Web Development Process

The Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College website is important in building public awareness, visibility, and support for our institution and our programs. It is also an important tool used by current students and college employees for a variety of applications such as registering for classes, conducting online courses, and being a source for official college policies. A well-integrated and well-planned website can enhance the perception and reputation of FDLTCC among prospective students, current students, key stakeholders, and the public.

It is essential that the FDLTCC website is consistent with its public image. As new information is developed and existing web information is revised, there are four basic rules to follow:

1. Information must comply with local, state, and federal laws;
   
2. Information must be presented in a style and tone that is easy to navigate and is consistent in appearance with other published college information;
   
3. Information must be designed for the widest possible audience;
   
4. Information must be complete, accurate, and up-to-date.
   

The Information Technology Department and the Public Information Office jointly oversee website development for the college. The following guidelines are intended to assist departments and individuals plan and execute appropriate website development.

Step One: Contact the Information Technology and Public Information Departments.
Staff in these departments can help you plan your web development project. The earlier they are involved in your project, the better.

Step Two: Schedule a planning meeting.
Anyone who will have an important role in your project should participate in this meeting. The individual or department for whom the web project is being undertaken is key, along with any authors, grant manager, or people who may provide content. This planning meeting should take place before any research or writing has started. This meeting will address some basic questions, such as: Who is your intended audience? What is the purpose of your project? What is an appropriate tone and style? What is the end product? What are the proposed contents? What is the shelf life of the information? Who will be responsible for periodically reviewing and updating the information? Decisions made at this meeting will guide future steps in the process.

Step Three: Write your content.
After addressing your project’s needs in the planning meeting, authors should create a written draft of all information to be included. The key here is to keep things simple and brief. Research indicates most web surfers want information quickly and do not want to sift through lots of pages. Things to remember when writing your information: be complete, be 100% accurate, be current, follow your outline, and include only what is necessary. Things to avoid: use of links to external websites, long sentences, references to telephone numbers, and anything that has short shelf life. It is important that your written draft be as thorough and complete before moving on to the next step.

Step Four: Draft Editing.
When your draft is complete, submit it to the Public Information Office for review. Your draft will be edited for grammar and things such as gender-free language and consistency with other website information and college publications. Your draft will also be lightly edited for content, if necessary, although the emphasis here will be on improving web readability and not on revising factual content.

Please submit your draft both electronically (on disk or via email) and in hard copy. Drafts should not include any design or page formatting (bold, italics, indenting, bullets, centering, etc.) Times New Roman in 12 point size is the preferred typeface and size. Keep margins at one inch on all sides, use a line space to indicate a new paragraph rather than indenting the first line. Try to avoid typing any extraneous characters such as tabs or double space bars after a period. Avoid using all upper case letters in headings. Following these guidelines will save time and effort for everyone involved in the process.

After your draft is edited, reviewed, and approved for final content, it is ready to move forward.

Step Five: Web Page Design.
This is the magic part of the process, putting your information into a format that looks good and functions well. The Information Technology Department will take your written draft and any graphic images to create web pages. Before going live with the pages, you will have the opportunity to review, discuss and revise the pages. This step will require meeting with the web designer to discuss any changes. The Public Information Department may also be involved at this point, if necessary. Once everyone agrees and approves, the pages will be added to the college website. Please keep in mind there are technical and legal issues (such as complying with Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines) that may prevent using certain features/graphics/bells/whistles.

Step Six: Periodic Review. Evaluate your results.
It is the responsibility of the author to conduct periodic content review of the information they contributed. Monthly, semi-annually, or annually are typical time frames for review. The Information Technology and Public Information Departments reserve the right to temporarily and/or permanently remove information deemed to be outdated.

Once your information and pages have been launched, it’s important to monitor what is working and what is not working. Assess and evaluate what is happening in relation to your web information and the audience you are trying to reach. Schedule a meeting with the Information Technology and Public Information Departments to discuss and share any lessons learned.