Location of Official UIS Web Data
All unit website files, such as information and policy pages, databases, applications, photos, media files, etc. must reside in the unit website or in an account designated by the Web Server Administrator. These files may not reside in Personal Web Accounts, eDocs/Box accounts, or on off-campus servers.
Required information on Official UIS Websites
Official UIS Websites should convey the personality of and specific information about their units. Avoid long, dense passages of text. Use bulleted lists as often as possible to break up long paragraphs of text.
All official UIS Websites must contain the following:
- UIS official theme, which includes: UIS Name and Home Page link: University of Illinois Springfield & https://www.uis.edu or https://uis.edu
- Name, phone number, and email address of the Dean/Director/Chair/Convener, or person in charge of the unit;
- Name, phone number, and email address of all full-time faculty or staff members in the unit;
- An email address and/or a phone number of a contact person for questions about the website and/or the unit;
- List of degrees or services offered by the department;
Suggested optional information on Official Unit Websites
- Faculty and/or staff office hours
- Announcements of open faculty and staff positions
- Featured information about the unit
- Photographs
- List of unit news and/or events
- Information about students and alumni
- List of policies and/or scholarships related to the unit
Establishing and Maintaining an Official Unit Website
If you wish to create or edit a department or unit website, please contact your unit web liaison.
Personal websites for Staff, Faculty, and Students may be established in accordance with procedures noted hereinafter.
- Each Website Supervisor may formally request the creation of a new website using the website request form. Explanations of the roles of Editors and Publishers are noted in the Definitions section of the UIS Campus Web Policy. Student Organization websites are governed by the Student Affairs division. Requests to establish or edit a Student Organization website should be submitted to the Student Affairs Web Liaison.
- Upon receiving a request from a Website Supervisor regarding a new website, staff from the Office of Web Services will work directly with the unit staff involved to onboard staff members and create the site shell for the unit to add their content.
- The Office of Web Services conducts regular reviews of each official unit website to assess consistency with campus website objectives. The Office of Web Services may or may not request changes to websites based on the objectives and guidelines contained in the Campus Web Policy.
- When the Office of Web Services receives a request to provide access to personnel on a unit website, OWS will arrange for any necessary training, and will arrange for permission to access the campus content management system. The unit website Editor will receive access to edit the website upon completion of training.
Themes for Official UIS Websites
Themes exist for websites that are designated as Official UIS websites. These websites are designed and developed by the UIS Office of Web Services and are used in the Drupal CMS. Different theme options are available to departments upon request.
The theme contains the UIS wordmark with a link to the UIS home page on the top left, search, social links, and contact info. Units that choose a theme outside of the UIS Main theme, will have the capability of customizing their menu and footer areas with their information.
There are five official website themes for UIS:
- UIS Main Theme - Top-level/Recruitment
- UIS News Theme – theme used for news homepage and articles
- Theme 1- subtheme with white nav menu
- Theme 2 – subtheme with centered logo and menu
- Theme 3 – subtheme with blue nav menu
These themes can be used with the approval of the Office of Web Services.
If you need a website that will reside on a primary UIS Web Server and would like to update your website to one of these themes, please submit a website project request.
Use of UIS Logo
Use of the UIS logo must adhere to guidelines determined by Campus Relations.
Specifically, the logo must:
- Maintain the correct height and width proportions;
- Stand alone-no text or objects should be placed under or on top of the logo;
- Be produced with correct production methods to ensure that it meets visual standards set by the UIS Campus Relations department.
Outside Organizations and Space on a UIS Web Server
In some cases, UIS may host the website of a professional, academic, nonprofit organization that is affiliated with one of our faculty or academic staff members.
Establishing and Maintaining a Personal Web Account
Faculty and Staff Web Accounts
Faculty and staff who are employed by UIS may contact UIS Technical Support at 217-206-6000 to request a personal web account and permission to access the account.
- This account may be used by the employee, but only in accordance with the policies and guidelines contained in the UIS Web Policy and in the policies of the Information Technology Services department.
- Critical unit website content or files, such as academic information about units or programs, academic requirements, department databases, UIS photo collections, etc., may not reside in personal web accounts.
- Faculty member’s personal web accounts should not replace Canvas as the learning management system for a course. Canvas should be the primary tool for course management and content.
- Course-related materials to be placed on the web should be placed within the campus Canvas environment only and is not allowed on the uis.edu, or on a faculty member’s personal web account.
- The primary campus Web Server (i.e., www.uis.edu) may not be used for course materials.
- Personal web accounts may not use official UIS web themes.
Student Web Accounts
All students who are officially registered for classes at UIS may request a personal website and permission to access the account.
- Student web accounts may be used by students only in accordance with the policies and Guidelines for Student-Created Websites that Reside on UIS Web Servers (see below) and any other policies adopted by the Information Technology Services department.
- Critical academic program and administrative department website files, such as department databases, photo collections, etc., may not reside in student web accounts.
- Personal web accounts may not use the official UIS web themes.
Student-Created Websites that Reside on the UIS Web Servers
The University of Illinois Springfield provides access to web servers for current UIS students.
