As a manager, you will have partial access to the content management system. You'll make updates in Cascade and submit them for approval and publishing by the web team using a workflow process.
The web team will train you before you assume your role. You must complete refresher training each fall to remain in the role.
You should review content every six months to ensure information is accurate. The web team will periodically perform content assessments, working with you to determine a plan for updating outdated content. If you're unresponsive, the web team will update or delete the content as necessary.
If web content has not been updated in 12 months, the web team may send notify you that a review is needed. If you don't respond within 10 business days, the web team will delete the site from the server.
| Time Frame | Content |
|---|---|
| Prior to fall semester | Review and update all student-facing web pages |
| Fall semester | Review and update all remaining web pages |
| Prior to spring semester | Review and update all student-facing web pages |
| Summer | Review and update all remaining web pages |
You have partial access to the content management system. Using the workflow process, you can edit the text on a page and submit it for approval and publishing by the web team. To make a change to a block, including navigation, or a file, submit a web update request form.
Follow these steps to submit a workflow:
A web team member will review the update, make any needed changes and publish the page. They’ll note changes they made in a comment on the workflow. In some cases, they may reassign the workflow to you for editing and resubmission. You’ll receive an email when the workflow has been approved and published.
The primary audience for NIU websites is current/prospective students. Secondary audiences include parents/families of students, NIU faculty/staff and community members. Develop website content to appeal to our primary audience, addressing secondary audiences as appropriate. Use the NIU brand voice to create text that draws in your audience.
People skim text online instead of reading every word. To meet this behavior, write short sentences and paragraphs using clear, simple language. Avoid jargon, cliches, metaphors and acronyms that someone who speaks English as a second language or is unfamiliar with NIU/higher education might not know.
Use Word’s readability checker to check text. A reading level of fifth to eighth grade is best for online content. All users, even highly knowledgeable audiences, want to find information quickly. However, it may be appropriate to use text with a higher grade level, or a tone other than NIU brand voice, in certain contexts.
Don’t recreate content that exists elsewhere. Always link to official online sources, which include:
Archival content should be stored outside of the content management system and in accordance with NIU’s records management policies. Potential storage platforms include O365, SharePoint, University Archives and Huskie Commons. Contact the web team at webcommunications@niu.edu for guidance.
NIU websites may not include general lists of student names in a non-employment capacity. However, as employees, names of graduate, research and teaching assistants may be provided. College communicators must maintain student information release waivers as needed.
NIU websites should not provide employees’ personal (non-NIU) email addresses. NIU may not require someone to transmit their Social Security number over the internet, unless the connection is secure or the number is encrypted.
NIU websites are divided into folders and subfolders. A site contains the following folders:
Additional subfolders in the base folder contain the pages for specific sections. These folders should contain a landing page with the system name “index,” which is necessary for usable breadcrumbs. A web browser will land on the index page if a user enters only the site URL and folder. Example: niu.edu/bursar/about (where “about” is a folder in the bursar site) will land on www.niu.edu/bursar/about/index.shtml.
If desired, you can organize the images and files folders into subfolders corresponding to site sections.
The system name, also known as the page name or file name, corresponds to a page’s URL. It should be lowercase with words separated by hyphens, if needed (example: contact-us). Words or short phrases are preferrable to acronyms or abbreviations, which may not be intuitive to users or recognizable to search engines. A folder’s landing page must be named “index.”
The display name appears in navigation elements like breadcrumbs. Display names should be simple and formatted in title case (example: Policies and Fees). Display names are required for pages and folders but not for assets like files and blocks.
The page title, also known as the meta title tag, appears at the top of a user’s web browser or tab. It’s useful for search indexing and indicating a user’s location within the niu.edu domain. Page titles must be unique and should be as concise as possible.
Page titles follow these formats:
Examples:
Best practices for naming:
Search engines use meta content to help them locate relevant pages. By crafting concise meta content that includes keywords important to your audience, you can improve search engine optimization (SEO) and help people find your content.
