The primary audience of the official website is prospective students. Secondary audiences include current students, faculty, staff, alumni, news media, and the general public searching for information about the university.
Who creates the University's web pages?
Official web pages for academic and administrative units must be created or approved by the Office of Web Communications or a designated individual in that department or administrative unit, in adherence to the official university web page policies and utilizing the templates provided by the Office of Web Communications.
Individuals and non-academic student organizations are responsible for their own web content and pages which must adhere to U.S. and international copyright law (including guidelines for fair use); comply with local, state, and federal laws; and comply with university web policies and all other university policies. An example of an individual's web page could be the personal web page of a Loyola staff member; examples of non-academic student organizations include sororities and fraternities and other extra-curricular groups.
A note on content
Loyola University does not monitor the content of material transported across its networks; however, complaints about violations are investigated by the Office of Information Technology. The university reserves the right to remove or limit access to material posted on university-owned computers or servers when applicable university policies or state or federal laws are violated. Individuals who believe that a violation of this policy has occurred should contact the executive director for information technology, 518 Monroe Hall, telephone 504-865-3979, or bljacobs@loyno.edu.
Policy: University homepage
The university home page is located at http://www.loyno.edu, and is the registered domain for Loyola University New Orleans. The home page is divided into the following sections:
A. Navigation
All navigation on the home page (and related pages), as well as the navigation found in the universal gray headers and footers, is maintained by the Office of Web Communications. Navigation must be consistent; changes to existing structure are rare and based on university-wide consensus.
The Web Communications and Public Affairs offices are responsible for maintaining, creating, and defining the content for the feature stories. Feature stories rotate periodically to highlight Loyola's top news and events. Feature stories promote exceptional academic achievement, position Loyola as a regionally and/or nationally recognized institution, highlight special programs, and/or assist in the marketing/recruiting of new students. All feature stories require professional quality photography approved by its author for posting on Loyola University New Orleans' website.
The Office of Web Communications is responsible for the blog feature and the photo gallery. The Office of Web Communications selects which blog to feature from the active Loyola-driven blogs. Selected blogs must have universal appeal, but garner the interest of prospective students in particular, since they are our primary audience. Featured blogs must be well-written and updated bi-weekly.
The photo gallery is maintained and published by the Web Team. Photos are selected by the Office of Web Communications. The submission of a Web Request Form is required to request the addition of a photo (or group of photos) to the gallery.
To request promotion of a news item or upcoming event, use the Publicity Request Form to request information to be posted in those sections. For more information, visit the Office of Public Affairs or call (504) 861-5888.
E. Highlights
Highlight selections are approved and managed by the Office of Web Communications. Highlights are small spotlights that feature direct links to specific sections of our web site and a brief explanation of what that site entails. There may only be three highlights on the homepage at any one time. All highlight requests should be made through the Web Request Form.
Policy: Office, College, Department, Organization, and Program Sites
Academic and Administrative units
Official web pages for academic and administrative units must be created by the Office of Web Communications, or created by a designated web supervisor in the department or administrative unit, in adherence to the official university web page policies and utilizing the template provided by the Office of Web Communications.
Offices, Colleges, Departments, Professional Organizations, and Programs wishing to create a new website, add additional pages to an existing site, or incorporate external site elements should complete the online Web Request Form.
All unit home pages must contain the following information:
the name "Loyola University New Orleans" or the official university logo
the name of the unit
the copyright statement: Copyright 2009 (or appropriate year) by Loyola University New Orleans
a link to the main university website
Faculty and Staff Organizations
Faculty/staff organization web pages must be created by the Office of Web Communications, or created by a designated web supervisor in the department or administrative unit, in adherence to the official university web page policies and utilizing the template provided by the Office of Web Communications. Faculty/staff organization web pages must adhere to all rules of the university as stated in The Staff Policies, Procedures and Benefits Manual, the Faculty Handbook, and other official statements of university policy.
Non-Academic Student Organizations
Non-academic student organizations may design their own web pages. Content is subject to approval of the Division of Student Affairs, or academic program director and/or advisor. These pages must include the following:
the name of the organization
name and e-mail address of the individual who is responsible for maintaining the page
date of last update
Student organization web pages must adhere to all rules of the university as stated in the Student Code of Conduct and other official statements of university policy. Student organizations that do not have a valid Loyola user account should apply for web page space on the university server through the Office of Information Technology.
While student organizations' web pages must comply with all of Loyola University New Orleans' graphic standards, the Office of Web Communications does not assume responsibility in creating, modifying, or maintaining those pages.
Academic Student Organizations
Student organizations sponsored by an academic college or department may request a web page for their organization through the marketing assistant in their respective college or department. (For an example, MBA Student Association).
While individuals’ personal pages must comply with all of Loyola University New Orleans' graphic standards, the Office of Web Communications does not assume responsibility in creating, modifying, or maintaining those pages.
What types of information should not be placed on web pages?
Information or graphics, music, or video that violates copyright laws;
Information that violates federal, state, or local laws;
Information that violates or does not adhere to university policy;
Information that is for commercial use or for private business purposes;
Information or graphics that are pornographic, obscene, injurious, harassing, or defamatory; and
Rumors, hearsay, or unverified reports about the university or its programs.
