Templates

[Tim Gratil]

I'm doing some external analysis of other institutions to see what their offerings are in regards to the usage and implementation of templates. Our school is in the process of developing a template generator that will reduce time issues and make templates more accessible to web site owners (non-webbies). More specifically,

* What is your university offering, feature-wise, for your own Template Engine?
* Who are you offering the features to (i.e. seasoned/veteran users – or – new users)?

[Alexa Biron]

You can check out what UConn offers here:

http://webtools.uconn.edu/

Almost every webmaster (new or seasoned) uses this page for resources. Some use the entire template while others grab the header signature that is required and code the rest by hand.

[Lynn Barnett]

We designed a template that reflects our home page design. We do some work to roll it out for each client using OmniUpdate, which we call "Web Express". They choose the layout, we help with the header some photos, and then we turn them loose to enter their content. When they are ready, we launch the site, and they can maintain it. They pay an annual fee for the Web Express service, but that's it. That includes help/support via a listserv connected to RT (ticketing app). It's been a quick and inexpensive solution for many units who don't have a lot of money to spend on their web presence.

We do not just provide the html/css for the templates. The template offering is always linked to OmniUpdate if the client wants to maintain the site. That way we can keep control over the integrity of the template design, and we can store some of the code behind it centrally.

Details of our service:
http://nsit.uchicago.edu/services/template/

[Seth Meranda]

Every site on our domain (unl.edu) is required to adhere to one template. This template is maintained by the our Web Developers Network, a centrally organized entity of developers from across the campus. We provide the templates as .dwts or straight HTML/CSS. They are updated on a regular basis, and all departments are required to keep servers in sync with the main server on a daily basis.

All documentation and resources are available at http://wdn.unl.edu.