Updated August 4, 2007

A companion to Policy 12000: Usage of the University Name and the Virginia Tech Identity Standards and Style Guide.

Website scope and target audiences

Virginia Tech's main website (http://www.vt.edu) serves as its most prominent face to the university community and its many publics. It encompasses the main index page and gateway pages linked from main navigation, including:

The main website also includes other content areas (example: commencement information) and pages (example: privacy statement) housed directly under the vt.edu domain or one of its gateway pages. Collectively, these pages constitute the top- and second-level pages referenced in this document. See Appendix A for a complete list.

The target audiences of the main website, as defined by the university, are:

• Prospective students and their parents
• Current students and their parents
• Faculty and staff
• Alumni and friends
• Corporate and government research partners
• Guests of the University

Responsibility

The university's website is produced by the Office of University Relations, Web Communications. University Relations has primary responsibility for the content, look, feel, interface, links, information architecture, and navigation of the university's website, as well as other high-profile pages as determined by the university.

The Director of Web Communications has responsibility for management, content, and design of the top-level and second-level pages and associated functions of Virginia Tech’s Web presence. The Web Communications staff – the university’s webmaster, web developer, and web producer – help maintain the home page, vt.edu second-level pages, websites administered by University Relations, and other university Web pages as assigned. See Appendix A for a complete list.

Homepage

The Virginia Tech homepage provides a framework and mechanism for users to locate and retrieve official news and information through linked navigation located in the header and left-hand column, and contextual links within the center content area. Publications and other information resources created by official units, organizations, or individuals sponsored by an official unit or registered organization, are eligible for inclusion in the Virginia Tech homepage. To request a homepage link to your organization's Web page, e-mail Web Communications.

In addition to the Virginia Tech homepage, University Relations also maintains top-level gateway pages, related pages, and several official university websites, either in whole or in part. See Appendix A for a complete list.

University Web guidelines

A great university website leaves a strong, positive first impression with website visitors, including current and prospective students, their parents, institutional partners, faculty, staff, or the many others seeking information from or about the university. For many, the website serves as their introduction to Virginia Tech, and Virginia Tech to them. It must communicate in a clear and consistent manner the university's mission, vision, and outstanding characteristics. This is our goal for the Virginia Tech website.

To meet this goal, University Relations and the Office of Information Technology have partnered to provide myriad services to the university community at no charge to individual units. A catalog of templates, website elements, and consulting services are available to organizational units that are ready to take advantage of Web Communications' publishing services.

The university’s website is an official publication of Virginia Tech. Our print publications utilize a consistent style – a “family” look and feel – and adhere to well-defined Identity Standards. Similarly, our websites need to use consistent “family” elements and adhere to similar kinds of guidelines for the Web. As the primary means by which the world learns about the university, the Virginia Tech website must reflect the university’s excellence in a consistent manner.

To that end, guidelines governing website design and deployment are a necessary aspect of our concerted Web development strategy. These guidelines are based on industry best practices for Web navigation and usability, and support Virginia Tech’s Identity Standards, which protect and project our unique brand. Virginia Tech’s homepage, as well as all sub-level pages housed under the root level of the website, will utilize family templates provided by University Relations.

Virginia Tech’s Web guidelines:

1. University Relations will make available a family of templates, with multiple design options, for use by academic and administrative units. CSS files will accompany these templates; all will be maintained by University Relations. All templates are designed to ensure compliance with the University’s Accessibility and Security policies. Thus, units that utilize these templates are asked not to alter the layout or design. When special template needs arise, University Relations will address those on a case-by-case basis.
2. We ask that primary administrative units (see Appendix B for a complete list) use the family templates provided by University Relations to ensure a consistent user experience, and to support the university’s brand.
3. Organizational units — colleges, vice presidents' and vice provosts' divisions, departments, institutes, and centers — that choose not to use family templates and CSS provided by University Relations are asked to follow these design guidelines:
   1. On the organizational unit’s home page, the Virginia Tech logo, 160 pixels wide, must be placed in the upper left corner of the page. No other mark or logo may appear above or to the left of the Virginia Tech logo. Appropriate logos for Web usage can be downloaded from the University Relations website.
   2. On sub-level pages within their websites, units may move the Virginia Tech logo to the upper right corner within the header area, and place their own logo or identity marker in the upper left corner of the page.
   3. Please use colors from the University’s family color palette (Note: a Web page showing those colors is in development and will launch soon), which also is available at the University Relations website. Please note that maroon (hex #660000) is the university’s primary color, so please design your websites accordingly, to ensure consistency with family designs.
   4. The preferred locations for primary website navigation are either vertically in the left column (preferred), or horizontally below the header. This will ensure consistency with family templates. Best practices for navigation prioritize links relative to usage patterns and importance. We advise against organizing links alphabetically, as usability studies have shown that doing so is essentially the same as random organization.
   5. The preferred page width is 758 pixels with a 3-pixel border for a total of 764 pixels, with the page centered in the browser window (see more information about page dimensions on the Web Development Best Practices page). Please note that a print stylesheet will be required to resize a 758-pixel page to 650 pixels for printing in Internet Explorer. More information on print stylesheets can be found at http://alistapart.com/articles/goingtoprint/.
   6. The preferred font family for navigation and body text is Arial. The preferred font family for headers is Times New Roman.

   PLEASE NOTE:

   • University Relations offers to review, free of charge, a unit’s designs, templates, and CSS during the pre-production phase of its website development projects. The areas of primary concern that University Relations will review with units are usability (including navigation), brand integrity, accessibility, and general design. If issues are identified, University Relations will provide free consulting services as needed to address these issues. To request a review, e-mail Web Communications.
   • For Web pages that handle sensitive information, units are strongly advised to work with the Security Office to conduct a security review of those applications. This will ensure that sensitive information doesn't leak beyond the intended recipients. For more information visit http://www.security.vt.edu/, or contact Wayne Donald to schedule a review.
4. At a date to be determined, the Office of Information Technology (IT), in partnership with University Relations, plans to make available an enterprise Content Management System (CMS) that incorporates family templates, CSS, workflows, and other processes in a centralized system compliant with standards for security and accessibility. The use of Virginia Tech’s enterprise CMS and family templates not only will allow participating units to get websites to production more quickly, but it also will save untold work later as they maintain and continue to develop their websites.
5. Websites utilizing the enterprise CMS will by default be hosted centrally by IT, with the benefits of enhanced security, support, and backup services.
   NOTE: This guideline is pending a decision on an enterprise CMS platform.
6. If a unit chooses not to use the CMS, its options are:
   1. Utilize family templates and CSS, with hosting provided by IT.
   2. Utilize family templates and CSS, with local hosting by the unit.
   3. Develop custom templates and CSS that follow the university’s design guidelines (see #3 above), with hosting provided by IT.
   4. Develop custom templates and CSS that follow the University’s design guidelines (see #3 above), with local hosting by the unit.

   Units that choose option c) or d) will be responsible and accountable for ensuring compliance with University standards for security and accessibility.

7. Commercial advertising is not permitted within the http://www.vt.edu domain or any of its subdomains.
8. All websites and web pages attached to the vt.edu domain must adhere to the University’s Acceptable Use Guidelines.

We’ll need to develop further guidelines as we move through the Web development process. The guidelines detailed above are intended to give units direction as they plan their Web development efforts.