Web Update Guidelines

One of the services we provide to the community is ongoing maintenance of Web pages on the main WPI server. Here is some information on how to get best results and fast turnaround.

HOT TIP: When e-mailing changes, try to remember to provide the URL(s) you need updated in the message - our student staff may not be familiar with your site, and may have to spend time hunting for the page to change!

General Guidelines
Small Copy Changes (Edits)
Large Copy Changes and New Pages
Photos
Presentations
PDFs

General Guidelines

When submitting new copy, please do not use the "hyperlinks" feature of Word to make things links. Instead, just write the text out that you want linked and put the link in parenthesis next to it. We do not use the phrases "click here", "click here to learn more" or "follow this link," as links, so please be sure to word your copy to avoid this language. For example:

Contact the Department of Management (link: http://www.mgt.wpi.edu/) for more information.
We also do not print URLs (addresses) on pages; for example we won't put "For more information, go to www.wpi.edu" but rather we would use "For more information, visit the WPI Homepage. Observing these practices when you write copy for your site will decrease the time required to make your changes.
Please do not rely on the features of Outlook (font, color, bolding) to indicate changes that need to be made - our maintenance staff uses a ticketing system taht cannot preserve these characteristics. Instead, attach an MS Word document if you want to use these features.
Please do not e-mail us HTML files from the server, or ones you have created (including those from FrontPage or Word). We will need to recreate the files from scratch anyway, and that's more work for us. If you're doing things electronically (preferred), e-mail us the Word documents with only the text updates you wish to have completed.

Small Copy Changes (Edits)

There are three ways to submit small changes and updates. The most important thing is that you include the URL (address) of the page you are updating.

E-mail: You can edit your text in MS Word (use track changes for best results, or change your font to RED) and e-mail the file to webmaster@wpi.edu. If it's just a small edit, you can simply e-mail instructions to us, for example "In the second paragraph, change 2003 to 2005." Please do not, however, use "In the second line of the second paragraph..." because copy can wrap vastly differently from computer to computer - instead, just try to be as clear as possible without referencing lines (sentences would be fine, as in "The third sentence of the second paragraph"). Be sure to include the URL in the e-mail message.
Fax: You can print out the page you need to update, mark changes on it clearly in ink (please print!) and fax the page to x5320. Be sure to include a cover sheet with your name, e-mail address, and department name, as well as the URL (address) if the print out does not already include it.
Interdepartmental Mail: Same as above, except that you can mail changes to us. Note that the turnaround time will be much slower, as we do not get mail every day. Again, be sure to include your name, e-mail address, and department name.

Large Copy Changes and New Pages

If you are completely rewriting a page or adding a new page, e-mail the content as a Word file attachment to webmaster@wpi.edu. Do not include photographs in the Word file - if you have particular placement in mind, you may insert photos into the Word file, but we also need the original files (see "Photos", below). Be sure to tell us the URL (address) of the page you are replacing, if applicable, or the URL you want the new page to be linked from, and what text you would like to have serve as the link.

Photos

Digital

Please do not e-mail large photos or large quantities of photos to webmaster@wpi.edu. Doing so will cause us to go over quota and prevent us from doing work! Instead, please put digital photos on a CD-R and either mail or deliver it to our office. If you want the CD back, please indicate that on the envelope, as well as the department name and your name. Also, include any instructions as to what we should do with the photos. Also, please do not send photos in Word or PowerPoint files - we need the original files in order to put photos on your site.

Paper/Slides

If you have photos or slides which need to be scanned to go on your site, we prefer scanning them ourselves so that we can get the adequate quality. Be sure to put photos and slides in an envelope clearly marked with any instructions, your name and the department name. We do not recommend you mail photos - they tend to get bent. Instead, have them delivered to our office.

Captions

The easiest method to use is to number your photos and e-mail us a Word document with the captions (as well as any additional text you might want on the page) clearly labeled. You can also use the filenames of the photos, if they are digital.

Presentations

In general, when we post PowerPoint presentations online, we do like to include them in PDF, for those users who do not have PowerPoint available to them. If you wish, you can submit presentations in both formats, otherwise we will convert them to PDF for you.

PDFs

When we create PDFs for use on your site, we do not keep the original files. This means that, if you wish to edit the file after it's been converted, you will need to make the edit to the original file and resend it to us. Editing PDFs is not merely extremely difficult and time consuming, it is often impossible, particularly if you want to preserve the fonts or add an additional line of text or field.

Maintained by webmaster@wpi.edu
Last modified: Aug 30, 2004, 16:24 EDT