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The instructions for adding a share tool to the WSU Web templates toolbar are available on the Downloads and Add-Ons page of this site at http://identity.wsu.edu/web/downloads/ (scroll to the bottom of the page under the “Add-ons” section).

This add-on places the AddThis share tool in the template toolbar to enable your visitors to share the page’s content via a variety of social media tools and e-mail. Site managers will also be able to review the share tool’s usage stats for their sites.

If you are currently using the “ShareThis” tool, please consider switching to this “AddThis” tool since it has been found to be more secure.

WSU’s Web template will be undergo a few design revisions Wednesday morning (4/22/09) to improve their coordination with the new WSU home page. Thank you for your input during this design process. The template revisions will be implemented centrally and revisions will not be required by Web developers on individual sites.

You can view a prototype page that uses the revised template design at http://dev-mcweb.ad.wsu.edu/designer.wsu.edu/template/test.aspx.

A few design revisions will be made centrally to the WSU Web template to improve their coordination with the new WSU home page. You can view a prototype of the revised design at http://identity.wsu.edu/web/gen2update/CampusPreviewTweaks/ and leave your comments below. These template revisions will all be done centrally and no revisions will be required by individual Web developers. The prototype page is for demonstration purposes only. The code is not in its final state.

Look for the template revisions to go live later next week.

President Floyd described WSU’s new home page project in his Perspectives column at http://president.wsu.edu/perspectives/022509.html. I encourage everyone to read this for background on this important and exciting effort.

The new home page will launch early Friday morning, March 6. If you missed one of the informational presentations about the home page, you can still get a sneak preview of the design at:

http://identity.wsu.edu/web/WSUhome09Snapshots/WSUHome960px-1.jpg
http://identity.wsu.edu/web/WSUhome09Snapshots/WSUHome960px-2.jpg
http://identity.wsu.edu/web/WSUhome09Snapshots/WSUHome960px-3.jpg

With the launch of the new home page, some design revisions to the WSU Web template will be necessary to better coordinate it with the home page. We hope to make these revisions with minimal or no impact on WSU Web developers. We’ll post a mockup for input soon.

And one more thing…close to 20 new site id graphics have just been added to the Web template designer in each palette color. Check them out.

The Web templates for the WSU brand refresh are now available. Thank you for your patience. As the revised templates are used more extensively, something could surface that needs to be corrected, so view this as a beta launch. We don’t expect anything major, however.

Instructions for converting your existing WSU Web pages to this new version of the templates are at http://identity.wsu.edu/web/downloads/instructions.aspx.

A new version of the Template Designer application has also been developed. This online tool enables you to easily create new template designs for your site. This new version adds themes, sidebar designs, more site identifier graphics, and a home page key option. The new Template Designer is at http://identity.wsu.edu/designer/.

There are also new guidelines governing the use of the templates. Please review these carefully before you begin at http://identity.wsu.edu/web/guidelines/.

The caching application mentioned in the previous post is still in development, but it is not necessary to begin using the new templates. Your department may wish to implement the caching application when it becomes available.

John Vleck
Marketing Communications

Work continues on the Web template revisions but it now looks like the earliest they will be available is mid-July. A large number of new site identifier and sidebar graphics have been created, the guidelines have been revised, and development on the new Template Designer and CSS is moving forward well.

We have been seeking ways to improve the delivery reliability of the central CSS, images, and JavaScript and have a solution in development. The solution involves a caching application that can reside on each unit’s local server. The central template components will automatically be cached from the central source to the local server. A unit’s Web sites can then point to the local server rather than the central server to obtain the central template components. Any downtime of the central server will not impact the display of a Web page as long as the cache on the local server is available. Central management of the central components is still maintained. We think it is a real win/win solution.

Real-world testing of the caching system will begin in late July. The plan is to release it before classes begin in August. If you would like more details regarding the caching application, contact Ed Sala in University Publishing at sala@wsu.edu or 335-3518.

You can choose to implement the new templates as soon as they are available without the caching application or wait until the caching system is available to update your sites. Once the caching application is installed on your local server, you will only need to change a URL in your pages’ code to point to your local server rather than the central server.