Pages must have unique meta titles, also referred to as pages titles or title tags. They should be no longer than 55 characters with spaces.
Meta descriptions are optional but encouraged on a site’s most important pages. They should summarize the page’s purpose in about 150 characters with spaces.
NIU websites follow the university’s Editorial Style Guide, which is based on Associated Press (AP) style (with some exceptions). If you need guidance not included in the Editorial Style Guide, you can access the AP Stylebook online. Log in with your NIU account ID and password.
Follow these guidelines when formatting text:
Use the Dr. prefix for medical doctors only. College of Liberal Arts and Sciences faculty may request an exception to this, which may be applied only to pages in the content management system (and not NIU Today, for example). An exception can also be made when Dr. is part of an official name, such as a scholarship or program.
Degree and credential/licensure abbreviations may be included after the first mention of a person’s name. They should be punctuated according to AP style, except the College of Health and Human Sciences (CHHS), which may use AMA style.
Examples:
Use lists to help make content easy to scan. Don’t punctuate list items unless they’re complete sentences. If one item is a complete sentence, the others should be as well.
Example of bulleted (unordered) list:
Example of numbered (ordered) list (use only when order of steps matters):
Tables can help organize and present data. In general, they shouldn’t be used for layout. Instead, use Bootstrap’s grid system.
Simple tables are best for usability and accessibility. To ensure accessibility, use the table caption tag to summarize table contents and use table heading tags for column headings. This allows screen readers to read the information in the correct order.
Table captions should be in title case (important words capitalized). The first word in each table cell should be capitalized. Contact the web team at webcommunications@niu.edu for assistance with table creation or accessibility.
Headings divide pages into smaller, more manageable chunks. People who use screen readers (an assistive technology for people with visual disabilities) can listen to a list of the headings on a page to help them find desired information. Headings must be formatted with heading tags, which identify them as headings to screen readers.
Help guide all users by creating informative, concise headings:
Headings must be tagged properly and used in the proper order.
Sites in themes 3.0, 4.0 and onward:
Sites in theme 2.0 and earlier:
Avoid slogan-like headings since they don’t provide enough information about the content they head. Slogan language can instead be made visually distinct by applying p class="lead" or an alert class.
Each heading should head a unique section of content. No more than one heading should be used for each section.
Incorrect: The h1 and h2 head the same section of content, with no unique content in either:
<h1>The Perfect Grilled Cheese</h1>
<h2> Making the Perfect Grilled Cheese</h2>
Correct: The h2 heads two unique subsections:
<h1>The Perfect Grilled Cheese</h1>
<h2>Ingredients</h2>
<ul>…</ul>
<h2>Directions</h2>
<ol>…</ol>
Correct: Introductory text prefaces the subsection headed by the h2:
<h1>The Perfect Grilled Cheese</h1>
<p>While many say sliced bread is the greatest invention, it was greatly improved upon by whoever decided to melt some cheese between two slices. Ever since sliced bread became readily available in the 1920s, grilled cheese has become a staple lunch in American households.</p>
<h2>Recipe for the Perfect Grilled Cheese</h2>
Do not bold links.
Select snippets of text to serve as links to other pages. Choose words that give a clear idea about where they go. Don’t use vague phrases (read more, click here, etc.) as link text, because they don’t provide enough information.
Don’t use a full URL as link text (except short URLs like go URLs). Full URLs can appear clunky and are inconvenient for assistive technology like screen readers that read every character in a URL. If using a full URL, don’t include http://www or www. For example, our web address is simply niu.edu.
Examples:
Links should open in the same window, except for files, which should open in a new window. A new window may also be used if opening a link in the same window would interrupt a process, such as filling out a form or viewing a video.
When linking to a file, indicate the type in all caps at the end of the link. Example: sample Word document (DOCX).
