Web Oversight Committee
UNCG Unit Web Site Requirements
The Unit Web Site Requirements (UWSR) provide comprehensive standards to which all unit web managers are expected to comply, regardless of whether the unit site is housed on a UNCG server or hosted by an external vendor.
The requirements do not apply to personal (including tilde accounts) or course-related pages. While enterprise applications which are purchased as complete packages should meet Web accessibility standards outlined by the University's Web Accessibility Policy, it may not be possible to effectively meet the Unit Web Site Requirements. In cases where it is feasible, the UWSR should be adhered to within enterprise applications.
The University's commitment to web site standards is stated in the policy II:C:015 entitled Oversight for UNCG Web Presence.
- Approved by Administrative Sponsors Group 02/07/06
- Revised and approved by the Web Oversight Committee 01/27/06
- Approved by Administrative Sponsors Group 04/26/04
Definition: "Unit"
A unit is defined in this document as a distinct entity having an identifiable affiliation with UNCG. A unit may or may not be a block on the University's organizational chart; units can be subsets of larger entities, as well as the programs and services they provide.
Examples:- University divisions (e.g., Division of Student Affairs)
- The College and schools (School of Music)
- Academic departments (Department of Nutrition)
- Administrative offices (Human Resources)
- Special academic programs (Freshman Seminars)
- Service points (Spartan Mail Center)
- Centers and institutes (Center for New North Carolinians)
- Sponsored organizations (Alumni Association)
- Public programs (University Concert/Lecture Series)
Other examples of units may be found at University Unit Codes.
Legal & University Commitments
These are the minimum standards for unit web sites at UNCG. By meeting minimum standards, the University will comply with basic requirements as set forth by:
- Federal law
- North Carolina law
- UNCG's commitment to accessibility
- University's commitment to consistent web presentation
Minimum Standards (“Musts”)
Unit Site wide Standards
Web Accessibility
Unit web sites are required to meet the guidelines set forth as a part of the UNCG Web Accessibility Policy. These guidelines meet the minimum federal guidelines for accessibility, as well as those put forth as a recommendation by the State of North Carolina.
Programming (Code)
- XHTML 1.0 Transitional
- XHTML 1.0 is the minimum World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) programming standard for UNCG unit web sites. XHTML is a reformulation of HTML into an XML format; it will allow future compatibility with various devices and user agents. The transitional implementation of XHTML 1.0 is the most lenient and easiest to upgrade from HTML. XHTML may be either hand-coded or created with University-supported web development software. See W3C XHTML 1.0 Documentation.
- Unit sites must be built according to this standard, not to a web technology product such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.
- CSS 1.0
- Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) 1.0 offers a simple mechanism for adding style (e.g. fonts, colors, and spacing) to web documents and web sites as a whole. CSS must be used for presentation of fonts and colors instead of HTML. CSS can be either external files attached to an XHTML page or snippets of code within an XHTML page.
- Deprecated and presentational tags such as <font>, <b>, and <i> must be avoided in favor of CSS rules.
Identity (Presentation)
A UNCG web page has three elements: Header, Body/Content Area, and Footer.
Technical specifications
- The Body/Content Area must be 720 pixels wide or greater.
- If the unit pages are not a liquid layout (i.e., set to a percentage of screen width), the CSS media attribute must be set to "screen" or an alternate style sheet for other media, such as PDA or cell phones.
Colors
A unit is not restricted to University Colors in the Body/Content area. However, if a unit chooses to employ University Colors, the correct web hexadecimal or RGB values are required, as detailed by the University Colors specifications.
Navy  |
Gold  |
White  |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Hexadecimal color | 003366 (036) | ffcc00 (fc0) | ffffff (fff) |
| RGB color | 000, 051, 102 | 255, 204, 000 | 255, 255, 255 |
Unit Home Page Identity Standards
Header
As the UNCG header is the primary form of site identification, it is required on unit home pages. The header has two horizontal elements. The top band is the Identity Bar, containing three elements: The University Logo; either a photograph or the "Inspire. Change." tagline; and a gray box (Search, e-Spartan, UNCGenie, and Site Tools). The gold/navy band is the Navigation Bar containing unit-specified links and the Campus Links pull-down menu.
Identity Bar
The Identity Bar is a minimum 720 x 55 pixels and has four segments:
Segment 1 is 200 pixels wide and must have the Full Name UNCG logo, which is to be linked to the UNCG home page. The image may be downloaded from: Minerva Logos - PNG Files. Segment 2 is a minimum 15-pixel buffer between the University logo and Segment 3.
Units may not use their own logos in the Identity Bar.
Units have two options for Segment 3:
- Use the "Inspire. Change." tagline, as shown above.
- Use a unique photograph that gradates to the left, as shown above, with a 15-pixel buffer in Segment 2 to the right of Segment 1.
Segment 4 must have the gray box as it appears on the UNCG home page (Search, e-Spartan, Blackboard , UNCGenie, and Site Tools), and is 180 pixels in width.
Navigation Bar
Units have flexibility to display unique content (e.g. links, text) in the gold section of the Navigation Bar.
If the unit employs the same affinity groups as the UNCG home page (Prospective Students, Current Students, Faculty & Staff, Alumni, Community & Friends), the links must point to the UNCG affinity group pages. The links cannot point to unit affinities unless so designated within the bar. For example, the Alumni button must go to www.uncg.edu/alumni and not to a unit's alumni page, unless the button says, "Unit Alumni," (e.g. "School of Music Alumni").
The navigation bar must include the blue dropdown menu. The links can be specific to a unit's needs, or they may be the same as the links on the UNCG home page. If the unit chooses the latter, the unit must:
- Employ the menu as a dropdown menu as is, with a complete list the same as on the UNCG home page.
- Use the navy bar as a link to a subsequent page that has the menu. Link to the following URL: http://www.uncg.edu/campus_links/
Footer
A standard University Footer style is required on unit home pages, containing these elements
- Separator from page content
- Unit contact information at the left margin. Contact information includes Post Office Box and Physical Street Address.
- Accessibility Statement at the right margin
- Other site information (privacy policy, date of last update, developer credit, webmaster link) at the right
Procedures
All existing UNCG unit web sites were to be in compliance with the Unit Web Site Requirements by August 1, 2006, unless granted an exemption or extension. All newly-created web sites must thereafter adhere to the requirements.
Implementation and Enforcement
The Web Oversight Committee is responsible for implementing, reviewing, and granting exemptions to this policy and procedure, while enforcement is under the purview of the Sponsors of Information Systems.
The Web Oversight Committee will not aggressively monitor sites for compliance, as there are limited resources for comprehensive reviews. However, deliberation will be given to non-compliant sites when they are brought to the attention of the committee. Should a web site be found in violation of the Unit Web Site Requirements, the Web Oversight Committee will notify the site's maintainer/developer in writing, with a copy to that person's Dean or Associate Vice Chancellor. The unit will then have no longer than six weeks in which to become compliant. If the unit site is not in compliance after that period, the violation will be conveyed to the Provost or Vice Chancellor. Continued non-compliance will be reported to the Sponsors of Information Systems.
Requests for Exemptions
All requests for exemption must be made in writing to the Web Oversight Committee who will grant or deny the exemption based upon supported criteria within the request.
Education and Training
The University has made training available through many media that will assist the Unit web site maintainer in achieving compliance with the UWSR.
The Web Oversight Committee has made a web certification plan available through the UNCG Web Developers Group. This certification plan is geared towards helping people gain knowledge of and adherence to the UWSR. The certification program is administered by the Web3 Project Team.
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