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Instruction Section logo
Instruction Section logo

Tips for Committee Web Pages

The purpose of this tip sheet is to provide clear and consistent instructions for the development and updating of IS committee web pages. Keep in mind that any new publications, projects, logos, or other new content will need to be forwarded through your IS Executive Committee liaison for approval.The IS Publication Policies and Procedures Manual outlines general guidelines for Type 1 documents, including committee web pages.

Table of Contents:

Overall Committee Site

  1. If you are creating an extensive committee site which requires folders and subdirectories, please contact the IS web site administrator(s), who will help you develop the directory structure.
  2. Committee pages have the ACRL template but do not have the IS or ACRL sidebar.
  3. Send your committee web pages through your IS Executive Committee liaison for approval.
  4. Use Relative links when possible
  5. Make your changes to the page using a text editor like Notepad or an HTML editor.
  6. Please do not use Microsoft Word, as the ALA Content Management System (CMS) has difficulty reading and cleaning up Word-generated code.
  7. Email any HTML code to the IS Web site Administrators as a .txt (preferred) or .html file.
  8. The current CMS uses .xml and Cold Fusion to create web pages. All internal .htm or .html references will be changed to .xml before publishing.
  9. HTML files cannot be uploaded to the CMS. The code needs to be pasted into a CMS generated file (.xml).
  10. Once published web pages will be .cfm files
  11. Files needing to be uploaded as a pdf should be converted prior to sending to the web administrators.
  12. Please inform the web administrators of any links that need to be created on non-committee pages (e.g. Publications page). Identify or provide the specific wording on the page that should be the hyperlink.

Creating a Committee Home Page

  1. Download the template code for committee homepages
  2. The code and example pages are located at: http://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/is/iscommittees/webpagestemplate/index.cfm.
    • The code is in a pdf file; copy the code and paste into a text or html editor
    • View an example of a committee homepage
  3. Committee Logo
  4. The published committee home page will be named "index.cfm." The web administrators will create this page within the CMS.
  5. Other Headings, Sections, and Links
    • Most committee home pages include the following sections:
      Charge, Annual Planning, Meetings, Committee Minutes, Roster, and Projects/Publications.
    • For Committee Minutes, please include the sentence: "View minutes from committee meetings, by choosing a conference date and then the committee name." Make "minutes from committee meetings" a link to: ../minutesis/committeeminutes.xml.

Creating Secondary Web Pages

  1. Follow the same design as the committee home page.
  2. Download the template code for committee secondary pages
  3. The code and example pages are located at: http://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/is/iscommittees/webpagestemplate/index.cfm.
    • The code is in a pdf file; copy the code and paste into a text or html editor
    • View an example of a committee secondary page
  4. Committee Logo
    • Place the logo image the top of the page.
    • Source code: img src="../../../../../img/acrl/sections/is/[filename].gif"
    • Image filenames for committees are available at http://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/is/iscommittees/webpagestemplate/committeelogos.cfm.
    • Include in the ALT tag the full name of the Section and committee
      example: "Education Committee, Instruction Section, ACRL"
    • The logo should link back to the committee home page

Creating Project and Publication Web Pages

  1. The committee name/logo does not need to at the top of the page
  2. Text or the project logo that has been approved by the IS Executive Committee may be used.
  3. The logo image should have the ALT tag with the name of the project and identification of the Section
    example: alt="PRIMO - ALA ACRL IS"
  4. The introductory text on the page should identify IS and the specific committee(s) responsible for the page.
  5. Provide images and web pages to the web site administrator(s) for uploading.
  6. Publications and projects will reside in the Publications & Projects directories of the IS web site with links from the authoring committee's main page.

Modifying Web Pages

  1. Minor updates:
    • E-mail the IS web site administrators specifying the page URL and the changes you require.
  2. Major changes
    • It easier to paste new code into the CMS file
    • Use the source code between the <!--googleon: index--> and the <!--googleoff: index--> tags in the BODY of the page to be modified
    • E-mail the updated code as a text or html file after making the necessary changes to text, etc.
    • Do not make changes in Word or send a Word document
    • When a web page is no longer needed, please inform the web administrators which page should be deleted.
      Committee chairs are responsible for archiving committee web pages; for more information consult the archiving web site http://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/is/organizationacrl/archiving/archivinginformation.cfm.
    • Major changes should be sent through your committee liaison to the Executive Committee for approval.

HTML Requirements and Guidelines

  1. Banners:
    All committee web pages are required to have the ACRL top banner; this is added automatically within the CMS
  2. Sidebars:
    Committee web pages do not have a sidebar from IS or ACRL.
  3. Filenames:
    • Linking
        •  Filename link references should end in .xml
        •  Links between your committee web pages: href="[filename].xml"
        •  Links to other pages on the IS web site can be referenced as an absolute link.
            The Web administrators will convert it to the appropriate relative link.
    • Published pages
        •  All web pages will have .cfm file extensions
        •  Homepages will be named "index.cfm"
        •  Secondary pages will be named "[filename].cfm"
    • Naming conventions
        •  Use lowercase letters only
        •  Limit names to 30 characters
        •  Don't use special characters other than an underline or a dash.
  4. Images:
  5. XHTML Tags:
    • In general, committee pages may have TABLE, DIV, and list elements.
    • All paragraphs must be enclosed within paragraph <P> </P> elements.
    • Avoid FONT, CENTER, and ALIGN elements or attributes.
    • Avoid SPAN and STYLE elements or attributes.
    • Use heading level (H1 thru H6) elements appropriately to identify
    • Do not use heading level tags to control the size of text.
  6. Metatags:
    • Page title: <title>IS | [page title]</title>
    • Page keywords: <meta name="keywords" content="ACRL, IS, [other keywords as appropriate]">
    • Page description: <meta name="description" content="[description that includes IS, ACRL, & limited to 255 characters]">
  7. Roster Links:
    Rosters are generated by ACRL and member names are pulled from the ALA membership database. Roster URLs can be obtained from the ACRL Section Committee Rosters web page (http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/aboutacrl/resourcesforwork/ldspdir/sectioncommittee.cfm#IS)
  8. Appearance:
    Examine the pages using the most recent versions of IE and Firefox and if possible, at least one other standards-compliant browser, such as Opera or Safari.
  9. Approval:
    Each committee's IS Executive Committee liaison approves new pages and forwards them on to Executive for final review and approval.

Resources

  1. Download template code (including required elements for committee homepages):
    http://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/is/iscommittees/webpagestemplate/index.cfm
  2. View committee logos:
    http://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/is/iscommittees/webpagestemplate/committeelogos.cfm






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Last Revised: May 21, 2007