Faculty/Staff Web Pages
Faculty/staff web pages linked to the official university home page are restricted to academic use, such as course assignments, publication of syllabi, e-mail communications, and research. Faculty/staff web pages cannot be used for commercial use or private business and should include only professional information related to teaching and research.
Faculty/staff web pages must include the following:
name and e-mail address of the individual responsible for maintaining the pages
credentials
brief biography
professional address
date of last update
link to the departmental home page which is linked to the official university home page
The following disclaimer must be posted on faculty/staff web pages:
The contents of this communication are the sole responsibility of (faculty or staff member name) and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of Loyola University New Orleans.
Student Home Pages
Loyola University New Orleans policy students to publish individual web pages accessible through the Loyola server. However, the opinions expressed in these pages are strictly those of the page authors, and comments on the contents of these pages should be directed to the page authors. Any pages in violation of official university policies and/or contrary to standards reflecting institutional philosophy will be subject to immediate removal from the university network.
Students can house individual web pages on the university's server. Web page space is available to all active members of the Loyola community. Each valid Loyola user account is pre-assigned web page space in the user directory. Application for expanded space should be submitted to the Office of Information Technology. Student web pages cannot be used for commercial use or private business.
The university logo cannot be used on individual student home pages
Student web pages must adhere to university web page policy and other university policy as stated in the Student Code of Conduct.
Policy: Flash Animation and Video
This policy refers to the creation of new multimedia content, not the use of existing multimedia content; use of existing multimedia content falls under the university's intellectual property and copyright policy.
The primary audiences for promotional multimedia content such as flash animation and video are prospective students, alumni, and friends.
Multimedia content intended for prospective students must be initiated through the Office of Admissions.
Promotional flash, video and/or related multimedia content is intended to communicate university-wide messages, not those particular to any specific department or college.
For multimedia content used in mass e-mail messages, there is a limit of one to two total flash and/or related multimedia messages sent per year per audience.
Institutional Advancement’s Office of Publications and Marketing Communications collaborates with V.P.’s, Deans, and department heads to determine the subject matter/content of promotional flash/video/multimedia messages and to ensure their initiatives are accurately represented. However, the responsibility of the strategy for, and the concept of, promotional flash/video/multimedia communication belongs to the Office of Publications and Marketing Communications and the initiator. Though OPMC determines the subject matter/content of those communications, we work closely with all academic areas to ensure their initiatives are accurately represented.
Promotional flash/video/multimedia content will not be created for student groups or individuals' promotions.
Video created for academic use is produced and orchestrated by Media Services in Monroe Library.
There are several vehicles for mass distribution of university information to internal Loyola audiences. For the purposes of this policy, the definition of an Internal Mass E-mail is an individual e-mail sent to faculty@loyno.edu, and/or staff@loyno.edu, and/or student@loyno.edu.
This section describes the following vehicles for distribution of internal e-mails:
For the purposes of this policy, the definition of an External Mass E-mail is an individual e-mail sent to Loyola University alumni, parents, friends, donors, purchased or audience-specific lists, and the news media.
The Office of Institutional Advancement is responsible for approving all messaging directed to external audiences relating to Loyola University New Orleans or its events. External e-mail content must be submitted to webteam@loyno.edu 48 working hours prior to estimated date of distribution.
This section describes the following types of external e-mails:
The Office of Marketing and Communications is only responsible for designing or distributing mass graphic HTML e-mails for the Office of the President, Admissions (including Recruiting), and Institutional Advancement (including Alumni and Annual Fund).
E-newsletter templates may be created by the Office of Web Communications for colleges, non-academic centers/institutes, and divisions only; existing e-newsletters have been grandfathered into this policy. Departments and units within colleges and divisions should contact their college or division heads to include information in their respective e-newsletters.
Composition and distribution of e-newsletters is the responsibility of each department and not the Office of Marketing and Communications, which is only responsible for proofing copy for external distribution.
What is an E-newsletter?
E-newsletters are differentiated from individual mass e-mails by the following characteristics:
E-newsletters are sent frequently, according to a set schedule
Content centers around a central topic or theme (i.e., study abroad or commuter topics)
Audience has connection to topic or theme
E-newsletters are always sent to same audience or subset of that audience
All e-newsletters are sent using a third-party vendor, which has been approved by the Office of Web Communications. This vendor ensures that Loyola e-newsletters are sent properly, allow tracking capabilities, and maintains a white-listed, non-spammer status so our messages have the best chance of being recieved by our constituents. All e-newsletters incur fees associated with template setup and sending costs, and are billed to each e-newsletters office or department.
Requirements
Before a proposed e-newsletter can be created it must meet the following criteria:
Must be a college, center, or non-academic unit. Academic departments should include their information in their respective college e-newsletters
Must be able to send at least once a semester, according to a set schedule
Content centers around a central topic or theme (i.e., study abroad or commuter topics); content must be relevant and timely
Must be able to provide a minimum of three (3) stories per e-newsletter
Audience must have connection to topic or theme
E-newsletters must always be sent to same audience or subset of that audience
There must be one person designated as the administrator of the e-newsletter
Must have funds to send e-newsletter
Failure to meet the above requirements is grounds to relinquish e-newsletter capabilities.
