External Audience Template Guidelines
Public Information and College Marketing has developed the External Audience web template for use on the Austin Community College website and targeting external audiences. It is intended for academic divisions and departments, Continuing Education, and other student focused programs. The following guidelines will assist you in proper use of the External Audience template as recommended by the ACC Web Committee.
Root connections
Many items in the External Audience template link back to the root of the ACC website. This allows the ACC webmaster to make small changes to common elements and have them reflect out to the web pages that properly use the template. Root elements include:
- functions.js (page functions)
- dynacrumbs.js (renders breadcrumb navigation)
- textsizer.js (operates the font sizing function)
- print.js (operates the printer friendly version of the page)
- css.css (main cascading style sheet of the webpage)
- rotator.php (rotates header banners in the top of the webpage)
- logo.gif (ACC logo)
- enlarge.gif,reduce.gif,printer.gif (text sizer and printer friendly icons)
Non-editable portions include:
Many elements of the External Audience template are deemed non-editable. This ensures a consistent look throughout the ACC website.
- Main ACC logo area
- Black navigation bars (top and bottom):
- Search box , directory link, and all subsequent links in the bar black navigation bar
- Light-gray breadcrumb navigation bar: All elements
- “Apply • Schedule • Register” separator bar
- Blackboard Login link
- Light-gray footer bar - All links in this bar EXCEPT the “Webmaster” mailto: link (covered next section)
Editable areas of the template – text only
The following editable areas are limited to text substitutions. No styles within these areas are to be edited. Text-only editable areas include:
- Title of the web page
- “SiteName” area
- “PageName” area
- Left-side navigation – Operates as an unordered list. All links within this area need to be a LINKED list item. (If a navigation link list item does not warrant a link, please set your list item link to a “#” ) The <ul> tag is already provided.
- Optional sublink area – Operates as an unordered list. All links within this area need to be a linked list item. If no sublinks are required, feel free to remove the <li> tags only.
- Contact area – Reserved for department contact information to which the content relates. Not webmaster information.
- “Webmaster” link – Please substitute the email address for the webmaster of the page for the mailto:xxxxxx@austincc.edu.
Editable areas of the template - styles and images
The following editable areas allow for the styling of text and images:
- Top header banner – The link to rotator.php can be substituted for an image that is 510 pixels by 97pixels.
- Content area – Text, images, and other elements can be placed in this area. If more styles are desired for the styling of content, feel free to attach additional style sheets to the head of the document.
Additional Information
You may add or remove any of the “Editable Regions” markup of this DreamWeaver template to fit your site needs.
All pages that use the template need to be saved as “pagename.php.” The php extension is required because of two php-based scripts that reside in the template: 1) the rotator.php (optional); and 2) the “Last Modified” script at the bottom of the page (required by the ACC Web Committee).
Large images (over 550 pixels wide) and extremely long linked, unbroken text will distort the template. Please check your layout against the simple layout at www.austincc.edu/about to check for consistency.
If you are using a version of DreamWeaver earlier than version 8, the template links will appear broken due to lack of a “live view.” When the page is uploaded to the server the links will connect and the page should render correctly.
If you have questions regarding template use, deployment, or management, please contact:
Public Information and College
Marketing
Highland Business Center,
Room 611
Phone 223.7595 ; fax 223.7833;
pubs@austincc.edu
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