NIU colleges and divisions publish news on WordPress sites in the news.niu.edu network. Each site serves its own audience, from prospective and current students to alumni and employees. The news.niu.edu homepage brings together the latest stories from these sites, along with NIU Today and the NIU Newsroom.
News stories are not published as pages on niu.edu. Colleges and divisions publish news on their news sites, and pages on niu.edu display the latest stories through RSS feeds. This keeps niu.edu current. As new stories are published, older ones drop off niu.edu automatically, while the full archive stays on the news site.
Communicators in each college and division with a news site write, edit and publish stories for their college or division and are responsible for the content on their sites.
University Marketing manages the news.niu.edu network and maintains the design, settings, plugins, search configuration and accessibility standards for every site.
News sites are part of NIU's web presence and are held to the same digital accessibility standards as niu.edu, including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA, the standard required under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. University Marketing maintains accessible themes and settings across the network. Communicators are responsible for making each story accessible, including alt text for images, proper headings, accurate video captions and accessible documents.
Under the NIU Web Standards, each NIU college and division may have one news site. Departments, schools, programs, offices and centers publish their news on their college's or division's news site. Tags connect each story to the right pages on the college's or division's website.
News sites are not available for individual faculty or staff members, student organizations, personal blogs or single events. NIU units may not set up free WordPress.com blogs, which display ads.
Communicators follow the best practices for publishing on NIU news sites and the NIU Editorial Style Guide.
Sites that have not published a story in 12 months may be archived.
Web Strategy and Support
University Marketing
Still Hall 110
Rachel Xidis
Director, Digital Strategy
rachelx@niu.edu
General inquiries: webcommunications@niu.edu