A Nod from the WaSP
Published 9 Jun 2005
Some Shameless Self-Promotion
The Web Standards Project’s Education Task Force has listed Humboldt State University’s web site as an excellent example of a standards-based edu site. I have since fixed the minor validation errors they mention, which were caused by my inexpert use of Textile in a couple of pages.
This is an honor for which I can take full credit— I often let my student assistants code out the projects and write the CSS to develop their skills, but this project was pulled off before I even had the luxury of a student assistant. So every line of it is mine, all mine! I talked about the redesign of HSU’s site on collegewebeditor.com if you’re interested in more details.
It’s nice to have my work up there next to some sites that have the benefit of large web teams or the budget to hire well-known designers, even if it is buried in the bowels of the WaSP site.
How Can the WaSP Help Us?
In the email they sent telling me they were linking to HSU, the Education Task Force asked me to let them know if I had any ideas about how they could further assist higher ed to incorporate web standards into its public sites and curriculum. So I want to pass this question on to all of you— they want to help us, let’s let them know how!
Here is the mission of the Education Task Force. They are a relatively new group, and they are exploring ways to further their cause. What advice can you give them? How can they help us?
Also, which other university higher ed sites should be added to the list? I know there are more standards-based university sites out there than these.
In: Coffee at my Desk
This is the section that contains all of my professional articles — serious, no-nonsense stuff that you may need caffeine to get through.
Cocoa on the Couch
SXSW 2009 wrap-up
I’ve been trying to figure out how to sum up SXSW 2009 since I got back, and I’m still not sure I can do it. It was a much …More »
Margarita on the Rocks
poodle, purse, & pumps
Right. I realize that I haven’t blogged in over a year. I am working on remedying that, and have a bunch of half-finished projects to prove it. More on that …More »
Commentary
Elaine Nelson writes
Jun 9 at 08:33 PM #
We’re not a university, but the main part of our site is standards-based, as are many subsites (that’s Pierce College—http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/)—I can’t speak to all the subsites, unfortunately.
When/if we get our web guidelines made official, accessibility will be mandated, which should make for some interesting times. (I forsee a lot of training.)
Where I think higher education web folks really need help is in dealing with those distributed projects: the department assistants, faculty, etc. who maintain vast numbers of minisites.
A good resource that they don’t mention that I’ve found useful is the UWebD list. Standards-related topics come up periodically in that venue, usually in a very practical context.
Influencing curriculum is something that I’m not involved with but would like to understand better. I’ve worked with a number of interns from our Digital Design program, and standards, accessibility and CSS always end up being huge issues.
Thanks for letting me muse….
Andrea writes
Jun 10 at 06:22 AM #
Elaine: The Pierce site is nice (not to mention valid)! I’m starting to put together a list to email back to the WaSP—Pierce is the first on the list. I’m going to update my post as well—they are interested in all of higher ed, not just universities per se.
I agree with the “minisites” issue. It’s a big issue for me at HSU as well—many people publishing that don’t have any training in web technologies. They are often frustrated with what they see as an additional duty that they don’t have the training or time to take on. Even the best software out there requires some knowledge of (X)HTML and how the web works.
Also, feel free to muse here anytime!
Elaine Nelson writes
Jun 10 at 08:13 PM #
Wow, thanks!
And MSWord, in particular, is the devil when it comes to publishing web content…curly quotes, goofy formatting, etc., etc. (sigh)
-----