Web Site Management

Web Page Development Guide

The Chaffey College World Wide Web sites provide information about the college programs, services, facilities and resources. In addition, the Chaffey College servers and websites exist to support interactive educational processes, learning environment components, and business transactions of the college. Links to off-site and non-Chaffey servers exist to provide enhanced communication and research opportunities. Chaffey College recognizes the value and potential of publishing on the Internet. Faculty, staff, and student organization members may create electronic pages that carry out College business in support of the Chaffey College mission for display on the World Wide Web. The Coordinator, Electronic Media (webmaster) is responsible for the development and deployment of all administrative web procedures, systems, servers, and sites. Individuals who develop Chaffey College web pages must ensure those pages follow appropriate guidelines, standards, and procedures referenced or described in this document, including compliance with Section 508 accessibility guidelines.

Application

These procedures apply to development and deployment of Chaffey College World Wide Web pages ("homepages," "websites," "sub-sites," "web pages") representing college schools/divisions, departments, programs, sanctioned organizations and to any member of the college community acting in his or her college capacity and/or using college resources.

Additional and separate departmental procedures may be developed to address the district’s web-based distance learning components. Those components generally fall within the individual instructor’s on-site individual page guidelines.

Individuals who develop web pages agree to adhere to these guidelines and procedures in conjunction with the Chaffey College Internet/Network Use Policy. Contents of all web pages must follow college standards regarding image use and aesthetics ("uniform look and feel"), nondiscrimination, appropriate levels of accessibility (Section 508) and must conform to federal and state laws and College policies.

Definitions - General

EXTRANET is a term applied to a closed company or organization network that allows access by selected external partner companies or organizations. 

FTP (file transfer protocol) may be employed to allow update of web pages housed on Chaffey College or remote servers. Due to limited server resources, access to this service will be provided on an as-needed basis, subject to additional guidelines, through the Chaffey College Webmaster.

INTERNET is the term associated with the global network of computer networks, of which the World Wide Web is a subset. Information posted on the World Wide Web is intended for unfettered access by anyone with a computer and Web browser.

INTRANET is a closed network of local and remote servers and workstations associated with a company or organization. Access to an intranet is typically for internal organization communication and distribution of private and sensitive material.

LINKS are the backbone of the World Wide Web and as such are essential to effective and efficient research and communication. Links from Chaffey College web pages to external servers are for the purpose of professional and educational endeavor, and are not intended to promote or transact business not related to the Chaffey College mission.

“LOOK AND FEEL” is a term used to describe the visual presentation of a company, product, or service. In the case of Chaffey College web pages, the look and feel of the primary college pages will follow visual standards established by the marketing, web and graphic services staff in the same manner as printed material.

“PAGE DEVELOPER” is the term used to identify the person responsible for the content and maintenance off a page or collection of pages covered by these guidelines. This person is the point of contact between a school, department, or group and the Chaffey webmaster.

Definitions - Page

DISTRICT AND GENERAL PAGES are the "front end" of the Chaffey College web presence and are the responsibility of the district marketing, web, and graphic design departments in the same manner as other publications (print, CD, video).

SCHOOL OR DEPARTMENT PAGES represent Chaffey College and a specific school, department, or program. As with print media, content should be developed by and reflect the general aspects of the area and its personnel. These pages should be developed by, or in collaboration with, the college electronic media/graphic services staff, the office of educational technology or the teaching learning center.

STUDENT CLUB OR OTHER ORGANIZATION PAGES include aspects of department pages but fall under the jurisdiction and additional guidelines of the appropriate area (Student Activities, for clubs) or organization(senates, unions, committees). Visual content should conform to the Chaffey College guidelines but may additionally reflect the culture of the club or organization, as long as minimum Chaffey College link and logo components are included.