Agreements with and use of commercial service providers for online services must be consistent with University policy and the primary education, research, or public service goals of the department's, organization's, or individual's (faculty or staff) website. These agreements cannot be used for personal financial gain. Use of any third-party vendor or commercial entity on a department or individual website must be approved by the Office of Web Communications prior to entering a contract with that third-party vendor or commercial entity.
Decisions regarding appropriateness shall be based on standards defined in existing University and campus policies and regulations.
Third-party vendors must adhere to all web policies, procedures, and standards put forth by the Office of Web Communications and Loyola University New Orleans.
You have a website. Now, it just needs updating. How do you do it? Who do you call for help?
I've never edited a website before. What do I do first?
In order to edit a website, you must have access to a content management system, which is a computer application used to create, edit, manage, search and publish various kinds of digital media and electronic text. This can be either a software program installed on your computer or a web-based program that you log into from your website.
If your website does not yet follow the "new look" of Loyola, your department, college, center or institute is using either the Contribute or Dreamweaver programs to edit your website.
Check to see if either program is already installed on your computer.
Fill out a Web Request Form to be trained on the program. Be sure to tell us the date and time when you are available to be trained and whether you need Contribute or Dreamweaver installed on your computer or if it's already there.
If your website has already been re-designed, your department, college, center or institute is using Drupal to edit your website.
Fill out a Web Request Form to be trained on the program. Be sure to tell us the date and time when you are available to be trained.
Once I've been trained, what if I forget how to do something or have questions?
Never fear. We are here to help. Fill out a Web Request Form with your question or problem and a member of the web team will contact you with a reply or schedule an appointment to do a refresher training with you.
Procedure: Content Management
I want to create a new page via Contribute. Where do I start?
Open Contribute on your computer.
Navigate to a page that you would like your new page to look like. For example, if you have a banner image at the top of your website that says "Department of History," and you want your new page to say "Department of History," go to the page that best represents what you would like to create.
Click "New Page" in the upper left-hand corner of your screen.
A new window will appear that says "New Web Page or Blog Entry." The window will list a "Blank Page," "Copy of Current Page," and a list of templates that are on your website. Click "Copy of Current Page."
At the bottom right side of the screen, Contribute prompts you to name the page. Name the page one or two words, all lowercase. If the page title is two words, please separate the words with hyphens instead of spaces or underlines (e.g. faculty-accomplishments, student-resources, our-mission). Once you've named the page, click "OK."
A new page will appear that is an exact duplicate of the page you copied. The other page still exists exactly as it was and your new page is now titled whatever you named it. Proceed with deleting the old content from the page and replacing it with the new content. If you are copying and pasting content that you have already written in a Microsoft Word document, save your Microsoft Word document as "plain text," close the document, and then re-open it and then copy the content into your website. This is one of the most important rules to remember whne adding content to your website. If you do not do this, you will bring HTML coding from your Microsoft Word document into your website, which will make editing your website extremely difficult.
Once you are done adding content, you will click "Publish." Contribute will show you a new window that says your web page will be published, but noone can find your webpage until you create a link to it. Do you want to proceed? Click "Yes."
A new window will appear with the name of the new page that you have created and it will ask you where you want this page to live on your website. Next to this message is a "Choose" button. Click the "Choose" button. Here you will tell the page whethere you want it to remain a single page or if you want the page to be a part of a folder of pages on a related topic. Once you've chosen the location for the page to live, click the "select" button at the bottom of the window and then click "OK."
You have now created a new page and saved it on the Loyola server, but the page is not visible to your website's user until you create a link to it from either your website's navigation or from the content within your website. Learn more about creating links.
How do I change the fonts on my new page?
Once you've created your new page, use the dropdown menu at the top of the screen next to the word "Fonts" to edit the formatting of the content on your page. There are three dropdowns: "Normal," "Arial," and a dropdown that controls font size. You should only use the dropdown menu that says "Normal."
All of the fonts that you need for your website have been pre-programmed into your website template in the "Normal" dropdown menu. The other two dropdown menus override the pre-programmed settings. You should avoid this as it will cause problems in editing your website.
In the "Normal" dropdown menu, there are listings for headings on your page in the order of importance that they should be presented. For example, Heading 1 should always be at the top of your web page as it is the largest font setting and thus should identify the most important content. Heading 2 is for identifying the second most important content on a page and so on and so forth. When you want text to be a normal paragraph font, set the font to "Normal," which is the default setting.
I want to create a new page via Dreamweaver. Where do I start?
Open Dreamweaver on your computer.
Open the "local view" of your website.
Open a page that you would like your new page to look like. Click "File" in the upper left-hand corner of your screen and click "Save as."
You will save the page to your local website folder in the "My Documents" folder on your computer. Name the page one or two words, all lowercase. If the page title is two words, please separate the words with hyphens instead of spaces or underlines (e.g. faculty-accomplishments, student-resources, our-mission). Once you've named the page, click "OK."
Go back to the "local view" of your website on your computer. When the new page you created appears, click on the page title and click on the "check in" button with the lock.
