Web Services

Web ServicesIs responsible for the design and upkeep of the CSU website. This website is most often the first impression of CSU, and our future is an increasing digital world. A website is one of the most effective and quickest ways of communicating with the entire University & CSU community. Web Services recognizes the World Wide Web as one of the most valuable and vital resources of any large organization.

Content Managers

Websupport will only implement updates to this website coming from the approved staff shown below.

Site Publisher List
A
Web Site Sections Site Editor Site Publisher
Academic Advising Kevin Newell  
Accreditation TBD Thomas Rowan
Admissions Andra Barnes Martha Faye Ikner
Alumni TBD Anna Kulseth
Arts & Design TBD Thomas Lucas

Lillian Kay Dawson

John Smith

Arts & Sciences Rochelle Green Mark Smith
Assessment TBD Thomas Rowan

Please contact websupport@csu.edu to schedule a meeting & keep your site aligned with the CSU brand standards and to utilize our UI/UX expertise in

  • Photo Retouching
  • Navigational & Information Desgin
  • Copywriting
  • Color & Typography

 

Website Editing

Document Description
pdf Website Editing

CSU employees may request access to edit the website for their department. One editor & publisher may be appointed for each department. This liaison will be responsible for content updates of department website. Form must be signed by your manager.

An editor can make edits to pages. A publisher can edit and also publish pages to go live.

pdf Instructions Beginners tips & tricks for using Modern Campus.

 

Samples of Common Items Used

Go to this website to see examples of common approved items we use throughout the csu.edu website. this can help you design your information.

 

Submitting Updates to Websupport

Only websupport can post images, pdfs and documents to the website as this requires specialized training to assure that the items are technically compliance. Attach them in an email to websupport@csu.edu with clear direction & the web address of the exact page where to add the attachment or text.

Any type edits, including making tables and links can be done by those who have website editor access.

No worries if you are having difficulty with any updates, we can do that for you if you email us.

Email web support your changes.

For edits always provide:

web address and clear description of what you want done:

URL: https://www.csu.edu/foundation/boarddirectors.htm 

  • please add the attached image and bio for Jane Smith
  • remove the red-eye from camera flash

copy additions in red, removals with a strikethrough

URL: https://www.csu.edu/foundation/boarddirectors.htm

Angelique David

Board Secretary

Board Chair EMD

COO & General Counsel, Ziegier

New Web Pages Provide:

  • Navigational clickstream to where this page should go
  • Copy spellchecked & reviewed for grammar
  • Instructions that are not copy updates, in red all caps for example:  (ANIMATED SLIDESHOW HERE)
  • For group collaboration, create & share a google doc with your team to write the content. Once your team approves the copy, forward a link to web support with instructions.
We prefer to convert your .docx files to actual html web pages viewable in the web browser, when possible. Cellphones often cannot open MS Office files and you want to keep your audience in the csu.edu website interface as long as possible. This also reduces the number of clicks to get to the information. If you absolutely want a link to download a .doc please let us know what words you want to be clickable to download the file. Read below on pdfs to find out how to name your file.

Please submit the best quality images you have in terms of lighting and resolution.

Name the file clearly and concisely to what this is about, use underscores for spaces. 

Bad Filenaming Good Filenaming
IMG-104589,jpg Chicago_State_University.jpg
Jane  Doe (002)DSCF assistant faculty  staff.png Doe_Jane.png
Logo board Illinoiseducaotn Higher.svg IBHE.svg

We will by default retouch and color balance images to improve quality before posting. We will crop images if we see better cropping. We by default put images at the top left at a size that fits across the width of the cellphone. We wrap text around the right side if possible so on a computer there is not dead wasted space. 

Provide to Websupport

  • URL and location on the page the link resides on.
  • The URL the link will go to when clicked.
  • The exact verbiage for the link as we do prefer not to show a lengthy web address.

eg: "The Black Media Conference is hosted by CSU every year in April bringing many industry professionals together."

