INTRODUCTION


What Is the Purpose of This Web Site?
Why Do We Need Web Standards?
What Are the Missions/Visions of the AAES/ACES/COAG?
Who Is in the Web Standards Group?
What Does the Group Do?

As a strategic initiative at the AAES/ACES/COAG, Web development falls under the general responsibility of the communications departments (Extension Communications and Ag Communications), in collaboration with two other offices: the Auburn University Office of Communications and Marketing (OCM) and the ACES/AG IT department. The communications departments also share responsibility for ensuring broad compliance with Auburn University Web standards and policies. If you have questions related to Web development at AAES/ACES/COAG, contact your communications department.

The Web Standards Group and Web developers at the AAES/ACES/COAG are working to create a cohesive, sustainable, user-centered Web presence. AAES/ACES/COAG take seriously their ongoing responsibility to their Web audiences. Therefore, AAES/ACES/COAG take seriously their Web standards and compliance with these standards. Web designers should be aware that a failure to comply with AAES/ACES/COAG Web standards may result in removal of their Web pages or sites from the servers and discontinuation of their access and responsibilities for Web sites. If you are undertaking a new Web development project, you should contact your communications department early in your project to ensure a smooth site development process.

In the higher education marketplace, a professional Web presence is essential to mission, to strategy, to service and to success. The Web has become a key resource for land-grant universities. Prospective and current students use it as a primary means for acquiring information about, and services from, colleges and universities. The Web is an essential resource for faculty, staff, alumni and friends of colleges and universities. It also serves as a means of communicating research-based information to individuals, businesses and communities, both locally and globally. The Web's importance to higher education cannot be underestimated.

Web development at AAES/ACES/COAG has traditionally occurred in a completely decentralized environment. While there is value in the broad creativity of cross-divisional endeavor, it is important for AAES/ACES/COAG's ongoing Web presence to be unified, professional and strategic (see AAES/ACES/COAG's missions and visions below). The development of common standards helps us accomplish these objectives. It will also help the AAES/ACES/COAG community to evolve from static, institutionally centered concepts of "publication" and "information" on the Web to dynamic, user-centered concepts of "communication" and "resources" in Web-based services.

The standards in this guide are established to:

• provide a framework for developing and presenting AAES/ACES/COAG Web sites in a consistent manner;

• maintain appropriate flexibility for departments and units that are participating in the AAES/ACES/COAG overall Web presence;

• ensure that Web pages and sites are consistent with the AAES/ACES/COAG overall strategic marketing and communications efforts; and

• ensure that the public face of AAES/ACES/COAG on the Web is accurate, professional and directly related to the organizations’ missions and visions (see below).

AAES’s vision: To create economically viable growth and natural resource protection for rural Alabama through applied and leading edge research.

ACES’s mission: The Alabama Cooperative Extension System, the primary outreach organization for the land-grant mission of Alabama A&M University and Auburn University, delivers research-based educational programs that enable people to improve their quality of life and economic well-being.

ACES’s vision: To be a world-class educational organization providing real-life solutions that improve the lives of all Alabamians.

COAG’s mission: The College of Agriculture at Auburn University is dedicated to educating people and discovering knowledge that improves the lives of all Alabama citizens through our research, instruction and outreach programs.

COAG’s vision:
• To offer students a top-quality education that prepares them for employment, productive citizenship and life-long learning;
• To conduct research that extends and broadens knowledge about agriculture, natural resources, the environment and rural society; and
• To provide educational experiences and information for every citizen of Alabama, the region, the nation and the world through outreach programs that operate within Alabama and globally.