You have created a new page, but the page is not visible to your website's user until you create a link to it from either your website's navigation or from the content within your website. Learn more about creating links.
Your new page will appear as an exact duplicate of the page you copied. The other page still exists exactly as it was and your new page is now titled whatever you named it. Proceed with deleting the old content from the page and replacing it with the new content. If you are copying and pasting content that you have already written in a Microsoft Word document, save your Microsoft Word document as "plain text," close the document, and then re-open it and then copy the content into your website. This is one of the most important rules to remember whne adding content to your website. If you do not do this, you will bring HTML coding from your Microsoft Word document into your website, which will make editing your website extremely difficult.
How do I change the fonts on my new page?
Once you've created your new page and added content, highlight the content that needs formatting and right-click. A dropdown menu of options will appear, click "Paragraph format."
All of the fonts that you need for your website have been pre-programmed into your website template. In the dropdown menu, there are listings for headings on your page in the order of importance that they should be presented. For example, Heading 1 should always be at the top of your web page as it is the largest font setting and thus should identify the most important content. Heading 2 is for identifying the second most important content on a page and so on and so forth. When you want text to be a normal paragraph font, set the font to "Paragraph," which is the default setting.
I want to create a new page via Drupal. Where do I start?
Open and login to your website: http://(your website address)/user/login
Click "Create Content" in the left-hand navigation bar. Click "Content Page" to create a new page.
A new page with the title "Submit Content Page" will appear. Add a title to the page. This title will be the main headline on your page.
Proceed with adding content to the new page. If you are copying and pasting content that you have already written in a Microsoft Word document, save your Microsoft Word document as "plain text," close the document, and then re-open it and then copy the content into your website. This is one of the most important rules to remember when adding content to your website. If you do not do this, you will bring HTML coding from your Microsoft Word document into your website, which will make editing your website extremely difficult.
When you are done, click "Submit" and your page is published. You have created a new page, but the page is not visible to your website's user until you create a link to it from either your website's navigation or from the content within your website. Learn more about creating links.
How do I change the fonts on my new page?
Once you've created your new page and added content, highlight the content that needs formatted. Click the "Format" dropdown menu.
All of the fonts that you need for your website have been pre-programmed into your website template. In the dropdown menu, there are listings for headings on your page in the order of importance that they should be presented. For example, Heading 1 should always be at the top of your web page as it is the largest font setting and thus should identify the most important content. Heading 2 is for identifying the second most important content on a page and so on and so forth. When you want text to be a normal paragraph font, set the font to "Normal," which is the default setting.
Navigate to the page where you want to add the link.
Click "Edit Page" in the upper left-hand corner of your screen.
The menu items at the top of your screen change once you are in the edit mode. "Edit Page" and "New Page" have now been replaced with "Publish," "Send For Review," "Save For Later," and "Discard Draft." Next to Discard Draft are "link," "image," and "table." Highlight the text on the page you would like to link and then click "Link" at the top of the page.
Contribute will provide a dropdown list of "Drafts and Recent Pages," "Create New Page," "Browse to Web Page," "Email Address," and "File On My Computer." Click "Browse to Web Page." A new window will appear. Here, the text that you have highlighted will appear under "link text." The next box says URL address, which is where you would type the address of the page you want to link if you know it.
If you do not know the address of the page you want to link to your website, you have two options. The first option is "Browse" to the page by clicking the browse button, which will allow you to browse just as you do on your Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox web browser. The second option is to "Choose" the page that currently exists on your website that you want to link. To do this, you click the "Choose" button on the secondary window and highlight and click on the page listed that you want to link.
Once you have completed one of the above options, the web address you plan to link on your web page will appear in the box titled "Web Address URL." Once that is complete, click "OK."
You have now successfully created a link. For the link to be live, click "Publish."
How can I make someone's name link to their email address?
Click "Edit Page" in the upper left-hand corner of your screen.
Highlight the person's name who you want to link to their e-mail address.
Click "Link" at the top of the page.
In the Link dropdown menu, click "E-Mail Address."
In the E-Mail Address window, type in the e-mail address you want to link. Click "OK."
You have now successfully created a link to an e-mail address. For the link to be live, click "Publish."
Highlight the text that you want to link and right click on it.
After right clicking on the text, you will be presented with a dropdown menu of options. Click "make link."
A new window will appear, allowing you to open folders within your website to link to pages within your site. To link to a page already on your site, you should simply open the folder where the page exists and click the page then click "OK." If you want to link to pages outside of your website, go to the URL address space in the bottom left-hand corner of the window and type in the URL address for the website you want to link. Once you have a page in the URL address space, click "OK."
You have now successfully created a link. For the link to be live, "check in" the page you are working on.
How can I make someone's name link to their e-mail address?
Open the page where you want to add the link.
Highlight the name of the person who you want linked to their e-mail address.
Click "Insert" in the top left-hand dropdown menu. Click "Email Link."
In the "Email" space, type the e-mail address for the individual and click "OK."
You have now successfully created a link to an e-mail address. For the link to be live, "check in" the page.
Open and login to your website: http://(your website address)/user/login
Browse to the page where you want to add a link.
"Edit" the page.
Highlight the text that you want to link. Click "Insert Link" button in the control menu. (The insert link button has a graphic of a world with a little chain link next to it.)