ON-SITE INDIVIDUAL PAGES are housed on district equipment, are maintained by an individual employee for Chaffey-related professional purposes, and are interpreted to be the sole responsibility of the individual. In the spirit of consistency and maintaining a singular Chaffey College identity, developers of these pages will build content, links and access that conform to or compliment applicable Chaffey College guidelines and procedures. On-Site individual pages may provide information about an individual that is relevant to that individual’s role at the college but must not be used to promote, solicit or carry out commercial transactions not related to Chaffey College.

OFF-SITE PAGES are housed on servers not owned by, not controlled by, nor within the scope of liability of Chaffey College, but are maintained by an individual employed by the college for their professional use. The individual is responsible for all costs related to hosting these pages. In the spirit of consistency and maintaining a singular Chaffey College identity, it is hoped that the developers of these pages will build content, links and access that conform to or compliment applicable Chaffey College guidelines and procedures.

Legal Compliance

All Chaffey College web page developers will adhere to relevant federal and state laws and the policies of the Chaffey Community College District.

Copyright and trademark laws apply to electronic publishing, as well as to print publishing. Unless exempted by law, or if they are not the holders of the copyright or trademark, page developers must have permission to publish the information, graphics, images, audio, or photographs on their pages. Electronic publications are subject to the same college policies and standards as print publications.

All page developers are responsible for compliance with Federal Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d), Section 508 regulations, World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) recommendations, and must ensure their web pages conform to Chaffey College aesthetic, technical and accessibility guidelines.

PAGE DEVELOPMENT

General Content Guidelines

Staff of schools, departments, and organizations within the college may define content for web pages within their area. This content must be consistent with the overall Chaffey College guidelines, but may provide additional detail, or follow additional department guidelines, and/or restrictions. Each Chaffey web page developer is responsible for posting information that is accurate and current. When possible, for accuracy, general college information should be referenced by a link to the standard district statistical and information pages that are maintained by the marketing, graphics, research and computing services staff.

The electronic media/graphic services department will set the standards and design for primary college web pages(administrative areas, programs, and schools). These images and HTML documents may be downloaded and used in other college web pages. In addition, the electronic media/graphic services office may provide additional images and components for inclusion in individual or department pages. The Chaffey College Guide to Publications, available in each administrative and school office, should be consulted, as should the marketing, web and graphic design staff, for college identity and visual design standards.

To ensure all Chaffey College websites appear to be part of the same organization, all primary college pages should include the standard navigation button bar (or current navigation elements in use by, and available from, the Webmaster), and a text-based link to the Chaffey College main page. The first page of department, club, or individual site (on-site or off-site), should carry the college logo and a link to the Chaffey College main page. The creation/revision date must appear on each page along with the identity of the page developer. This can either be visible in the browser or may be a hidden comment line at the beginning or end of the HTML code. The main or home page of a department should include instruction about how viewers can obtain additional information, show a phone number, and include an e-mail link to a department individual.

The main pages of the Chaffey College sites are assembled with a variety of components including Server Side Includes (SSI), JavaScript, Java servlets, applets, databases and Java Server Pages (JSP). Because of these techniques, page developers should use caution when downloading and reusing HTML code for their pages, and should meet with the web design staff to ensure proper function and navigation are maintained.

Links are permitted to commercial services and ventures that are partners with the college, or that bring benefit to the learning environment, provide research sources for students, or are activities concomitant to Chaffey College programs, services, and mission.

Primary Pages of Chaffey College

Each main page of a sub-site must have a link to the Chaffey College main page:

https://www.chaffey.edu

Each page must provide contact information for the responsible party, either hidden in the HTML code, or, preferably, in the form of a "mailto" HTML tag.
As with other district publications, each page must be approved, for content by:
Instructional areas - Dean and/or Coordinator
Administrative offices - Director and/or Supervisor

Each page must be developed following the steps listed in the web page publication procedures (listed below).
All pages should conform to current accessibility guidelines.

