Website Templates

Clemson University has gone through three different web templates in the past 12 years, including the introduction of Cascade Server as the University’s content management system (CMS) in 2008. University Relations developed and recently released new Cascade web templates, which all units are expected to adopt. The templates present the end-user with a complete redesign, changing not only the look and feel of the website but also its structure, navigation, and usability.

The 2020/21 redesign represents the largest shift since that initial launch in 2008. The new templates have led to a new configuration for Cascade itself and the changes are very complex. Pages are not built the same way and there are far more design options available than ever before. If not carefully implemented, these new templates have the potential to create a very fragmented user experience. Where past migrations have typically been “cut and paste” efforts, this migration is really better thought of as a complete rebuild.

While we now have access to the new web templates and can begin building, we have taken a very measured approach to start this rebuild. Instead of rushing to move our existing sites over, we have spent time learning the new templates to better understand their functionality and what it means for our content, going through our existing websites to identify outdated information, broken links, inactive users, and looking at Google Analytics to see where our site users are going. We have also spoken with our peers across campus to learn how they plan to approach the rebuild, how they manage Cascade users, and what solutions they may have to shared problems and issues. These conversations have resulted in a number of findings.

1. The templates are still being tweaked. They are not ready to be shared beyond our team.
2. University Relations recently released a web style guide.
3. Because these templates were made with an academic focus, we believe it’s best to rebuild CAFLS academic content first (by August 2021), followed by CAFLS Research, and then begin PSA and Extension.
4. Digital accessibility standards will be followed for all websites published in the new templates. We are required by law to comply with Federal standards and Clemson University supports this in the hiring of an accessibility coordinator. Accessibility requirements must be met before publishing.
5. The PSA/CAFLS web team has been given the flexibility and authority to draft and share site concepts without department-level input. This is consistent with how the new templates are being implemented in other colleges and units across campus, according to our conversations with other web developers and managers.
6. University Relation's Office of Web Services is advocating minimal Cascade users and at this time PSA/CAFLS has more Cascade users than our peers across campus. To accommodate OWS's recommendation and to ensure concise web design, PSA/CAFLS will reduce our number of Cascade users across all units. We believe that by doing so we will not actually be limiting the ability to edit websites or update content. We can provide alternatives that do not rely on Cascade. Limiting the number of people who can edit websites will help with accessibility issues, outdated information, broken links, and keeping sites more consistent in terms of design.

There are  5,189 pages across CAFLS, PSA, and Extension websites. The majority of this content is better suited for a different platform if shared on the internet at all. The following chart shows how web content will be organized for CAFLS academic content moving forward. Many of these content types listed for CAFLS academics are applicable to all units and we will take a similar move/remove approach as we work to rebuild PSA, CAFLS, and Extension.

Other content:

Links to Social Media; Publications; Related facilities (ie: Sustainable Ag, Extension program teams, campus farm/s, ’55 Exchange, WUD, CEFPACK, Kennedy Center …)

* Rationale for web content listed as “Not Allowed”

Newsletters, announcements, and Seminar flyers are often added to websites as PDFs with the intent to be downloaded or viewed online. While this may be a convenient solution to the employee uploading the file, there are several issues in continuing this practice:

Web content needs to meet federal standards for accessibility compliance.

This requires significant attention to detail when creating digital content. Often, flyers and brochures intended for print purposes are saved in PDF format and added as web content with no effort made to update the PDF to meet accessibility criteria. The worst case of continuing this practice is that the university is sued after a site visitor cannot access the information on the document. Most common, less severe issues are: URLs in the text don’t actually function as links so users have to type in long URLs to access the web resource; PDF files often have dated information and links that, over time, become irrelevant or broken resources; PDFs are not mobile-friendly and do not scale naturally to a small screen.

Websites should not be used as archives.

There are cloud storage resources to place archived items that need to remain accessible online. However, all accessibility requirements and all concerns listed here about PDFs still apply to PDFs in cloud storage intended for public access. Furthermore, PDFs that are needed for internal reference should not be accessible from live/public websites. 

Content becomes outdated, irrelevant, and sometimes inaccurate.