  • To keep the navigation consistent and predictable, we ask links going outside CSU to be only added to main body page which is shown in gray. The right hand-navigation is reserved for links to csu.edu pages, and belong with the topic in the blue bar with home icon above.
    shows area linaks are allowed outside csu.edu
  • Links that go outside csu.edu, we ask you change the default setting of current window to open in a new window.

    new window

Properly Name Your PDFs and Links to Match

First, clearly and concisely name the link that people will click to download your pdf. The name should describe in up to 3 words or less the purpose/content of the file, so the person downloading knows what to expect before downloading. Name the file exactly the same as the linked text, so people can easily find the pdf on their computer after they download. We will name your link exactly as the file submitted

Bad Filenaming Good Filenaming
CSU Purchasing definitions 11-6-2020.final draft.pdf Purchasing_Defintions.pdf
JSMITH FY2021 Quick Reference Procurement Guidelines Procurement_Guidelines.pdf
  • The first word should best and most uniquely describes the document.
  • Remove unnecessary words like CSU as people are looking for the purpose of the document. Extra words will make searches for information more difficult.
  • Remove dates whenever possible.  Dates quickly make the file look old and outdated unless you update for example a newsletter or calendar every month on first day of the month.
  • Consistent Sentence or Title Case Capitalization 
  • Use underscores rather than spaces, because the web substitutes code of "%20" for spaces that looks sloppy, and some browsers may break the link.

Provide Video Information

  • File named clearly & concisely (we will use this name for the headline in youtube).
  • Name of playlist to add or new playlist to create.
  • Video in .mp4 format.
  • Timecodes of where to crop video if needed and any edits you may need.
  • Poster image (this is the preview people will see) by providing: 
      1.  image attached in an email,
      2. timecode (start and end times) on the video to extract one from, and
      3. a few words to use if we are to create the video for you. 

 

Important Information

Emailing websupport@csu.edu is best as we are often in meetings or on urgent updates. 

Douglas Hall (DH) Room: 122

9am to 5pm, Monday - Friday

When submitting content, please use the following consistent formats for (spaces, periods, colons) used throughout the website. This saves us time allowing us to post your content sooner.
Item Bad Example Correct Example
Time Ranges 9:00 am to 5p.m. 

9am to 5pm

or   8:30am to 5:10pm

Phone Numbers 000 000 - 0000 (000) 000-0000

Good Web Writing Practices

  • Clear — Ensure your writing is exceptionally clear to others. Always put yourself in the position of the reader. 
  • Concise  Web visitors are looking for quick & fast answers. Concise copy is more impactful and directly to the point. Trim whatever content is not needed and your reader will have an easier time locating that golden needle in a haystack. 
  • Consistent — The eye scans visually for colors, boldness, spacing. Always check your usage of UPPERCASE, Sentence Case, periods, bold to be consistent.
  • Headlines & Subheads - Put extra effort into choosing the correct verbiage for these. They act as directional signage on a highway getting visitors to their intended destination. The first word should most often be what separates and is unique over other headlines.  "Masters Program Benchmarks" is better than " The Benchmarks of the Masters Program at CSU" 
  • Repetition  Avoid using the same word repeatedly at the start of each item in a series. Better to move that word into a headline and use a bulleted or numbered list. Proof your copy to not have the same sentence or another form of the same thought in your copy. Abbreviate repetitive words, and only show the unabbreviated version once at the beginning of your story.
  • Scrolling   Remove excessive words and elements that cause scrolling. You want a breadcrumb trail on every page, so that you get a visual of what the next item of interest is without having to scroll. Even abbreviating "and" to "&" can make make a headline in a column take up on less line of type.
  • Visual  Use tables, bulleted lists, images, logos, slideshows & videos. "An image is worth 1000 words."

Google meetings are a great way to discuss updates and improvements to your website. These often work better than in person, as we can share our screens. Please invite:

Use the "Find a Time" tabbed option to choose an open slot. 
find a time

 

Click "Add Google Meet..." to give us all a link for the meeting.

google meet

If you use the search at the top right, and a 404 nto found error is coming up

Quanitty How to fix
Few

Anyone can submit a broken html link to Google SearchWill take up to 3 days. You dont even need an @csu.edu email adress.

Many

Email websupport@csu.edu with the folder prefixes you wish deleted.  We can delet a link in that folder path you seee up in the web adress.

GrammarlyThe free Grammarly chrome extension significantly improves your spelling & grammar. This works on any text being edited in webpage text input fields including gmail & google docs. Grammarly works OUCampus classic version (click on edit button), but not in the new mode (shift-click on edit button). Grammarly often flags adding "the" for web writing you can avoid adding an extra word if is good without.

Is no longer needed to update website, since the update of the update to Omni CMS. You will need VPN Access for information that is not public, such as  cougar connect or campus phone directory