A new window will appear. Under "Link Type," choose "URL."
Under "URL address" type in the web address for the page you want to link and click "OK."
You have now successfully created a link. For the link to be live, "submit" the page you are working on.
How can I make someone's name link to their e-mail address?
Open the page where you want to add the link.
Highlight the name of the person who you want linked to their e-mail address.
Click "Insert Link" button in the control menu. (The insert link button has a graphic of a world with a little chain link next to it.)
A new window will appear. Under "Link Type," choose "Email."
Under E-Mail Address, type the person's e-mail address and click "OK."
You have now successfully created a link to an e-mail address. For the link to be live, click "Submit."
Navigate to the page where you want to add the image.
Click "Edit Page" in the upper left-hand corner of your screen.
The menu items at the top of your screen change once you are in the edit mode. "Edit Page" and "New Page" have now been replaced with "Publish," "Send For Review," "Save For Later," and "Discard Draft." Next to Discard Draft are "link," "image," and "table." Click "Image."
Contribute will ask you whether you want to upload an image "From My Computer," "From Website," or "From the Internet." From My Computer means this an image that you have saved already on your desktop or an image that you have saved somewhere else on your computer hard drive. From Website means this is an image that is already saved on the Loyola website server somewhere on your current website. And finally, From the Internet means this is an image that you want to save from a non-Loyola website.
Most often, you will upload a new image that is saved on your desktop, so you will click "From My Computer." When you do this, another window opens asking you to browse to the photo you want to upload. Select the image that you want.
If the size of your image is too large to display, Contribute will display a message that says "Contribute decreased the size of the image because it exceeded the size limit set by the website administrator." Click "OK."
Next, Contribute will prompt you to enter a Description (ALT Text), which is a description used for visually impaired users of the internet. In this box, please enter a short sentence describing the photo. (For example: a picture of a student studying in the library might be described as "Loyola University new Orleans student studies in the J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library") Please use proper names for these descriptions and always make mention of Loyola University New Orleans. After entering a description, click "OK."
The image will now appear on the page where you want it to display.
The image is too large. How do I change its size?
The image may be larger than you want it to be on the page or may not be next to the paragraph of text where you want it to display. If this is the case, put your mouse cursor on the image and right click.
Select "Image Properties." A new window called "Image Properties" will appear. Here you have listed the name of the file, controls for resizing the photo, controls for adding space around the photo, controls to align the photo to the left or to the right on the page. And a control to revise the description (ALT text) for your photo.
Change the display width to 200 pixels. When you do this, Contribute will automatically constrain the proportions on your photo so that the height of the photo is properly adjusted and the image still appears as it should without distortion. We recommend photos to be displayed at anywhere between 150 and 250 pixels wide. Use your judgement as to how large you would like the image to appear.
I want the image to appear next to a paragraph of text with the text wrapping around it. How do I do this?
Place your mouse cursor at the beginning of the paragraph where you want the photo to be. This will ensure that the paragraph of text is even with the photo you want to display
Upload the image you want. (See steps #4-9 from above on uploading images)
Once the image is placed, right click on the image and select "Image Properties."
Click the dropdown menu for "Alignment" and set the alignment to "Left" or "Right" This will move your photo to the right or left of the paragraph with the text wrapped around it. You may have to do more adjusting to the size of the photo for it to appear as you want it.
Open the image that you want to upload to your website.
Save the image to your "My Documents" folder for your website. You should save it inside the "images" folder within the website folder.
Open Dreamweaver on your computer.
Open the "local view" of your website.
Open the folder where you saved the image and click on the image.
Click on the "check in" button with the lock in the upper right-hand side of your screen. The image is now saved on the Loyola server.
Open the page where you want the image to appear. Place your cursor on the page where you would like the image to appear.
Go to "Insert" in the upper left-hand toolbar on your screen and click "Image." A new window will appear. Find the image that you want to upload, click on it and click "OK."
Next, Dreamweaver will prompt you to enter a Description (ALT Text), which is a description used for visually impaired internet users. In this box, please enter a short sentence describing the photo. (For example: a picture of a student studying in the library might be described as "Loyola University new Orleans student studies in the J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library") Please use proper names for these descriptions and always make mention of Loyola University New Orleans. After entering a description, click "OK."
The image will now appear on the page where you want it to display.
"Check In" the page to publish.
The image is too large. How do I change its size?
The image may be larger than you want it to be on the page or may not be next to the paragraph of text where you want it to display. If this is the case, put your mouse cursor on the image and right-click. A list of options will appear, click "Properties."
In the "Properties" menu, you can adjust the height and width of the image. Be sure to keep the width and height of the image in proportion. If you are unsure about the proportion of the image, close the image and open it again in a photo editing software such as Photoshop so that the image is properly sized.
We recommend photos to be displayed at anywhere between 150 and 250 pixels wide. Use your judgement as to how large you would like the image to appear on your page.
I want the image to appear next to a paragraph of text with the text wrapping around it. How do I do this?
Place your mouse cursor at the beginning of the paragraph where you want the photo to be. This will ensure that the paragraph of text is even with the photo you want to display
Upload the image you want. (See steps #1-11 from above on uploading images)
Once the image is placed, right click on the image and select "Properties."