Provide an email address instead of linking a name/phrase:
Go.NIU.edu is a URL shortener like TinyURL or Bitly that can be used to shorten any niu.edu or niutoday.info URL and provide a stable reference for print materials.
To create a new go URL:
To modify an existing go URL:
You can only modify go URLs you create. Contact the web team at webcommunications@niu.edu for assistance with other go URLs.
Websites for NIU divisions, colleges, departments, offices and other areas use our standard templates and must follow all policies and legal requirements.
Faculty members can have a template-based profile page on their department site. An area’s profile pages should contain similar kinds of content. Emeriti faculty who teach at NIU or are active in the scholarly community can have profile pages, but deceased faculty/staff should not.
Faculty members can also have a faculty site in our content management system or an external platform. Faculty sites don’t need to follow the university’s Editorial Style Guide or Communication Standards for Institutional Brand Identity. They must follow all other policies and legal requirements.
Websites for NIU clinics and labs use standard templates and must follow all policies and legal requirements, as well as any additional standards determined by their department/college. They should be linked to/from their associated department/college site.
In general, information about student organizations is contained in Huskie Hub. A template-based webpage containing a general overview of a student organization can be created in our content management system if determined appropriate by the web team.
In coordination with Marketing and Creative Services, the web team (or an external NIU partner) creates custom advertising landing pages connected to marketing campaigns for specific programs. These pages are independent from department, college or division sites.
Any change to a department, college or division website related to a marketing campaign must be coordinated with Marketing and Creative Services and approved by the web team before an update request can be submitted.
Providing content on a webpage in HTML format is preferrable to providing it in a document that must be downloaded. If content must be provided in a downloadable file, it should be a Microsoft document created with the accessibility checker turned on. Word documents should be formatted using the sample Word document (DOCX).
Files uploaded to NIU sites must be accessible to people with disabilities and must not violate copyright or other policies/laws. The communications clearinghouse must approve documents before they can be added to a site.
Files should have simple, descriptive names in lowercase. File names shouldn’t include dates, references or spaces. Words should be separated by hyphens ( - ), not underscores ( _ ).
Files must be unpublished before being renamed. After renaming, the file and its relationships should be republished. Any off-site links should be updated to the new file name.
Files uploaded to the content management system must be in use. The web team may delete files that aren’t in use or haven’t been updated in more than two years.
Archival files should be stored outside of the content management system. For example, past course syllabi can be maintained by a professor/department in O365, SharePoint or, in some cases, University Archives or Huskie Commons.
Submit information about a university/community event to the NIU events calendar instead of adding it to your site. If needed, submit a web update request form to request the installation of a feed on your site to pull in events from the calendar. When the event date has passed, the event will no longer appear in the calendar/feed.
Submit a web update request form to explore the possibility of creating a page or site for a major event, such as a conference. There must be substantial content, and you must keep the page/site up to date. If it’s an annual occurrence, information about next year’s event must replace the current year’s information once the event date has passed. Don’t use placeholder text such as “information coming soon,” as it’s frustrating to users.
Contact the web team at webcommunications@niu.edu to discuss the possibility of creating a page/site for an event.
Tutorials and learning modules can be hosted in Blackboard, SharePoint, MOOC, Cascade, Kaltura/Media Space or another third-party service. Contact the assistant director of Web Strategy and Support to discuss the best solution for your module.
As of July 1, 2024, the web team will no longer create/support forms in Formsite.
You can create forms using the following tools:
Use the workflow process to add a link to the form on your site.
Don’t duplicate content posted on social media outlets, such as news updates and events, on your site. Ensure that your area’s social media accounts follow the Social Media Policy.
Images on NIU websites must follow the university’s brand standards for photography and have adequate resolution. Learn more about photography services at NIU. For assistance or to set up a custom photo shoot for your area, email photography@niu.edu.
We recommend using the JPG format for photos, though PNG can be useful for supporting transparencies. GIF is not a preferred file type and shouldn’t be used on NIU websites.
