The department of Communications and Marketing welcomes the opportunity for input on content and design on all Durham College web initiatives.
The following guidelines provide information to campus web designers and developers and external agencies involved in the creation of official Durham College web pages. Websites developed for schools, departments or other units of the college are considered official websites in support of the core mission of the college or related administrative business. Web publishers are responsible for the content of the pages they publish and are expected to abide by the highest standards of quality, consistency and responsibility.
Official websites are subject to editing and possible removal if deemed to be non-compliant with accessibility and copyright guidelines, violate law or policy, or detrimental or damaging to the college. The process would include asking the web publisher to remove or update the non-compliant material in a timely manner. The decision to remove non-compliant content would ultimately be made by the Vice-president, Academic Excellence and Innovation.
Durham College is committed to ensuring that our website is accessible for all users, regardless of any disability they may have or the technology they use. In keeping with our new campus Accessibility Plan 2004: Year Two: Alliances for Accessibility, our official websites must be compliant with all Priority 1 checkpoints from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Resources
Additional information on website accessibility is available from:
Testing
Web designers and developers are encouraged to test pages using adaptive software. For example:
Lynx
http://lynx.browser.org/
A text browser used by people who have low-bandwidth, use screen-reading software or who prefer graphics-free Web browsing.
Jaws
www.freedomscientific.com/fs_downloads/jaws.asp
Screen-reading software that operates in all Windows applications. A free demo can be downloaded.
Evaluation
Evaluating your finished Web pages for accessibility is an important step. You can use one of the many tools available such as:
A-Prompt
http://aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/
A-Prompt (Accessibility Prompt) is a software tool designed to improve the usability of HTML documents by evaluating Web pages for accessibility barriers and then providing developers with a fast and easy way to make the necessary repairs. The software is made available through the joint efforts of the University of Toronto's Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC) and the TRACE Center at the University of Wisconsin.
Bobby
www.watchfire.com/products/webxm/bobby.aspx
This service will allow you to test web pages and help expose and repair barriers to accessibility.
Audio, images, text or video footage may only be used after confirmation of permission-to-use from the medium's copyright holder. Any medium that shows clear recognizable faces should also have an accompanying model release to ensure the people know and don't object to the use of their faces to endorse the college. These releases can be obtained from the Communications and Marketing department.
Official Web pages should identify that materials are © Durham College. Content that does meet the above standards is subject to removal.
Each website should include either a contact e-mail, or a link to a contact information page for the person maintaining the site or the person responsible for the site's information. Providing both contacts may be necessary depending on the nature of the website. A contact phone number should be included on all main pages.
Requests for new domain names or web server addresses are submitted to the College's Web Manager who will forward names approved by the Director of Marketing and Design which follow the website naming convention to the appropriate staff in IT Services for implementation.
Communications and Marketing
The Web Manager is responsible for graphics and content standards for the Durham College website, facilitation of domain name approval, and clarification of the Web guidelines.
Information Technology Services (ITS)
Information Technology Services is responsible for the registering, purchasing and maintaining domain names and web server addresses. ITS is also responsible for web server hardware and software, and administering user accounts for college websites.
Screen resolution
Browser compatibility
Macromedia Flash and Shockwave allow developers to create interactive, multimedia rich websites for their visitors. Developers who wish to use Flash, Shockwave content on official Durham College websites must:
Websites using frames should meet all accessibility and browser compatibility requirements.
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files preserve document layout so files can be viewed and printed consistently on a variety of platforms. Web authors who wish to use PDF files must:
The following types of content should not be included on official Durham College Web pages:
Advertising
This includes random graphics and links from "Web Rings" or "Link Exchanges", as well as onscreen credit for web design. Information regarding a site's designer can optionally be included in the Meta Data, or on an "about this website" page.
Pages should be accessible and compatible with a wide variety of web browsers. It is not normally appropriate to include "Best viewed with..." messages. Information on required plugins (eg. PDF or Flash) is acceptable, but all content should be accessible.
Under Construction messages
Under Construction messages or images should not be used on official websites. Groups publishing official websites must make the commitment to keep the information on any published pages current.
The Durham College logo is the graphic symbol of the college and should be used with consistency in printed and electronic formats.
To ensure brand consistency, always maintain the clarity and integrity of the college logo. The College's logo cannot be altered in any way.
The College logo is available for download in a low resolution for electronic (web) purposes and a high resolution for print-quality documents. A brief explanation for each version of the logo is included.