In the space for "Align," set the alignment to "Left" or "Right" This will move your photo to the right or left of the paragraph with the text wrapped around it. You may have to do more adjusting to the size of the photo for it to appear as you want it.
Open and login to your website: http://(your website address)/user/login
Click "Create Content" in the left-hand navigation bar. In the Dropdown menu, click "Image."
A new page with a title called "Submit Image" will appear. You will name the image.
In the next line, click the "Browse" button and find the image on your desktop.
In the "body," type a sentence or two about the photo so you will know later who is in the photo and what it illustrates. Click "Submit" at the bottom of the page. Your image is now saved to the Loyola server and in Drupal, but not yet on your web page.
Choose the page where you want your image to appear. "Edit" the page.
Click the yellow and gray button to "Insert Image" within the body of the content. (This button has the image of a mountain and a sun on it.) A new window will appear.
In the box for URL, click "Browse server." A new window will appear that will pull up a directory of images that you have uploaded to your website. Double-click on the image you just uploaded.
The address for the image will now appear in the URL box. In this window you can adjust the size of the image by manipulating the width and height of the image. Drupal will automatically constrain the proportions of the image. Click "OK."
The image will now appear on the page where you want it to display.
The image is too large. How do I change its size?
The image may be larger than you want it to be on the page or may not be next to the paragraph of text where you want it to display. If this is the case, put your mouse cursor on the image and right click.
Select "Image Properties." A new window called "Image Properties" will appear. Here you have listed controls for resizing the photo.
Change the display width to 200 pixels. When you do this, Drupal will automatically constrain the proportions on your photo so that the height of the photo is properly adjusted and the image still appears as it should without distortion. We recommend photos to be displayed at anywhere between 150 and 250 pixels wide. Use your judgement as to how large you would like the image to appear.
I want the image to appear next to a paragraph of text with the text wrapping around it. How do I do this?
Place your mouse cursor at the beginning of the paragraph where you want the photo to be. This will ensure that the paragraph of text is even with the photo you want to display
Upload the image you want. (See steps #1-10 from above on uploading images)
Once the image is placed, right click on the image and select "Image Properties."
Click the dropdown menu for "Align" and set the alignment to "Left" or "Right" This will move your photo to the right or left of the paragraph with the text wrapped around it. You may have to do more adjusting to the size of the photo for it to appear as you want it.
I want to send an e-mail in the Loyola Daily Campus Digest.
This is the preferred method of getting your message out to the Loyola Community. It is available for use by all members of the Loyola community, has a short turnaround, and requires little advance notice.
Information Technology provides e-mail broadcast services to the Loyola community. Broadcasting sends an e-mail message to all Loyola mail accounts. Three addresses have been established for this purpose. They are:
Messages sent to any or all of these addresses are reviewed by Information Technology before they are released to the community. Messages must adhere to the following guidelines for broadcast:
The message must be generated from a Loyola account
The message must be under 200 words
The message may not be of a personal or commercial nature.
The message must be germane to the Loyola community. (ie. SGA messages, messages from a department, college or administration, Sorority, Fraternity, club, etc.)
The message must not contain attachments.
Messages meeting all of these criteria will be released for broadcast. Persons requesting broadcast messages should allow 48 hours lead time for review and processing.
Loyola at a Glance is an e-newsletter distributed weekly on Fridays to all faculty, staff, and students. In order to be considered for publication in Loyola at a Glance, a member of the university community must submit a Publicity Request Form, with the following deadlines:
For a news item, submit at least two weeks prior to the intended publication date
For event information, submit at least four weeks prior to the intended publication date
I want to send an e-mail from my college or academic department to other people in my college or academic department
If you are a member of college or college department and would like your dean to send an e-mail out on letterhead to constituents within your college on your behalf, contact your dean and/or their administrative assistant. They are responsible for approving and distributing your message using the E-mailer system (developed by the Office of Web Communications).
I want to send a mass e-mail from my Provost or Vice President
If you are a member of an office or office department and would like your provost or vice president to send an e-mail out on letterhead to Loyola faculty and/or staff and/or students on your behalf, contact your provost or vice president and/or their administrative assistant. They are responsible for approving and distributing your message using the HTML E-mailer system (developed by the Office of Web Communications).
If you would like to send an individual message, on letterhead, to faculty and/or staff and/or students from the Office of the President on your behalf, you must first contact the president's office for approval.
If the message is approved, the project will be completed by the Office of the President and the Office of Web Communications. You must be able to provide:
your proposed message
your subject line
intended audience
send date
The Office of Web Communications will assume responsibility for sending your message from the President.
This process may require up to a 2 week lead time for completion.
I have an important safety message that other people need to know about now
The department of Public Safety and University Police are solely responsible for distributing their messages, called BOLOs, which announce important campus safety information. To provide information or inquire about a BOLO message, please contact a member of University Police.
I want to send a mass e-mail to alumni, parents, and friends
The president, provost, and vice presidents may send mass e-mails to the external Loyola community. College deans may send out messages to alumni, parents, and friends affiliated with their college or academic departments.
