- Anyone here think things are moving quickly? Having trouble keeping up? Things are going to change again (Did IE7 take anyone here by surprise?)
- Follow the HTML rules. Someone's going to use them in ways you aren't thinking of now. (Tangent: Insert Accessibility Speech Here) Structure your site's content by meaning (the HTML markup should be semantic – revealing hierarchy and relationships). You'll regret a hack job...
- Use “Valid” HTML. Use CSS for presentation.
- H1: Only one – main topic. H2 is for subtitles. H3 is sub-subtitle, etc.
- Not <div style=”font-size: 12px”> or <span class=”titleText”>
- Question: 17 colleges here. Any guesses as to how many have a “valid” homepage?
- [Edit: answer for those reading later: None (as of July 26, 2007). For a full list of the colleges checked, visit http://www.mnprivatecolleges.org]
The best tools you can have to handle the future is a standardized, flexible, extensible, open web infrastructure.
This isn't just about the CMS you're using – it's about the way the CMS speaks Web.
Google (and Yahoo and MSN) want good content. They wants lots of content. They wants lots of different formats. You have it!
Your student body has people that want to play with technology and they tend to like you. Your profs live in a publish-or-perish world and also lecture on a regular basis (audio!). You've got budding photographers and creative people. INTRODUCE THOSE PEOPLE TO EACH OTHER! (Google - Our Students. Students - Google) Get them creating! Start recording! Try lot's of fast, small, low-risk projects - watch the results and be surprised. Get better at it and repeat the successes.
Get students involved. More diversity wanted? Get more diversity involved. Give them cameras. Digital Media classes? Put their class projects on your site.
No such classes? Yikes! That's a real problem - put one together!
Hold competitions. Post them on You Tube, Flickr, Facebook, My Space, others as well as your own site.
Use the medium well. You've got no limit on colors, amount of images, amount of video or other content (well - bandwidth - but you've got plenty of that -- if only that could be your problem...). Be varied and use all the tools you can (video, audio, images, descriptive text, scholarly articles, etc.)
Cross-link your content (it’s the WEB). Expose relationships, be suspicious of strict hierarchies.
Be generous and give traffic. Google does it... it works ok for them.... (Imagine Google opening a link in a new window...)
You’ve got other friends in the world – alums, current students, each other. Make it easy (and fun!) for them to help you.
Serve Your Audience. Be Honest. Be Helpful. Do Good.