AHC Web Policy
Academic Health Center Web Policy
Effective May 13, 2003
I. SUMMARY
The World Wide Web is one of the primary ways in which the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center presents itself to both internal and external audiences. Given the growing importance of this medium, it has become essential to elaborate some principles to guide the creation of Web sites within the AHC. These requirements and recommendations complement the University of Minnesota World Wide Web Publishing Guidelines, and are intended for official AHC Web sites that represent an AHC school, college, department, center, program, or other official unit.
It is important that AHC Web pages, despite their diverse origins, clearly convey a relationship to the whole University of Minnesota. It is also important that such pages adhere to standards of quality and professionalism appropriate for an institution of higher education. Finally, attention to accessibility and user-friendliness are critical to effectively carrying out the University's missions. The following resources, requirements, and recommendations are intended to promote those results.
II. RESOURCES
University of Minnesota Web Depot
FileNet Content Management System
Academic Health Center Image Library
University of Minnesota Image Library
University of Minnesota Disability Services
University of Minnesota Usability Services
(A). To facilitate the creation of a consistent, professional appearance for core University sites, a set of Web templates has been developed by University Relations. The templates are available in the University of Minnesota Web Depo. It is strongly recommended that sites developed by schools, colleges, departments, and divisions use the templates. Other units, including centers, are also encouraged to use the templates in their site design. Designs based on a common layout and style will present a stronger institutional image and will facilitate navigation and access to information.
(B). It is also recommended that units use the FileNET Web Content Management System, which can be used at no cost by an AHC unit.. Among the benefits are cost savings and ease of use for non-technical editors unfamiliar with HTML and Web software. Please contact the AHC Office of Communications (enge@umn.edu or 612-624-5100) or the AHC Office of Administrative Information Systems (bjs@umn.edu or 612-626-5100) for additional information.
(C). Photos and University of Minnesota wordmarks and logos are available from University Communications. Photos specific to the Academic Health Center and the Academic Health Center logo are available from the AHC Office of Communications (enge@umn.edu or aac@umn.edu or 612-624-5100). Photo and video release forms also are available from the AHC Office of Communications. Signed release forms should be acquired for any photos taken of faculty, staff, or students intended for use in publications and/or on the Web.
(D). The University of Minnesota Disability Services office can assist you with questions concerning the accessibility of your Web site. The University of Minnesota Usability Services office provides usability services for a fee.
III. REQUIREMENTS
The following requirements apply to all Academic Health Center Web sites that are intended as official, public information about campuses, schools, departments, centers, offices, programs, and other units of the AHC. Personal pages, curriculum pages, and pages that are intended primarily for restricted, internal audiences are excluded; however, all pages must conform to University of Minnesota policies. For more information, refer to the University of Minnesota sites below:
(A). Link to Main Academic Health Center and University of Minnesota Web sites
The home page of each school or college Web site must have an easily identifiable link to the home pages of the Academic Health Center and University of Minnesota (www.ahc.umn.edu and www.umn.edu). Other units must have a link to the University of Minnesota home page. To accomplish this, it is recommended that units use the University of Minnesota global header and footer or the University of Minnesota Web templates.
(B). Link to myU Web site
The home page of each school or college site must have an easily identifiable link to the myU home page (www.myU.umn.edu). It is recommended that department, program, and center Web sites also link to myU.
(C). Health and Research Information, Disclaimers, and Notices.
- An appropriate faculty member should approve all content on pages that contain health and/or research information. Also, a disclaimer or a link to a disclaimer should be displayed on every page that provides health and/or research information. Contact the AHC general counsel at 612-626-3700 for assistance with disclaimers. Be mindful that information containing inaccuracies or hyperbole could damage the reputation of your individual unit and the University of Minnesota and, in some cases, may be grounds for a legal action. For information regarding the University of Minnesota Board of Regents policy, go to:
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- Web sites that contain information about health care services offered by the University of Minnesota must contain a prominently displayed link to the appropriate Notice of Privacy Practices on each page containing health care services information.
- Web sites that contain specific patient information, including photographs, must adhere to the University of Minnesota Privacy and Security Policy. Please contact the privacy officer (privacy@umn.edu)
(D). Online Privacy
Each site must have a link to the University's Online Privacy Statement or develop a specific privacy statement consistent with the University of Minnesota's policy, Collecting Information From Visitors To University Web Sites. The policy of the University of Minnesota is to respect the privacy of all Web site visitors to the extent permitted by law.
(E). Privacy and Security of Health Information
Each site must have a link to the University of Minnesota Privacy and Security Program Web site. Web sites that contain specific patient information, including photographs, must adhere to the University of Minnesota Privacy and Security Policy. Please contact the privacy officer (privacy@umn.edu) for more information. Individuals responsible for content and/or posting content on Web sites must receive privacy and security training.
(F). Accessibility
Web pages must comply with the University of Minnesota Accessibility policy. In order to facilitate compliance with this policy, University Relations provides Web templates that conform to the policy and also provide a consistent look and feel. The use of these templates is strongly encouraged. More information can be found at http://webdepot.umn.edu.
(G). Information Reliability
Information provided on Web sites must be reliable and timely. Units should develop a system to ensure that pages are regularly checked for accuracy and that outdated information is removed.
