Lander University
07/24/2006:
New Site Launched! The new Lander web site was launched on Monday, July 24, 2006. Many thanks to the departmental webmasters for their hard work and to all who helped make this project a success. Also many thanks to our friends at Graysail, LLC, contractor for the web project.
During the next few weeks we will be making refinements to the web site and fine-tuning as necessary. Training will resume in August, especially for faculty and student organization representatives that were not present during the summer.
07/06/2006:
We're nearing the final stages! The deadline for content migration has passed and we
are now in final preparations for going live with the new Lander web site. During the next
few weeks, webmasters and department heads will be reviewing site content for accuracy and
completeness. Before the site launch, access to the system will be closed so that our
contract company and Lander project leaders can make a final check of the new site.
05/22/2006:
The migration has started! Basic training is currently being offered to campus
webmasters and regular support workshops have been scheduled throughout May and June. The
migration deadline for "official" pages is June 30th. For training and workshop schedules,
please contact Karen Minter (kminter@lander.edu).
04/18/2006:
04/17/2006:
The votes are in! We had a great response from the Lander community and are
currently moving forward with the new Lander web site. Click on the link below to see the
survey results.
Graysail will be on campus during the week of 4/24 for webmaster orientation and training will begin in May.
04/04/2006:
Cast your vote for Lander's new Home Page design! A campus-wide survey was
provided via email to alumni, faculty, staff and students today. Three different designs for
the new Lander Home Page were presented. We will soon be tabulating the results to find out
which design the campus community liked best.
03/04/2006:
The Lander University Web Site Re-Design Project has been awarded to Graysail,
LLC. Please check back for updates and status reports on the project.
02/15/2006:
The "Intent to Award" has been posted.
01/13/2006:
Lander's web design project has gone to bid. All questions from
potential vendors must be directed towards Lois Amick, Procurement Officer.
12/7/2005:
A project to redesign Lander’s web site has been launched. The purpose of
this announcement is to provide you with a brief summary of the project and how it will affect you
in the coming months. A more detailed public announcement of the project will occur on the
official project kick-off date.
ACCESSIBILITY MANDATE BY THE STATE
The Web Redesign initiative was born out of the need to meet a state mandate for “
web accessibility”. Specifically, the CIO office of South Carolina has mandated that Lander
University, as a state assisted institution, have a web site that is “ accessible” according to
Section 508 standards of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. The 1998 amendment to Section 508
requires that agencies receiving Federal funds must have electronic and information technology that
is accessible to people with disabilities, including members of the public.
Lander must comply with the Section 508 Web Accessibility Standards by July of 2006 for its
internet pages and July of 2008 for its intranet pages (password protected).
IDEAL OPPORTUNITY FOR REDESIGN
The time and effort that would be required to “fix” our existing website is not
feasible. Instead, a complete redesign of Lander’s web site that includes templates and
policies for meeting Section 508 requirements was recommended. This coincided with a request
from the President’s Council to give the university’s web site a new look and feel, and a request
from the Office of Academic Affairs to create an intranet for information accessible only to the
Lander campus.
The purpose of the web redesign is to produce a new web site for Lander University that will reflect the image and message of Lander University through the use of common design templates, Section 508 compliant web pages, and a division of content that allows Internet access to public information only, relegating all private content behind secure access channels.
PROJECT TEAM AND TIMELINE
Dr. Lundquist, VP for Academic Affairs, put together the following members to
initiate and lead the project:
- Matt Braaten - Academic Affairs
- Laura Hester - College of Arts & Humanities
- Karen Minter - Information Technology Services
- Robin Lawrence - Information Technology Services
Work has already begun in earnest to refine the project requirements. Early next year, an official project kickoff will be announced with a more definitive timeline. The expected “Go Live” date for the new web site will be after the spring semester, but an earlier launch is possible.
PROJECT SCOPE
What pages are slated to be moved over to the new web site by the July 2006
deadline?
The focus of the project will be to bring all top-level pages over to the new site before July 2006. A full list of pages to be included will be available after we have contracted with a vendor and established the work breakdown structure for the project. The primary goal for the project is to have a web site that is compliant to web accessibility standards. Once the compliance goal has been met, we can work towards building a site that is both up-to-date and comprehensive.
Phase 2 of this web redesign project, which begins after the July 2006 deadline, includes the consideration of a Content Management application that will make web publishing easier for content providers around campus.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INTERIM UPDATES TO WEB PAGES
We encourage you to take this opportunity to focus on the content of your web pages and “
clean up” your web site in preparation for the new design templates.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of the members of the Web Redesign Project team. For your reference, we have provided a list of resource links on the topic of “ accessibility” cited in this announcement.
