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Steps of a redesign

Overview
Goals
Time estimate and team
Content review
Site structure and navigation
Finalize timeline and content
Visual design development
Production and proofing
Launch and maintenance


Sample specifications

(NOTE: this is an archival document. Because the web evolves continually, these standards will be outdated by the time it's posted, so please treat it as a template, not a set of guidelines.)

Target audiences

  • Primary audiences: potential students, faculty, and donors
  • Secondary audiences: current students, faculty, staff, and donors

Site goals

  • Make helpful content available - improve site usability, organization, and quality of content
  • Introduce useful features - search, maps, calendar, "Illinois in Focus"
  • Represent the campus positively - by revealing our core mission and values
  • Establish a feedback loop - to lay the groundwork for future improvement

Target monitor resolution

800 x 600

Target browser

Internet Explorer 6 (First draft of the site will be tested in Internet Explorer 6. By launch it should work on all browsers below)

Platform and browser compatability expectations

PC: IE6, IE5.5, IE 5.0, N7, N6
Mac: IE 5, N7, N5, Safari
Should also work for screenreaders (e.g., in the Opera browser with images turned off and user styles applied to page).

Page size

Homepage: <65k
Template pages: <45k
Feature pages: <45k

Accessibility compliance

  • Tables must linearize in logical fashion
  • All images must have alt tags. These should be descriptive tags for content or linking images; for layout images the code should read alt=""
  • Use "skip navigation" links
  • Whenever possible, use CSS, not HTML for styling
  • No frames
  • Use text instead of images for navigation
  • No pull-down menus
  • Text boxes have <label> tags
  • Use "submit" buttons for forms instead of JS submit
  • All data tables should have
    • caption tag
    • th tags
    • <td headers ="x">
Modular areas for homepage include
  • Illinois in the News
  • Headline of the day
  • Calendar
  • Announcements and Chancellor Announcements
Modular areas on second level pages for
  • Calendar section
  • Maps section

 

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