In some situations, PDFs have been left online and pesticide use suggestions have since been updated where the archived files provided online offered dangerous, outdated recommendations. As an extreme example, it directly addresses the concerns with keeping outdated information online and available to the public.

Although initially intended as a useful resource, hyperlinks in PDFs break overtime when the site owner edits content.

This brings a few immediate consequences:

1. Broken links hurt search engine optimization, so when PDFs with broken links are on a website, that site is deemed as unreliable or not as useful as other resources and may not appear near the top of search results.
2. The end-user accessing the PDF will not have access to the information they need.
3. Discouraged users who cannot reach the links intended will be less likely to return to the site or resource for information.

Alternative resources, that are better suited for this subject matter, are available and should be used instead.

While PDFs can be produced for print purposes only, these alternative options should replace online posting and email distribution:

• Newsletters can be generated from posts made in Clemson Blogs. An academic department can generate blog posts about student or faculty accomplishments, recent grant awards, research success, Dean’s list members, and more...then blog posts can be compiled using any variety of e-newsletter platforms for a clean, timely, shareable, accessible digital newsletter.
• Seminars and events should be listed in Localist (Clemson University’s calendar software). There are many benefits to using this resource, a few are: events will expire automatically after they have occurred; when tagged appropriately, the event will be fed onto a website; attendees can respond in Localist that they are attending and will receive event reminders and a follow-up survey asking about the quality of the event and all necessary resources are available in the template making it very easy for any Clemson employee, student or alumni to list events in the calendar

Sample design of college-level home page:

Sample design of department-level home page:

For a glimpse of how the new templates display on a live website, please reference a few live samples with the College of Education:

• Sample, live home page:   http://www.clemson.edu/education/ 
• Sample, live internal page:    http://www.clemson.edu/education/programs/labs/arts-creativity-lab.html 

Moving forward, the PSA/CAFLS web team is no longer providing general Cascade training on current or new templates. Here’s why:

• Due to the complexity of the new templates, most current users simply do not have the technical or design skills required to use the new templates.
• With more users, we risk the ability to maintain a unified design and uphold branding standards and meet accessibility requirements.
• Many of the site problems we are facing are the result of having too many users.
• Cascade Server does not offer a content approval process so unless we were to regularly, manually sort, and review new/updated pages, our team has no oversight of what is being put online.
• The amount of training necessary to get people up to speed is considerable and ongoing training would be necessary to keep up with advancements.

Please utilize the following resources to edit/maintain current websites:

• If your unit does not have a designated web manager, please request updates to web content by using the “Page Update Request” link in the footer of the page/s needing changes.
• Create or edit your employee profile page by logging in to the  profile edit page.
• The University Calendar  is an excellent (FREE) resource for creating events for digital sharing/promotion. With proper tagging, the events will automatically feed onto websites.

As you have learned from a few other resources by now, the new templates are very different. They support limited text and limited navigation layers. Begin consideration of a completely new and different website by doing the following:

• Create a site map (outline style)
• Gather resources to support your site map: write/edit text for each page; collect & edit images; review/rewrite/update downloadable documents (PDFs, Excel files, etc.)
• What you can do now.
  • Student clubs can begin moving into TigerQuest;
  • Faculty can use the Comm. Team's  Project Request Form to request blog access and begin moving their lab content;
  • Academic departments and other units (SCBG possibly, RECs or others) can use the Comm. Team's  Project Request Form to request a Clemson Blog and begin posting relevant content there (employee and student accolades; seasonal/time-sensitive notices or updates; research updates);
  • Events (either one-time or annual events) should be added to the university calendar software, Localist. When tagged properly they will feed onto your website.
  • Service centers/resources (like the greenhouses and histology lab and such) can use the Comm. Team's  Project Request Form to request blog access and begin moving their content.
  • Make sure that employees in your unit have updated biographies. These pages rank very high in Google searches, it is important that all employees have them and maintain the content to reflect your role with the university. Individual employees can use the Employee Profile Edit link to create or edit their biography. Please remember to chose "update" at the bottom of the page to apply any changes. Also, make sure to self-designate the "Department Affiliation" you work for (check all that apply) so your contact information will be listed on that website.