OFFICIAL AND UNOFFICIAL WEB RESOURCES

Page vs Site
Who Can Create and Maintain Official AAES/ACES/COAG Web Sites?
Responsibility of Site Developer and Maintainer
Unofficial Web Sites

For the purposes of this document, the term “Web page” refers to text, images and other elements that are displayed by a single URL. A “Web site” refers to a collection of pages that, altogether, represent a particular department, project or other entity.

For example, http://www.ag.auburn.edu/agillustrated/ is the URL or Web address of the collection of Web pages that make up the Web site of the College of Agriculture’s newsletter, Ag Illustrated; the Web site contains a collection of pages, which include articles from all past issues of the newsletter.

The URL of a single Web page from the Ag Illustrated Web site is http://www.ag.auburn.edu/agillustrated/Winter04/fishing.html. This page contains text and images for one story from a single issue of the newsletter.

Web development requires an understanding of the principles of design, navigation, site structure and usability and it requires a facility with relevant technologies. Even the best tools (and even the AAES/ACES/COAG templates) are no substitute for this knowledge. For this reason, we ask that department heads, deans and area leaders make careful selections when charging staff or faculty with the responsibility for official Web development at AAES/ACES/COAG. Such work requires time, expertise and proper tools.

Once Web sites are developed and templates created, a faculty member or staff person with the requisite skill and time could maintain the site. For academic Web sites, a staff person from each department should be assigned to maintain departmental sites. There are circumstances under which it would be appropriate that students or graduate assistants work on official Web sites (see Getting Help with Site Development).

As the development and maintenance of AAES/ACES/COAG Web sites become part of the assigned responsibilities of faculty or staff, they will become personally responsible for ensuring that the site complies with applicable AAES/ACES/COAG policies, standards and guidelines (located on and linked from this Web site).

f the person with Web development or maintenance duties for the site leaves, another person must be assigned the responsibility for maintaining the site. If no such person has been given this responsibility, both the communications department and either the dean, the unit director or department head must be informed.

Faculty or staff sponsors of an organization can request Web space for their organizatioon by submitting a Web Development/Hosting Request Form to ACES/AG IT.

All unofficial web sites must meet the content requirements as outlined in Web Development Policies.