We are Now the Penn State Web Usability Group

Posted by admin on July 12th 2007 to Announcements,Usability

The Web Content Group has undergone changes this month:

  1. Anne Petersen, of Undergraduate Admissions, is our new chair.
  2. We are now the Penn State Web Usability Group. Our mission is to provide Web usability information (and resources if possible) and to promote Web usability best practices at Penn State. We will work in cooperation with Penn State’s Web Standards Group.

This way for information about meeting times and locales, along with meeting agendas.

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Podcast of March 26 Roundtable Discussion

Posted by admin on March 28th 2007 to General,The Web Profession,Web Management,Web Standards

Part I: Rose Pruyne, Rob Dickerson, Anne Petersen, and Wendy Jones, members of the group talk about the challenges facing their Web teams and how they are addressing those challenges – particularly in the context of choosing a CMS and having ongoing CMS support. Wendy floats the suggestion of a central University Web unit that provides support and guidance. Rose begins discussion on CMS plans.

mp3 Listen to Part I

Part II: Continued discussion of each unit’s CMS plans: two units going with Zope/Plone; one going with home-grown ColdFusion CMS; third unit still in selection phase. Discussion and speculation regarding Wendy’s suggestion of a centralized Penn State Web team that would provide support, resources, and guidance to the Penn State Web community.

mp3 Listen to Part II

Part III: More about a centralized team: How would this team support the multiple CMS used at Penn State? Help to evaluate CMS? Provide support for small Web shops? Help units that do not have a Web office at all? Help educate administration regarding the Web? What would be its top priority out of the gate? Has Penn State improved in terms of fostering collaboration among all of its Web professionals?

mp3 Listen to Part III

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Example of a Simple File-Naming Policy

Posted by admin on March 26th 2007 to General,Good Code, Bad Code,The Web Profession,Web Management,Web Standards

The following is an example of a simple file naming policy used on the DAS Web site.

(more…)

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The “Family of Publications”

Posted by admin on March 14th 2007 to The Web Profession,Web Design,Web Management,Web Standards,Writing for the Web

Here’s one that’s been buzzing around universities for the past several years: The desire to make the Web presence and brochures look like “a family of publications.”
Branding and consistency. These are the given reasons.

>> Read the rest of this post at rosepruyne.com

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Web Design/Redesign Timeline

Posted by admin on January 31st 2007 to Web Design,Web Management

Timeline

The following is a timeline model we have developed for designing/redesigning a Web site. To construct this timeline, we developed a case study site with the following characteristics. (more…)

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Looking for a Content Management System?

Posted by admin on December 04th 2006 to General

Patrick Berry just posted some insightful advice on his blog about choosing a CMS. I can personally vouch for the veracity of each of his points. The accompanying comments are good, too.

- Rose Pruyne

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The Case for Incremental Redesign: Part II

Posted by admin on August 25th 2006 to Web Design,Web Management

If you are in any way responsible for a Web site, you should have some understanding of the principles of Extreme Programming. Cultivated as a discipline of software development, it is a combination of ensuring that designs remain uncomplicated, centering changes around user requirements, and employing the concept of the “Whole Team.” The result is that small changes are released as they are needed – and endorsed – by the client. [Read the rest of this article.]

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The Case for Incremental Redesign: Part I

Posted by admin on August 25th 2006 to Web Design,Web Management

Consider the dashboard of your automobile.
Aside from a number of extras that have crept in over the decades, it’s essentially configured the same as the dash of the car you drove as a kid.

In fact, the design of the automobile’s critical controls hasn’t significantly altered since the Model T Ford. It’s worked for more than 100 years, and we love it. [Read the rest of this article.]

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Web Standards, Part II: The Problem with Content Management Systems

Posted by admin on August 25th 2006 to General,Web Standards

This article was originally posted at Blogs@SI on April 22, 2005.

Content management systems are the only sane way to manage Web sites. Once you’ve worked with a CMS, you will not want to go back to the bromidic and irksome labor of diddling with static Web pages. [Read the rest of this article.]

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Web Standards, Part I: Conversion to Web Standards

Posted by admin on August 25th 2006 to Web Standards

This article was originally posted at Blogs@SI on April 22, 2005.

Just having served on a panel that presented to Penn State Web developers about converting to Web Standards, I’m reminded once again that the biggest challenge with talking (or writing) about this subject is figuring out what on earth can be said that already hasn’t been discussed six ways to Sunday. And not only by the Web Dev community in general, but by individuals such as Jeffrey Zeldman and Eric Meyer.
Well… [Read the rest of this article]

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