Content: Tools & Planning Track (CTP)

CTP1: Improving Accessibility with a Content Management System (CMS)

Adam Finlayson, Northwestern University

There are two barriers to improving Web accessibility: learning the techniques and implementing them. HTML-savvy designers and developers easily overcome these hurdles, but what about WYSIWYG-using department assistants making updates? Teaching Dreamweaver basics is challenging enough without the what, when, and why of accessibility recommendations. Learn about techniques Northwestern University uses to improve accessibility and how a content management system (CMS) makes life easy for site editors.

This session is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 7, from 9:45 AM to 10:45 AM.

CTP2: Building Accessibility Into The Workflow

Richard Ells, University of Washington

By comparing the Section 508 and W3C-WAI accessible design requirements with Web site management workflow patterns, we will identify where in the Web management process the decision and action points are for accessibility. The objective is to make in-depth accessible design an inherent and efficient part of the creation and maintenance of a Web site, whether it is maintained by hand, with a Web programming language and database such as PHP and MySQL, or with a content management system. Including non-HTML content such as PDF and scripting in the process will also be discussed.

This session is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 7, from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

CTP3: Conversion to Web Standards: Tips, Tricks, and Methods

Daniel M. Frommelt, University of Wisconsin - Platteville

You're sold on the "Benefits of Web Standards": reducing file size, minimizing bandwidth, generating printer-friendly pages, optimizing search engine placement, and achieving greater accessibility. Now learn how to take a common site and walk through the conversion. This presentation walks through the methods of rebuilding a site with XHTML and CSS. We will focus on the transition of a Web site that was built with a table structure and converted to a new structure using XHTML and CSS and focus on the benefits of Web standards: reduction of markup, separate CSS files to control design, printer-friendly CSS pages, and increased accessibility. We will also discuss how to optimize a site for search engines using semantic markup, plus some general tips and tricks for making the CSS layout behave in a more predictable manner among numerous browsers. Sample files will be made available for the participants to review.

This session is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 7, from 1:15 PM to 2:15 PM.

CTP4: Creating Successful PDF Files for Higher Education

Cal Anderson, Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC)

Manuel Becerra, Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC)

Higher education institutions are all too familiar with the overwhelming demand to share documents and forms with their community online. Platform and browser independent, PDF (Portable Document Format) files have become the standard for many online forms and documents in colleges across the world. While creating the actual PDF file has become rather simple over the years, it's what you do afterwards that can make a huge difference to the end user. Using Adobe Acrobat Professional 7, this presentation will focus on how to enhance your PDF files by:

This session is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 7, from 2:45 PM to 3:45 PM.

CTP5: Where the Wild Things Are: What To Do When Your Site Has Grown out of Control

Michelle Tarby, Le Moyne College

After much blood, sweat and tears, Le Moyne College launched an internally developed alumni online community in 2004, replacing a third-party solution we'd used previously. Following the launch, we were left with two lingering questions:

  1. Now what?
  2. What should we do with the alumni "public web" — a grossly overgrown compilation of 400+ pages that no one had the time to maintain?

To streamline the site into a tool that compliments and seamlessly integrates with our online community, that builds a sense of identity with the college, and that can be used as a tool by our advancement personnel, we rebuilt the site during the spring and summer of 2005. This presentation looks at how the new site was crafted beginning with the preliminary needs assessment and Web site statistical analysis we provided the advancement personnel to make sure we understood their goals for the site. We'll then take a look at how we inventoried the existing pieces that were under-utilized, how additional content management pieces were implemented based on Web metrics, and how the new templates for the site were developed using Cascading Style Sheets instead of the previous table-based layout. Throughout, we'll look at not only our successes and disasters, but also the open-source, free, and internally developed tools we used to create the site.

This session is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 8, from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM.

CTP6: Designing a Brand-Driven Web Presence

Drew Hill, State University of New York at Oswego

The campus Web coordinator at SUNY Oswego will present a case study on the school's work to create, launch, and maintain a brand-driven Web presence. The two-hour presentation will focus on how to approach redesigning an institution's Web site while at the same time implementing a content management system, and will cover issues ranging from RFP considerations, to navigating change within organizational culture, to project management. The discussion will cover what went right, what went wrong, and the factors needed to maintain brand consistency on the Web. The SUNY Oswego site recently received a CASE District II Accolades Bronze Award for institutional Web sites.

This session is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 8, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

CTP7: Rolling Your Own CMS

Rose Pruyne, Penn State University

Build, buy, or go open-source? Those are the choices facing institutions looking to employ a Web content management system. Learn how a combination of building your own and harnessing open-source tools can create the best fit for your institution's Web process and requirements.

This session is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 8, from 1:15 PM to 2:15 PM.

CTP8: Building the Web: How to Get the Resources You Need

Melissa Meehan, Buffalo State College

Claire S. Jones, Buffalo State College

Over the past six years, Buffalo State has made a steady and demonstrable commitment to the Web—one step at a time. The "Web person" has evolved into a team of five. One Windows server has morphed into six—and UNIX has crept into the mix. Funding and support for a content management system was developed—and then CMS, along with eight campus-use Web templates, became a reality. A Web budget was developed. The cumulative effect? The Buffalo State Web site has become a critical component of campus life, and a serious presence. In fact, it is internally referred to as the "face" of the college. And all of this was possible at an institution where technology initiatives require extensive time and significant buy-in to gain momentum. This presentation will outline the Buffalo State Web team's journey from a single staffer working with a 20-member Web advisory committee to a five-person team that offers full-service Web support. Session attendees will learn how to:

This session is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 8, from 2:45 PM to 3:45 PM.

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