Student Clubs and Organizations

As an entity of Chaffey Community College District, student clubs and organizations shall adhere to all procedures and guidelines as they pertain to web pages. Each page, or the first page if a sub-site, must have a link to the Chaffey College main page and to the Chaffey College web disclaimer page.

Each page must be approved for content by the club advisor and by the director of student activities. Each page must be approved for form by electronic media/graphic Services. All major changes to student club pages must be pre-approved by the club advisor and director of student activities.

Current contact information for the page developer must be on file in the electronic media/graphic services office. If the site is housed on a server not maintained by Chaffey College, complete contact information for the service provider must be provided to the Chaffey College webmaster prior to being linked to any Chaffey College directory.

All pages must conform to current accessibility guidelines.

Student, Individual Staff/Faculty and Class Project Pages

Chaffey College provides a variety of servers for Internet and intranet activity. For security and maintenance reasons, additional off-site resources may be used for web-based classroom support.

Advertising of an entity or activity supporting commercial endeavors not related to Chaffey College or its affiliated services is prohibited on pages housed on college servers.

Except for approved college business transactions, solicitation or acceptance of credit card information or any other personal information is prohibited on pages housed on college servers.

Excessive computer resource consumption that might impair the overall server performance will be referred to the applicable department for review.

Each page, or first page if a sub-site, must have a link to the Chaffey College main page and to the Chaffey College web disclaimer page.

Formal content approval is not required for student, staff, and faculty individual pages. However, Chaffey College reserves the right to remove pages from the system, and disconnect links to remote servers, if they deviate in any way from these web development guidelines, or from the acceptable use policies as outlined in the Chaffey College Internet/Network Policies. The page developer will be notified when a page or link is removed from the server.

Course page or site content will be the absolute purview of the instructor of the course. It is recommended that all course-supporting activity be maintained within a closed learning environment (such as Blackboard, Moodle, or other distance learning platform provider).

All pages should conform to current accessibility guidelines.

Technical Issues

Development of web presentations may be performed on any computer platform and should be saved in standard HTML format. Proper file naming conventions must be followed, with the appropriate suffix (.html, .htm) added. Graphics should be prepared in the GIF, JPEG, or PNG format with the appropriate suffix in the file name.

Fast transmission of web content through the weakest connection to the slowest computer is a constant concern to developers of sites directed to a wide audience, such as our student population. The most effective web pages tend to be the quickest to download and fastest to appear in any browser. Please refrain from complex presentations that include heavy animation, streaming media, complex JAVA scripts, unnecessary frames or complex material that might inhibit the speedy transmission of, or searching for, college information.

The same aesthetic and technical guidelines required of Chaffey College print publication design apply to web-based materials (see Chaffey College Guide to Publications).

The first page of a directory or folder of web pages should be titled: index.html (or index.shtml if server-side includes (SSI) is employed—as is the case with most general college and directory pages).

Page developers are encouraged to use Adobe Dreamweaver as a visual development tool. This tool writes clean and efficient HTML code and is easy to learn and use. Code generated by Microsoft products (Excel and Word) contains proprietary and platform-specific items that tend to bloat file storage, slow transmission, and make editing difficult. Code also may be edited in any editor that creates plain text, such as BBEDIT or NotePad+.

File names should be limited to 32 characters, including suffix.

The primary Chaffey College web servers do not support FrontPage Extensions. Page developers should extract the pertinent HTML and image files from their local site prior to moving the pages to the live server.

All page developers are responsible for compliance with Federal Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d), Section 508 regulations, World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) recommendations, and must ensure their web pages conform to Chaffey College aesthetic, technical, and accessibility, guidelines. Try the free Cogentis accessibility test to check for Section 508 compliance.  A method similar to this tool is contained within the utilities of Dreamweaver. Developers should check all pages before posting them to the server.

Please consult the web design staff for additional hardware, software, and training options prior to developing individual pages.

Page Publication

Once completed and approved, the web page or site will be posted on the live server. Server access and requirements will depend on the type of page or site. The webmaster should be alerted (by e-mail) or consulted when a new site is being launched, and when major revisions have been made.

