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| OBTAINING AND USING THE AAES/ACES/COAG TEMPLATES
Developers of official sites at the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, Alabama Cooperative Extension System and the College of Agriculture at Auburn University (AAES/ACES/COAG) are required to use the official AAES/ACES/COAG templates, or to design their sites adhering closely to the template concepts, in consultation with their communications departments (Extension Communications or Ag Communications). The goal is that all AAES/ACES/COAG Web sites will present a professional, cohesive, user-centered experience for every visitor to the sites.
The AAES/ACES/COAG Web site templates have been created according to the principles listed here. The structure of the templates provides a range of available options or creative development.
Types of Templates
Principles of Template Use
Required Links in the Templates
Elements NOT to Include
Instructions for Using the Templates
AAES/ACES/COAG Stylesheets
Web Training
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| Types of Templates |
The AAES/ACES/COAG templates are designed to be used for official AAES/ACES/COAG pages. Templates have been created for each of the following categories: administrative, academic, programmatic, auxiliary and co-sponsored.
• Administrative sites include all non-academic operations.
• Academic sites include official College sites or academic program sites.
•Programmatic sites
include Extension program areas sites.
•Auxiliary sites
focus on specific areas that are closely affiliated
with the missions of AAES/ACES/COAG.
•Co-sponsored sites
are like auxiliary sites but have received funding
or been planned by organizations or agencies outside
of AAES/ACES/COAG.
The templates provide a “family look” to each category of AAES/ACES/COAG Web sites. It is important for AAES/ACES/COAG sites to contain specific elements of similarity so that they present a unified look and feel to Web site visitors.
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| Principles of Template Use |
All new pages will be required to use the templating system and old pages will be converted as soon as possible.
Page templates should be used as provided, or modified minimally, with your communications department’s assistance and approval, to accommodate specific area needs.
All modifications to the official page design must conform to the template concepts, so there is a "family look" to all AAES/ACES/COAG sites. This generally includes template elements such as the navigation bar, the color palette, the stylesheet components, the graphical presentation and other elements. There is room for creativity within these concepts; please consult with your communications department for individual sites.
It is the responsibility of Web site content providers to ensure that all information in their Web sites remains accurate, current and compliant with University policies and that all materials in their directories on the AAES/ACES/COAG servers contain ONLY files and data that are directly and currently a part of their official AAES/ACES/COAG Web sites.
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| Required Links in the Templates |
For all templates:
On all pages of your site, the title bar (the very top of the browser window, above the Web page itself) must include your organization’s name: Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, Alabama Cooperative Extension System or the College of Agriculture at Auburn University.
On all pages of your site, there must be a link to your site's main page (designed or labeled so it is distinguishable from the link to the AAES/ACES/COAG home pages).
On your site's main page, a
link to Auburn University and ACES (for AAES and
COAG ) or Auburn University, ALabama A&M University and
AAES (for ACES) must be present. This can be included
as part of the footer / masthead.
On your site’s main page you are required to have the logo of your organization (AAES, ACES or COAG). The logo should be used to link to that organization’s home page.
On your site's main page only, there must be a link to an e-mail address for your current site administrator. We recommend that you not use the person's name, but rather include a link such as this: “Contact the site administrator,” or something similar ("Webmaster" is acceptable). This information must be kept current and accurate. We further recommend that you use the Secure Mail system developed by ACES/AG IT.
For all templates EXCEPT co-sponsored templates:
On all pages of your site, you should include links to Calendar (the centrally used calendar) and Search.
On your site’s main page, you are required to link to the following statements as appropriate: Disclaimer, Copyright, Privacy Policy, In furtherance, Equal Opportunity. These statements are incorporated in the AAES/ACES/COAG templates and can be found on the ACES/AG IT Web development site (see statements).
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| Elements NOT to Include |
There are certain elements that detract from the user experience and from the professionalism of your site's presentation. Please do not include the following on your Web site:
Do not include: Individual dates or other specifically time-sensitive information on Web pages, unless you are thoroughly prepared to update them EVERY day, or unless you have an automated method for daily updates. It is important to maintain completely updated information.
Do not include: The site administrator's name on every page of your site. A reference to the site administrator (not by name) is recommended on the main page only. At deeper site levels, it can be hard to maintain this information accurately, and it is also unnecessary.
Do not include: Distracting design elements, such as flashing GIFs, blinking text, background images, super-saturated (very bright) colors, huge or tiny text sizes, very large image files, looped sound files or oversized images.
Do not include: Traffic counters. Information about traffic on your site is available through WebTrends.
Do not include: any non-AAES/ACES/COAG advertising, promotions or commercial activity. These activities are prohibited in the ag.auburn.edu and aces.edu domains, because they are .edu domains.
Do not include: Any files or data of any kind that are not directly and currently a part of your official AAES/ACES/COAG Web site (even if they are not linked on the site).
Do not include: Frames, or Flash-only navigation.
Further information is in Organization and Design
Guide.
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| Instructions for Using the Templates |
After you obtain approval from your communications department and download Contribute, templates for your pages will be available within the program.
You should use the appropriate template as a main page for your department, program or area site. Then, use the options for content pages to create the additional pages within your site.
The "live" links that are included in the template include both local and global navigation. There are also link "placeholders" in the templates that are not live links. Use these link placeholders and link lists to create your site's customized content.
After you have added content, including text and images as you wish, your page(s) are ready to be published to the Web. Contact the person with publishing responsibilities within your department or area.
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| AAES/ACES/COAG Stylesheets |
The templates are based on stylesheets. Examples of AAES/ACES/COAG stylesheets are located on the ACES/AG IT Web development site (see stylesheets).
It is important that you do not override stylesheets by specifying your own styles or the Web pages you create using the templates will not appear correctly.
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| Web Training |
If you need assistance in using the templates and graphics files, contact your communications department about training. Other training opportunities will be publicized through the ACES/AG IT Web development site (see training).
Tutorials on Dreamweaver and Contribute are available the ACES/AG IT Web development site (see tutorials).
Contribute software contains tutorials and help files for creating your Web site.
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