Planning Your New Site
Take Stock of Your Current Site
This is a great time to evaluate things. Is your navigation intuitive? Can users can easily find the information they're looking for? Do you really think users want to see a shot of your kid? (No matter how cute he/she is?) Try to see things from your users' perspective—if possible, ask a person or two for their opinion about the ease or pain of finding info on your current site.
Separate Internal and External Information
Information meant for internal audiences (e.g., colleagues) tends to clog up web sites. External users should be able to find the information they need quickly and intuitively without having to sort through information that isn’t related to their needs.
Determine Your Navigation
The most current version of the site design allow for 4 levels of nested navigation:
-
Primary Navigation
This is the first level of navigation, i.e., what users will see as soon as they arrive to your site.
-
Secondary Navigation
If a user clicks on a primary navigation link, you have the option of giving them more options through secondary navigation. For example: Under the current School of Medicine web site, "About the School of Medicine" is an example of primary navigation. If you click that, you’ll find secondary navigation links to "Mission", "Strategic Plan", "History", etc.
-
Tertiary Navigation
Within a second-level folder, tertiary content can exist.
-
Fourth-Level Navigation
If three levels aren’t enough, you can always add a fourth nested level!
Determine Role Distribution
As a site manager, you have the ability to share web maintenance capabilities to other users. You can also set limits to what others can do. For instance, you can limit control to certain folders or pages (by sharing just those items), or grant the ability to create unpublished content only, with the intent that you'll review and publish it.
Determine Site Features
Homepage Image ("Hero Graphic")
In order to maintain the professional look and feel, OIS will work with your organization to determine the most appropriate picture/caption/design free of charge. Choose from the available images. If you would like something specialized (e.g. a flash animation, reloading images, etc.) we would be happy to work with you on a charge basis.
Two or Three-column Layout
Each organization will be able to select either a two ir three column layout for pages. The first column, the navigation column, will always be present. The second column holds the main content of the site. The third column (if needed) may hold features such as news, events, and/or your own special feature (e.g. grand rounds, announcements, etc.). OIS will work with you to determine the best layout for your needs.
Homepage Features
The second and third columns are customizable to fit homepage features such as news, events, announcements, etc. What would you like to highlight on your homepage? Would you rather keep it simple with a welcome message to users, or do you need to display upcoming events and special announcements?
[top]
Contacting OIS to Have Your Site Made
If you are ready to get started, register for an introduction and hands-on training. These are two, separate sessions. At the introductory session we'll start the process of having your site created and give you an overview of it's features. In the second, hands-on training session, you'll learn how to add content yourself and build your site. Each session lasts an hour.
School of Medicine Web System: Introduction
At the introductory training session, a department/center/program/office root site will be created by OIS. We’ll find where it belongs in the School of Medicine structure, place it there, and give you (the site manager) access. To do this, we'll need to know:
- Your full name and Onyen.
- The name of your site (ex: "Office of Information Systems")
- The desired site location (ex: "http://www.med.unc.edu/ois"
|
Your site will be void of content until you attend...
School of Medicine Web System: Training
We'll show you how to start building your site, as well as how to delegate varying degrees of site maintenance to others (if you so choose). The site manager is responsible for assigning appropriate roles and permissions to others. After this training session, you'll be able to build and maintain your own site, and OIS will be available to answer questions and assist you as needed!
[top]