Before publication, the site should be checked for compliance with accessibility guidelines, and should be revised accordingly.

The pages will be checked for function and technical stability by the web design staff. Appropriate links to Chaffey standard pages may be added, and the page developer may be asked to adjust images or content if needed to conform to publication guidelines or technical standards. After initial posting, the pages will remain on-line until replaced by the initial developer. Time frames for posting of pages and revisions will be subject to established criteria by electronic media and graphic services staff.

The Web Committee may serve an advisory role to assist the webmaster as needed in guideline development and procedural issues. This group will check new pages for functionality and procedure compliance, and alert the webmaster to points of concern.

Page developers should periodically check their remote page links to ensure currency and proper function.

Step-by-Step Publishing Guidelines

1. Pages are developed and reviewed by appropriate department staff.
2. Pages are checked for accessibility by the page developer.
3. Revisions are made.
4. Files are posted to the server, either directly, or through the webmaster/graphics staff.
5. E-mail is sent to the webmaster with the URL of the newly posted site and any notes on features that need attention in review.
6. The webmaster will assess any areas of concern and take appropriate corrective steps.
7. Corrections are made as appropriate by the original developer or web design staff.
8. Repeat Step 4.
   
   

Violations

Chaffey College provides computer services, networking and computer facilities to enhance the college’s educational and administrative processes. A timely response to alleged resource misuse or guideline infringement will be made. If the complaint is found to be valid, Chaffey College will take appropriate actions. If a page is removed from the Chaffey server because of a violation of district web policy, guidelines or procedures, the page developer will be notified.

The following are examples that violate the law, college policy, or both:

• Libelous statements
• Use and distribution of pirated software
• Destructive software
• Illegally used copyrighted images and text
• Pornographic or lascivious text or images that are not part of course curriculum

Chaffey College Web Disclaimer

Chaffey College provides computer user accounts and access to technology resources for faculty members, staff and students, for education- and profession-related purposes. The Chaffey College World Wide Web sites provide information about the college programs, services, facilities, and resources. In addition, the Chaffey College servers and Web sites exist to support interactive educational processes, learning environment components, and business transactions of the college.

Chaffey College makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness,reliability or suitability of the information presented on the World Wide Web.

Chaffey College may provide links to resources outside the college but has no control over these resources or their content. Chaffey disclaims all responsibility for accuracy, content and/or appropriateness of external pages.

Individual employee web space and pages are provided as professional and educational work areas. These individual pages are reviewed for adherence to technical standards only. Individual instructor page content is determined by the page owner and is not reviewed by the college.

All page developers try to ensure reasonable compliance with Federal Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d), Section 508 regulations, World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) recommendations, and must ensure their web pages conform to Chaffey College aesthetic, technical, and accessibility, guidelines.

Questions and comments should be directed to: webmaster@chaffey.edu

This disclaimer releases Chaffey College from external liability for content of web presentations. Contact information is provided on the form for viewer comments.

This statement does not remove internal responsibility and accountability from employees developing or approving Chaffey College web pages. College employees and vendors are expected to comply with the web page development guidelines, and should ensure content is appropriate and accurate. 

Server Administration

Separate from the college Management Information Systems, Information Systems and Information Technology services, electronic media staff maintain several servers to support the Internet and intranet needs of the district. These servers house image files and data for publication development, host the college administrative web sites, and host the employee telephone directory. Department staff are responsible for hardware, software and user account management for these servers. 

Content Development 

Electronic media staff generate audio and visual content for publication to network devices by employing a variety of tools. Staff members and vendors are skilled in the visual arts as well as in the development of code necessary for effective and dynamic web site experiences. 

Webmaster

This staff member serves as the clearing house for e-mail directed to webmaster@chaffey.edu. Mail coming to this account is scanned and routed to an appropriate department for response.