Messages should be drafted, edited, and distributed by their individual offices or colleges. Persons or departments may request a mass e-mail be sent from their respective dean, vice president or provost on their behalf.
This process may require up to a two week lead time for all steps to be completed.
I want to send a mass e-mail to prospective students
The Office of Admissions is the only university entity with expressed permission to send messages to prospective students.
This process may require up to a four week lead time for all steps to be completed.
Contact the Office of Admissions about your proposed message. You will need to have the following items for them to consider:
The subject line
the specific audience
the send date
the body of the e-mail
any other special requests
If the Office of Admissions approves your message, they will take it on as one of THEIR jobs and proceed with the project. The Office of Admissions will work with the Office of Web Communications to complete the project.
Messages or press releases regarding Loyola University directed to the news media must be distributed through the Office of Public Affairs. Public Affairs is responsible for drafting, proofing and distributing all official university messages to the news media. If you have news or information regarding Loyola University that you would like to publicize to the media, contact Meredith Hartley at mhartley@loyno.edu or 861-5883, or fill out a Publicity Request Form.
This process may require up to a four week lead time to be completed.
I want to have an e-newsletter created for my College, Division, or Center/Institute
This process may require up to a 4 week lead time for completion.
Once you have determined your e-newsletter meets the requirements stated in the policy for e-newsletters, you may begin the process of e-newsletter development with the Office of Web Communications.
You must first determine the following:
the intended audience for your e-newsletter
the topic of your e-newsletter
the name of your e-newsletter
the contact person, or who will be composing, administering, and sending your enewsletter
the calendar dates you would like to send your e-newsletter
how many stories (minimum is three) you'll have each issue
any additional design or content requests
Submit a Web Request Form to officially request your e-newsletter.
A member of the Office of Web Communications will contact you regarding your e-newsletter to confirm details and ask any questions we may have.
We will design the newsletter and return for your approval. This step typically takes up to two weeks.
The approved design is submitted to our third party vendor; they create a template for your use. This step can take up to two weeks.
We train your contact person on how to administer and send your e-newsletter.
I already have an e-newsletter, and I want to send out a new issue
Contact the Office of Web Communications to have your e-newsletter officially put on our communications calendar. This ensures that no one else is sending to a similar audience at the same time, which prevents your e-newsletter from getting ignored.
Compose your e-newsletter using our third-party software.
Send a test draft to yourself and anyone else that should see it before it goes out.
Send a test draft of your e-newsletter to webteam@loyno.edu at least three business days in advance of your send date if you are sending to an external audience (parents, alumni, friends).
If you had to send a test draft to the webteam, wait until we reply with any necessary changes.
To ensure your e-newsletters get to the right people, you must keep your audience database up-to-date. There are different procedures for getting updated lists for different audiences:
Faculty, Staff, Students and Parents:
Faculty, staff, parent and student e-mail addresses may be obtained from the Office of Information Technology and the Office of Student Records.
Alumni and Friends:
Alumni and friend e-mail addresses may be obtained from Advancement Records.
In an effort to streamline the process of e-mail address requests, the following calendar illustrates important dates on when request e-mail address information for alumni and friends. You may request audience information at other times of the year, but make note that the Advancement Record e-mail record database files are only updated on the following days:
March 1
Updated file (exported from RE7 with the most recent alumni and friend e-mail addresses) available for use* Responsible parties: Advancement Records, MyEmma/HTML E-mailer account holders
June 1
Updated file (exported from RE7 with the most recent alumni and friend e-mail addresses) available for use* Responsible parties: Advancement Records, MyEmma/HTML E-mailer account holders
September 1
Updated file (exported from RE7 with the most recent alumni and friend e-mail addresses) available for use*
Most people will quickly scan a webpage initally. From this first impression, they will decide whether or not the content is of interest to them and worth the time it will take to read it in full.
B. Help people scan
Break up and optimize your content so it can be easily scanned and the important points grasped quickly. Use some or all of the following:
Short sentences
Short paragraphs
Subheadings
Bold and italics
Bullet points and numbered lists
Also, make use of empty space (or "white space") so your content does not appear too cluttered.
C. Choose your words carefully
Use active words in headings and subheadings that will serve to motivate or entice the reader. Write from the viewpoint of your audience, and make sure each heading is appropriate for the content that follows. Also be aware of how headings play a part in search engine optimization.
D. Colored text
Be careful not to overuse colored text. No more than three colors is recommended: one for headings, one for regular text and one for links. However, if you update your site via Drupal, some CSS classes can be used to color text and links. For information on how to do this, please see the following post on the Web Team blog: Styling text and positioning images in Drupal.
E. General tips
Don't have every piece of content competing for the reader's attention. When everything stands out, nothing does. Decide on a hierarchy.
Avoid excessive scrolling where possible. When topics change, consider creating a new page.
Link to and from related websites and pages. This allows the reader to find out more about certain topics, while also making your content more attractive to search engines.
Avoid putting content in PDF format and then linking to it from a webpage. Less people will read it and search engines won't be able to index it easily. It is much better to take the content from the PDF, repurpose it for the web (i.e. add links where appropriate, consider using SEO-friendly headings, etc.), and publish it as a webpage.
