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.

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.

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.

“Print” tool functionality: When the “Print” tool is clicked, a new page formatted for printing is generated and displayed in a new window. A “Print” button appears at the top of the new window for sending the page to a printer.

The “Print” tool is optional and can be disabled as described at http://identity.wsu.edu/web/downloads/v3-1/disable.aspx. However, its use is strongly encouraged to provide WSU site visitors a consistent printing interface.

Coming soon: Over twenty new site id designs are nearly ready to launch in the Template Designer.

Thank you for moving your sites into the new templates. Please let us know at templates@lists.wsu.edu if you discover any additional problems. This address goes to our Web template team only. 

Coming soon:

• Implementation of “Print” tool in the toolbar to access a print style sheet
• Additional site identifier images
• Video tutorials

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.

The template CSS and Template Designer will now be revised to make this design a reality. Early July is the release target date.

The posted mockups reflect these two changes. Please note that the mockups are graphic files and are not functional HTML pages. The first posted mockup graphics had extra space on either side that confused some viewers because it caused scrolling in their browsers or extra space to the left of the navigation zone. The width of the mockup graphics have now been cropped to minimize this behavior in your browser so it should better reflect the final HTML page.

Some have asked what can be customized in the new template. This is briefly outlined in the answer to the second question of the FAQ.

Brand identity presentation reminder:

The Pullman campus community is invited to attend an information session on the University’s revised Brand Identity System.

Tuesday, June 3, 10-11:30 p.m., Murrow 52

The presentation will cover brand message and graphic design standards that reflect President Floyd’s vision for WSU. Examples of communications representing the refined standards will be presented, and there will be a question-and-answer period. The revised standards will serve as the basis for creating all university communications.

The WSU Web template is being revised to reflect these new standards, particularly those outlined in the “Visual Approach” section (PDF) and the “WSU Communications Personality” items listed on page A-4 of the “Brand Platform” section (PDF).

The template revision goals are:

1. Feature a more significant presence of crimson with a consistent presence of gray.
2. Present a cleaner and more uncluttered design with lots of white space and fewer words and graphic elements.
3. Implement the new color palette.
4. Implement the new graphic elements.

Revisions include:

1. Adding a prominent crimson bar across the top of each page.
2. Standardizing the primary navigation link colors crimson and gray. Featured links and the page displayed link are always crimson. All other primary navigation links are gray.
3. Standardizing the primary navigation background to white to provide a cleaner and lighter design.
4. Standardizing the page background color to white with a subtle gray gradation at the top.
5. Standardizing the optional toolbar background color to a gray (or grays?).
6. Removing or minimizing page and content zone borders and dividers to provide a more open, airy design with increased white space.
7. Increasing the page width by 200 pixels to again provide more breathing room and white space.
8. Changing the body text to Lucida Sans. The font has a less condensed look and coordinates with the head font.
9. Revising colors throughout to the new color palette, including in the site id zone.
10. Creating sidebar background designs utilizing the new optional graphic elements and making them available for use in site designs via selection in the Template Designer online tool—similar to how site id graphics are now selected.
11. Creating Photoshop starter files for photos and images utilizing the new optional graphic elements.

The new template design and Template Designer should be ready early summer. We welcome your feedback on the following design mockups of a sample home page and two secondary pages. You can comment directly on this page or email our template team at templates@lists.wsu.edu.

Web template mockups

• Home page
• Secondary page, first level
• Secondary page, second level