Who Are We?Our MissionThe mission of University Web Services is to tell the story of UT Dallas better through effective web design, content development, and content management that build public understanding and support for the university. Our focus is improving electronic mass communication, making content easy to find and user friendly while strengthening the UT Dallas visual identity. We target prospective and current students, parents, alumni, industry, donors, legislators, the press, and friends of the University. University Web Services is a department of the new Office of Communications formed in the fall of 2006. Our department staff consists of four web developers and one manager. Three of our web developers are focused on developing and improving Web sites which primarily serve prospective and current students. The fourth web developer focuses on sites for faculty and staff. In collaboration with Information Resources, Web Services was a leader in the layout, design and launch of Galaxy - the campus' new intranet - in August, 2006. We were also the driving force behind the major redesign completed in May, 2004. We maintain and improve the UTD gateway site, which includes the UTD home page, main navigation pages, press releases, and the A-Z site index. Web Services develops and maintains public-facing web applications such as the Course Lookup, the Comet Calendar, and the Graduation RSVP. A UT Dallas News Center is in the design stage now. This new daily e-mail and website will be an important tool in meeting the imperative named "Tell UTD's Story Better" in the university's strategic plan. It will provide a better way to showcase newsworthy items and allow us to refocus the university's home page to meet some of the other imperatives of the strategic plan. Another project in the works is a website for parents of prospective and current students, to be launched by the end of the spring semester. The focus for employee website improvement is a major redesign for Business Affairs, which will begin with a complete redesign for Human Resources Management. This project began in Fall, 2006, and the first phase is scheduled to launch in early July. We also set standards for Web publishing and identity of the university. We are currently addressing accessibility guidelines for campus web developers, in accordance with the Texas legislature's directive to tie our standards to the federal Section 508 standard. Need Our Help?To qualify for our services, the end user (audience) for your Web site must be predominately students and the number of page views per week must be at least 500. (At this time, we can only provide very limited services to sites which serve primarily faculty, staff or other end users.) You must agree to dedicate personnel to the task of updating the website regularly, with Adobe software and training provided by our personnel. You must also agree to use the university's dedicated web hosting infrastructure maintained by Information Resources, if you are not already. If you meet these requirements and would like to get more information on our services, please contact us. If your website does not qualify as a high traffic concern, we do offer consulting services to help guide you or your employees in web design and development best practices. Call us before you begin making big changes to your website. We are usually able to offer some degree of help to those who are willing to learn, and you might be surprised how easy it can be to publish. Link to UT Dallas Home Page |
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