(H). Proofreading and Style
All pages must be free of spelling and grammatical errors. Careful proofreading and use of a spell-checker are strongly advised. Pages must adhere to the University of Minnesota Style Manual to ensure that capitalization, punctuation, etc., is consistent. The Associated Press Style Book should be used as a complement to the University of Minnesota Style Manual.
(I). Contact Information
Top-level pages must include contact information for the unit, including address, phone, and e-mail, or a clearly visible link to that information.
(J). Link Integrity
Pages must be free of non-working links. Test each link manually or use a link checker (such as Dr. Watson) to check the entire page. Link status should be checked regularly, particularly for high profile pages.
(K). E-mail Link
Each page must have an e-mail address and/or link to the person or group responsible for the page.
(L). Copyright
For details, please see the University of Minnesota policy Publishing Information on the World Wide Web.
IV. RECOMMENDATIONS
The following suggestions are intended to enhance the quality, consistency, and usability of AHC Web pages:
(A). Marketing Health Services to Patients
If you plan to publish any health services marketing information, it is strongly encouraged that you submit the material to the AHC Office of Communications for review (624-5100).
(B). Logo Standards
Ideally, wordmarks and logos connect each of the units the Academic Health Center, the School of Dentistry, the Medical School, the School of Medicine-Duluth, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Nursing, the College of Veterinary Medicine, and the School of Public Health with the University of Minnesota. Making this connection allows the AHC and its schools and colleges to fully leverage the University of Minnesota reputation. For a new center or institute, especially, making that connection is important and valuable because the University has more than 150 years of history; it is an institution that has earned the public s trust.
The University of Minnesota wordmark ought to be prominent on the Web pages of each unit. In addition, those units considering creating a new logo or wordmark should aim for consistency. Ask the designer to make it look like a member of the family of the University of Minnesota family and of the Academic Health Center family. AHC wordmarks and images are available at http://www.ahc.umn.edu/about/admin/communications/images. Contact the AHC Office of Communications (enge@umn.edu or aac@umn.edu or 624-5100) for more information. Guidelines for using the University of Minnesota wordmark are located at http://www1.umn.edu/urelate/style/policy.html#wordmark. Additional information is available at the University of Minnesota Marks of Excellence Web site at http://www1.umn.edu/tc/marks/index.html.
(C). Page Identification
Each page should include a clear descriptive title within <TITLE> tags. Search engines and user bookmarks will display this title. Keywords and a page description within <META> tags will further facilitate the effectiveness of both University of Minnesota and outside search engines in directing users to your page.
(D). Page Updates
Content on pages should be reviewed regularly at least annually. Content owners and Pagemasters using the Academic Health Center Content Management System are notified automatically whenever a Web page reaches six months of age. Each page should have a date indicating the last time the page was reviewed and/or updated.
(E). File Size of Pages
Many users of AHC Web sites access the site via phone lines and modems. It is recommended that individual pages be kept to a file size that requires a maximum of 30 seconds to download. The preferred total file size for most pages is under 50K. (Dr. Watson is a free online service that can measure and report file sizes and download time for your page.)
(F). Usability
All pages should be viewable and usable by a broad range of platforms, browsers, and equipment.
- Page width
All pages should be fully viewable on an 800 x 600 pixel screen without horizontal scrolling. Practically, this means that defined table widths or combined widths of images should not exceed 750 pixels. Be mindful that most printers cut off content that exceeds 640 pixels in width. Consider adding functionality that allows pages wider than 640 pixels to be formatted for printing at 640.
- Browser compatibility
Pages should be reasonably viewable (i.e., essential information must be readable) with at least the following browsers: Netscape 4.0 and higher; Internet Explorer 4.0 and higher; AOL 4.0 and higher. It is recommended that Web sites contain information indicating the preferred browser and a link to download the browser.
- Java and Javascript
Browsers used by the visually impaired often do not implement Java or Javascript. Essential functions should not be implemented with Java or Javascript, unless an alternative text version of the content is provided.
(G). Testing
The best way to insure the usability of a newly created Web site is to submit it to a sequence of tests. The following procedures are suggested:
- Consult with University Relations regarding the architecture or organization of Web sites using the University of Minnesota Web templates. Call 624-2929 for more information.
- Contact Usability Services for information on usability testing. Usability Services provides services for a fee that are intended to improve usability.
- W3C HTML Validator
Checks documents like HTML and XHTML for conformance to W3C recommendations and other standards.
http://validator.w3.org/
- W3C CSS Validator
Check your cascading style sheets by choosing the link to validate "by URI." Also includes free software you can download.
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
- Lynx Viewer
Allows web authors to see how their pages will render (approximately) when accessed with Lynx, a text-mode web browser.
http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html
- Web Site Optimization - Test page download time
Web Page Analyzer - Beta. Enter a URL to calculate page size, composition, and download time. The script calculates the size of individual elements and finds the total for each type of web page component.
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/
(H). Contact Info
If you have questions or comments about these policies, please direct them to Brent Engebretson, Academic Health Center Office of Communications, at engeb013@umn.edu or 624-9162.
Updated October 30, 2006
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