Because current-day Search Engines are quite powerful, it is possible for any internet user to find any webpage or other file in the results of a web search. We wish to prevent any misunderstandings or misinformation that may occur in the case of personal websites or websites that may have been developed as a prototype or class project, and that are not actual official UIS sites.
The following policies govern student-created websites that reside on any Web server that uses the uis.edu domain name:
- Any currently enrolled UIS student may request a personal web account on the UIS Student Server. Call UIS Tech Support at 206-6000 to establish this account.
- Some UIS students may be given accounts on other UIS Web servers that are used in conjunction with class projects.
- The official UIS Logo or Web Themes may not be used on any student’s personal website. The name of a student website may not include the words “University,” “University of Illinois,” “University of Illinois at Springfield” or any abbreviation thereof (i.e. UIS) which would connote a direct link to the University of Illinois.
- Photos and other files that are part of an active UIS department website should reside only in an official web account and may not reside in a student web account.
- Students may not create any website that is identified as a UIS Student Organization, without first receiving official approval for the organization from the Student Affairs Division.
Internet Browser Issues
Check your site to be sure it displays correctly in Chrome, Explorer, Firefox, and Safari web browsers. Some webpage items do not display consistently among browsers.
Check your website to be sure it appears correctly, that there are no broken links, and that it downloads quickly.
UIS Writing Style Guidelines, including Electronic Style
The content of your webpage should conform to the Public Relations, UIS Style Guidelines, including guidelines for Electronic Style. Visit the UIS Writing Style Guide for detailed information.
In addition, the Office of Web Services maintains additional web-specific guideline documents:
Accepting VISA/Mastercard via a Unit Website
All University units must visit the Merchant Services page to obtain approval to accept Visa and MasterCard credit cards for purchases of goods and/or services through a unit website. Additional information can be found on Office of Treasury Merchant Card Services page.
Technical Support
The Office of Web Services provides entry-level technical support for all issues related the UIS websites. The Office of Web Services should be your first line of communication if you have questions or problems related to using the uis.edu. For technical issues regarding your computer or software, contact Information Technology Services.
Training
Training is offered by the Office of Web Services for all UIS employees and students. You must complete training to gain access to edit your unit’s website. Permission must be acquired form the unit head and/or unit web liaison. When a new official unit website is created, the persons designated as the Editors will be advised to sign up for a training session conducted by the Office of Web Services (unless they have already completed training).
About Website Content
The Office of Web Services (OWS) acts as the technical developers, constructing websites and the software used to maintain them.
OWS does not create content for official unit websites. Content creation and maintenance is the responsibility of the individual unit. Accuracy of website content is the responsibility of the Editor and Publishers of the website.
Graphics and Media Tools
OWS strongly advises the use of Adobe Photoshop for creation and editing of graphics for your website.
This software is available in all campus computer labs. Free training and technical support is available from the ITS and Web Services departments.
- If you choose to use software and methods not supported by the UIS ITS department, you will not be able to receive technical support for your projects.
Images
Images included on unit webpages should:
- Be representative of UIS;
- Be produced with correct production methods;
- Be proportionally correct;
- Be optimized for the web so they are of a small file size so as to download quickly;
- Conform to copyright laws
- Not include text (except for logos) and should include appropriate alt text.
Acquiring and Editing Photographs
If you need to acquire photos of UIS people or places, contact Marketing at 206-6198.
Visit the Website Resources page for more information on optimizing images.
Databases and Other Web Development Tools
The following addresses some basic mandates related to construction and maintenance of official UIS unit websites.
Forms
UIS has multiple options for forms, depending upon the nature of the data you are collecting.
- Slate Forms are required to be used for any forms that are collecting student data. Contact the Admission office for assistant creating a Slate form for your unit.
- Webtools is available to all employees and can be used to create basic forms and surveys.
- Webforms are available on the Drupal website for forms that require more complex functionality, such as conditional statements. Submit a website project request form to request a webform.
Best Practices
At this point in the development of the Internet, there are many conventions and standards that have been agreed upon by professional Internet-related organizations and web developers. If you are not a professional web developer, you may not be aware of these conventions. It will be helpful for you to read and follow the guidelines prepared by the UIS Office of Web Services.
Please review the resources available on the WDS website resources page.
Privacy
The Office of Web and Digital Strategy does not monitor app development. However, upon monitoring, it reserves the right to remove file(s) that violate any university policies and procedures, and U.S. law upon consultation with the UIS Legal Counsel.
UIS Copyright Policies
While creating an app, all necessary rights and permissions must have been obtained by the requesting department/unit/college for the material they plan to include in the project. For all practical purpose, guidance on copyright from the system office will be used in determining fair use of the content used in the app.
Intellectual Property
For detailed information on intellectual property, please review Article III: Intellectual Property of the Board of Trustees’ General Rules
Helpful links
- UIS Office of Web Services
- UIS Information Technology Services
- University of Illinois Policy for Publishing on the Internet
Procedures
Visit the Website Resources page for additional information on guidelines and procedures.