photographs of students shall not appear on the scroll unless said student has signed a standard release form.

Guidelines for the Use of Interactive Features and Sound

  1. Interactive features will not be used on the website's official pages without prior approval from Web Services and a plan for periodically updating the material contained in them.
  2. No sounds may be embedded on official pages.
  3. Contact the Office of Web Services for more information.

Layout Guidelines

  1. Frames will not be used on any official page.
  2. Nested tables will not be used on any official page.
  3. Above the navigation bar should be, right justified, in Verdana font, the name of the academic department in gold, followed by the name of the supervisor in blue comma title, followed by the supervisor’s/department’s phone number, followed by the supervisor’s/ department’s room number, as illustrated below:

(Office) in gold font
(Page Description) in blue font
(Department) in blue font
(Supervisor) in blue font
(Phone number) in blue font
(Room number) in blue font