Standard: Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search engine results, the more searchers will visit that site.
Abiding by a few basic SEO principles can help people find your site when they "Google it."
A. Content is key
An introductory paragraph should definitely be present on your home page, but really every single page on your site can benefit from having a brief sentence summarizing it or introducing the main content. Sometimes the page heading will be enough, but whenever you think an outsider may not be familiar with the subject matter, be sure to elaborate...and use that as an opportunity to sprinkle in some keywords.
B. Keywords
Keywords are specific words or phrases that relate to your website’s subject matter. In essence, they describe what your website is about.
Search engines like Google will index your website and come up with their own set of keywords to describe each page. It's up to you to ensure that the words and phrases that best describe each page are used there numerous times and placed prominently (such as in heading tags; h1, h2, h3, etc.).
To figure out what keywords you should be using for a specific page, ask yourself what someone might type into a search engine if they were looking for that page. Be sure to consider searchers who may not know much about the subject, as they will often use simple terminology.
A word of caution: After adding keywords to your content, ensure that everything still flows and reads naturally. Humans are ultimately who you want looking at your website, so don't cater to the search engine robots at the expense of readibility.
C. Page titles
Like you do within your page’s content, relevant keywords should be present in your page title. However, they should not be a big, long list of keywords; make it into a sentence if possible. It is recommended that you change your page titles throughout your site to tailor them more to the individual pages.
D. File names
This applies to all files you put on your website, from images to HTML files to PDF documents and more. Almost every type of file can be indexed by search engines, and naming each file appropriately (i.e. with keywords) can help with SEO. Here are some examples:
An image of Loyola students playing basketball:
loyola-university-new-orleans-students-basketball.jpg
A webpage hosting information about the College of Law Graduation Mass:
college-of-law-graduation-mass.html
Note: It is best to use "-" (dashes) as opposed to "_" (underscores) to represent spaces in file names.
E. Quality of inbound links
Search engines like Google assign a score (or "rank") to each website indexed. The higher the score, the more trustworthy the website is deemed to be by the search engine. If such a website then links to another, the search engine assumes the second site to be somewhat trustworthy because of the referral. If several more high-score sites were to also link to that second site, its good standing with the search engines would be further enhanced.
It's a lot like that saying, "Show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are."
The best way to improve the quality of inbound links to your site is to consistently publish quality content. Other sites will link to content they find interesting. If you think other sites are unaware of your content, let them know via e-mail.
Another way to let other sites know about you is to link to them first. It's likely that they will notice the incoming traffic and check out your site. If they like what they find there, they may respond with a link in kind.
F. Meta tags
Meta tags such as description and keywords used to have a lot of influence over SEO, but thanks to many a sneaky website providing false meta information in an attempt to increase traffic, search engines no longer pay much attention to these tags. In fact, the meta keywords tag is pretty much useless nowadays.
The meta description tag still holds value however. Whatever you enter there will be used as the short summary of the page in search engine listings, usually right below the page title. Therefore a good, accurate description can help entice searchers to click through to your website.
G. General tips and tricks
Boring, to-the-point headlines can help with SEO. Example: An article entitled "Snow at Loyola" is likely to attract more hits via search engines than something like, "Students abuzz as campus becomes a winter wonderland." The reasoning is simple: most people searching for such a story will use the keywords snow and Loyola.
Instead of linking to another page or website with the words "click here," use appropriate keywords as the link text. Examples:
A variety of Web Team-approved images for use on loyno.edu can be found at the Pack Snaps photo blog.
B. Choosing the correct image
A few points to consider when choosing images for your website:
A strong image can catch the eye of a visitor to your website, but may also distract them from important content elsewhere on the page. Consider if you want the image to be the focal point of the page.
Use high-resolution images (scaled down as needed) that clearly depict scenes appropriate to the page/site content. The viewer should not be confused by any image.
Beware of the following: bad lighting, bad cropping and unfortunate background objects/scenery.
Ensure that the images you choose can not easily be dated, or be prepared to update them regularly.
If you do not have the means to edit your own images, please submit a web request so the Office of Web Communications can assist you.
D. File Naming
Appropriate naming of images and other files is discussed on our SEO page.
Standard: Updating Your Website
Loyola's website receives literally millions of visits each year, averaging approximately 13,000 visits per day. So even if you aren't looking at your department, college, or unit website everyday, someone out there is. Keep it updated!
We all love Loyola, and we want people to visit us again and again, both in person and online. Every time a user visits an outdated page, it misrepresents our university...an extremely successful educational engine...as an outdated, out-of-touch institution. Literally. Some of our web site pages have not been touched since 2004, which implies we haven't done anything since 2004. Quite obviously that is not the case. We are an exceptional institution of higher education, one whose success multiplies daily.
A. How often should you update?
As often as possible. People will not come back to your website repeatedly to read the same text and view the same images over and over again. Give them new and interesting content regularly.
B. Archiving
If you do update your site regularly, be sure that you don't just delete old content to make space for the new. Instead, archive the old content so it can still be discovered by new audiences and search engines.
A word of caution: Archiving outdated content may confuse or mislead readers. Consider adding a note to indicate what time period the information is relevant to, and a link to updated information if available.
