Randolph Community College
Web Content Management Guidelines

Purpose
Randolph Community College's main Web site, www.randolph.edu, is designed as an external-focused communications tool designed to promote the College and its programs. Key audiences for the site include prospective students and parents, current students, faculty, staff, alumni and business partners. The Web site follows RCC publications guidelines and promotes a College image consistent with other RCC communications.

Roles and Responsibilities
The Office of College Marketing is responsible for the main Web site. The Marketing office receives technical support from the Computer Services department.

Content Management System
Randolph Community College's CMS is a custom-written PHP program that interfaces with a mySQL database. The main purpose is to have a searchable Web site using a database where page content is stored.

The webmaster can set up multiple users, each with different permissions to maintain certain areas of the Web site's content. Users will only be able to view/modify files they have permission to edit.

The CMS uses predefined templates, and each Web site page is assigned a template. The template will pull the page content from the database and insert it into the PHP file for the visitor to see. Each template can be easily changed as needed, and the changes will automatically be made across all pages with that template.

Content Manager List
The Office of College Marketing maintains the Content Management System and will provide updates to sections of the site upon request from that department. Each section of the Web site may be managed by one individual from that department, identified as that section's "content manager." The content manager will be the contact for any content additions or edits made to his/her section of the Web, and will be trained to use the CMS by the webmaster. The content manager should:

• have access to Web design software for simple formatting in html (i.e., Dreamweaver) or know simple html coding. A guide to simple html coding is provided at www.randolph.edu/newevents/publications/html_help.php
  
• be able to identify and edit the information that the department wishes to have posted to the College Web site.

Responsibilities of the Web content manager are as follows:

• review the department's section of the Web site routinely to check for accuracy of content and viability of links
  
• convey to the webmaster all material that should be posted to the department's Web site and any changes or edits to be made

Content Policy - Main Pages

The home page and gateway pages of RCC's Web site are marketing tools. As such, the content is controlled by the Marketing office with input from administrators, faculty and staff. Home page space is premium space and although we understand everyone wants a link on the home page, we also understand that to present an attractive and user friendly site, we must limit the amount of links.

The home page is set up to make a maximum visual impact with a large photo of RCC students, facilities, or classes. These photos rotate with each new refresh of the page. An RCC student success story (which also rotates) is boxed on the right side of the page and links to more information on that student/graduate.

Links to Gateway pages are on the left navigation bar and currently consist of the following: Future Students, Students, Parents, Alumni & Friends, Business/Community, Faculty & Staff. These links go to introductory pages designed for this particular target audience and they include links to information that audience might find particularly useful.

Eight pull-down menus reside along the bottom of the top banner. This banner is repeated on every page on the Web site, making for easier navigation for the user.

At the bottom right of the page is a list of Quick Links designed to include links that RCC Web site users consistently need to find quickly. Some of these Quick Links are permanent residents of the home page and some rotate on and off, depending on need.

Submitting changes for the main pages: RCC's Marketing office and the design/programming team who worked on the redesign went through considerable research when choosing the particular links and wording used on the home page and gateway pages. However, as the College grows and needs change, these links will need to be updated. Anyone in the College community can suggest a change/addition for the home page, gateway pages, navigation bars, or Quick Links. These changes should be submitted to the webmaster, the director of communications and marketing, or the assistant director for marketing. Approval of the change can be made by this group, or might be referred to the College Development staff or the Marketing Committee for further discussion and approval/disapproval.

Content Policy - Internal Pages

Accuracy - Information entered into the CMS must be accurate and up to date. The following items should be reviewed at least annually and any updates or edits submitted to the webmaster or made by the content manager:

• dates
  
• links
  
• spelling and grammar
  
• financial and other dated information
  
• contact information
  
• faculty information

Catalog related pages - The College catalog on the Web site is updated by the Office of College Marketing each year after the printed catalog is updated. In addition, the catalog pdf and the individual program area pages which outline curriculum classes per semester will be updated throughout the year by the Marketing office as changes are submitted from the appropriate dean or vice president.

Faculty/staff directory - the information in the Faculty/Staff Directory is maintained in a database by the Office of College Marketing. Individuals are responsible for notifying the Marketing office when phone numbers or other information, including educational credentials, change.

Photos and pdfs - Currently only the webmaster has access to upload photos and pdfs to the Web site, so everything needs to be submitted before you post pages with photo links or links to pdfs or other documents. At some point, we hope to add a feature allowing content managers the ability to upload photos and documents.

Linking to other sites - When using hyperlinks to link to information outside of RCC's official Web site, you must make it clear to the user that they are leaving RCC's site. Do not link to sites that

• advocate illegal activities (e.g., taking drugs, theft, copyright violation, etc.)
  
• promote pornography or violence.
  
• contain and promote hate speech and racism.
  
• It is also important to think twice before linking to private sites. For instance, if you link to just one photo supply company, how can you justify not providing links to all photo supply companies?

Crediting and Copyright - Make sure you credit properly when referencing other people's material. Copyright protection is granted by law to authors of published and unpublished materials. RCC Web pages must respect and abide by copyright law, as well as maintain copyright ownership of the College's materials and resources. For RCC's policies and guidelines for copyrighted materials, see the RCC Personnel Handbook and Policy Manual: Index: VF, Page: 1 of 5, Adopted: 4/15/99. The manual is available at www.randolph.edu/administration/human_resources/.

Also, refer to the College's Acceptable use (Electronic Access) Policy, also in the Personnel Handbook and Policy Manual: Index: IX A, Page: 1 of 3, Adopted: 4/15/99.

Style Guide/Formatting Standards

Spaces
Single space after periods before beginning next sentence.
Months
Abbreviate when used with a date: Feb. 14, 2007. Spell out in a sentence: School will start in September.
Hours/Minutes
No colon and zero minutes at whole hour. Use lowercase and periods with a.m. and p.m. For example, 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m.; noon (not 12 noon)
Numbers
In general, the numbers one through nine should be spelled out and numbers 10 and above should be represented as numerals.
Seasons
No caps (winter, spring, fall summer), unless used as a formal name (Spring Fling)
Streets
Abbreviate when used in an address: 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd. Spell out in a sentence: The street is too narrow for parking.
RCC Conventions
Use of "college": Cap when used as the formal name: The College is growing. No cap when informal: The college students went on a break.
IT-related Terminology
Internet
Web site (but webmaster, webcam, webcast)
e-mail
podcast
Academic Titles
Capitalize and spell out formal titles when they precede a name: Chancellor Carlos Santiago, Professor John Smith. Lowercase elsewhere: Susan James, professor; John Doe, president of the club.
Academic Degrees
bachelor's degree; master's degree; associate degree
Do not "double amplify" degree:
Correct: Susan Smith, Ph.D.
Wrong: Dr. Susan Smith, Ph.D.

Accessibility Guidelines

It is Randolph Community College's intent that all our official Web sites shall be accessible to people with disabilities. The Guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) shall be the standard for Web accessibility and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. The W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are at www.w3.org/WAI/.