To shorten download times and conserve server space, optimize images for the web before uploading. Keep file sizes below 150KB.
NIU website templates use responsive web design to ensure content is optimized for the device/screen size being used.
To optimize images for responsive design, the img-responsive class must be added to image tags, either in the Format Custom Classes dropdown or the Insert/edit image dialogue box.Images in the content management system must be in use. Replace an existing image with an updated version instead of storing multiple versions in the content management system.
Images that aren’t in use or haven’t been updated in more than two years should be deleted.
To ensure that people with visual disabilities have access to the information contained in images, provide any needed alternative (alt) text for the following:
Enter alt text in the alternative text field on the Insert image pop-up or within the image tag in the HTML editor.
Images don’t need alt text if they’re solely for decorative purposes (such images should be marked “decorative” in the Insert Image window or tagged alt=“” in the HTML). They also don’t need it if the information they provide is already present on a page, such as a staff photo accompanied by a name.
You can find current, brand-appropriate images for your website in the Canto image library, a collection of photos taken by NIU photographers.
If you have a Canto account, you can search for and download images for use on your site. Add a comment in Canto indicating on which page/site you plan to use the photo. Include the images with your web update request form.
If you don’t have a Canto account, use the Asset Request feature to request images. Indicate the page/site you expect to use the photo on, so that information can be added to the comments. Include the images with your web update request form.
You can also search for stock photos from Getty Images (go.niu.edu/stockimages) to include with your web update request form.
Personal photos taken by faculty, staff, students, etc., should not be used on NIU websites, nor should images available through the public domain, Flickr or online image searches (Google, Bing, etc.).
Students or faculty studying/researching abroad can contact Institutional Communications for guidance on taking photos for potential use on NIU websites. Email photography@niu.edu for more information.
In general, users don’t remain on a page long enough to view multiple images in a banner rotation, nor do they click through slideshows to view each slide. It’s more effective to include unique and engaging static banner images on your site’s index pages, rather than slideshows/rotations.
However, if you have specific content you’d like to highlight, your site may include one rotating banner/slideshow with a maximum of three rotating elements. Each image should relate to an event, department or program and link to the appropriate page on your site. Submit a web update request form to request the slideshow/rotation.
NIU sites don’t use image files as icons or buttons. Instead, they use a set of approved icons (Font Awesome) and button classes to achieve different looks.
NIU sites also do not include embedded text inside flattened images or use images as word art. Embedded text isn’t accessible to assistive technologies such as screen readers. It’s also not searchable by browsers or available for translation into other languages.
Contact the web team at webcommunications@niu.edu to discuss the best solution for your icon/graphic text needs.
Our content management system doesn’t have a native photo gallery option. Instead, you can create a photo gallery on a third-party site like Flickr, Facebook or WordPress. Submit a web update request form to have a link to a photo gallery added to your site. Modals may also be an option. Contact the web team at webcommunications@niu.edu for more information.
NIU provides several platforms for posting and sharing videos. Videos hosted on some platforms can be embedded on pages in our content management system.
Videos must be approved by the communications clearinghouse before being added to an NIU site. Videos must be closed-captioned, and a transcript including any text that appears in the video must be provided.
Learn more about videography services at NIU. Fill out a web update request form for assistance placing a video on your site.
A video hosted on Kaltura or YouTube may be embedded on a page in our content management system. An embedded playlist is preferable to multiple video embeds.
When embedding YouTube videos, ensure the “Show suggested videos when the video finishes” option is not selected.
Add the following code to the URL in your iframe src attribute: ?rel=0&wmode=transparent
Full-width background videos are reserved for recruitment-focused pages on the NIU site. They must be made in coordination with Institutional Communications and the photography and videography teams.
For more information about web support and development, contact:
Rachel Xidis
Director of Digital Strategy
Web and Internal Communications
rachelx@niu.edu