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New Web Support website is now available for our web editors

December 7, 2022 by Louis Vulpes

Join our growing list of web editors

Attention all website editors and website supervisors, Web Support (version 1.0) is now live!

We’ve recently rolled out a new web resource just for you, our web editors and site supervisors.

Designed to help guide you through our various web systems — explore Web Support to find the answers to most of your editor needs.

Explore Web Support

Filed Under: Training, Web Press, web strategy and development, Web Support

Access the new Missouri State Web Design System

August 22, 2022 by Valerie Cummings

A screenshot of Missouri State Web Design System in Omni CMS

The Missouri State Web Design System was officially launched August 22, 2022. 

This system provides guidance to those who collectively support Missouri State’s web presence. 

Within this system, you will find:

  • The Missouri State brand toolkit for the web.
  • How to structure your page with templates and grids.  
  • A guide to the elements and patterns available; in what form they are offered in Omni CMS; and how they may be best used. 
  • Guidance for incorporating images, videos, icons and charts within your page layout. 

To further serve you, training is available through the following:

  • Online step-by-step instructions for completing common tasks
  • Missouri State Videos in Stream
  • Omni CMS Online Support
  • Omni CMS Support training videos

Training is still provided through Web Support — with additional support available by phone, Zoom or in-person (by appointment).

If you have any design questions, contact Valerie Cummings at 417-836-5670 or VCummings@MissouriState.edu.

 

Filed Under: brand, web strategy and development

Website editor open lab sessions for summer 2022 relocated downtown

June 3, 2022 by Brian Heaton

Student at computer

Website editor open lab sessions have been relocated to the office of web strategy and development in Meyer Alumni Center suite 601 for summer 2022.

The regularly scheduled time of Friday 2-4 p.m. remains in effect.

More information

Please contact the web support help desk at 417-836-5271, weekdays, or WebSupport@MissouriState.edu if you have any questions.

Filed Under: Training, Web Press, web strategy and development Tagged With: lab, Web Press

Celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) on May 19

May 16, 2022 by Web Strategy and Development

Missouri State students in computer lab.

The world celebrates digital access and inclusion with Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) on the third Thursday of May every year. More than one billion people worldwide have disabilities and impairments. GAAD gets people talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion.

Creating accessible digital content is a must at Missouri State University. We know it can be a lot to think about, so here are some tips to keep in mind. We’ve also included some ways to join in virtually.

Find a GAAD virtual event

#SpotlightAccessibility – Spread positivity around accessibility by highlighting a great feature or product and learn about what others are using.

People with disabilities say these issues come up most often.

  • Videos that are missing captions.
  • Motion, animations and cluttered pages.
  • Auto play videos and auto-advancing slideshows.
  • Walls of text (long paragraphs and large chunks of text).
  • Small font size
    • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) does not specify a minimum font size requirement.
  • Zooming problems: sites frequently break when size is increased by user.
  • Low contrasts and image of text: scan of a page of text saved as PDF produces an image of text.
  • Bright color schemes: white backgrounds can lead to migraines.
  • Relying only on color: this has long been a no-no, but still prevalent.
  • Mouse-focused sites: not usable on touch screens and difficult for users with motor impairments.
  • Too small touch-targets: thhis is the reason Missouri State University’s 2019 web redesign is so spacious.
  • CAPTCHAS: Keep out a lot more than bots.

Here’s what you can do to make your content more accessible.

While some of these items are automatically handled by MSU’s web templates, you still have an impact on many of of these items.

  • Don’t create a wall of text. Keep paragraphs to 2-4 sentences.
    • Content styled as Intro format should be brief; one or two short sentences plus 1-3 bullets. Anything longer isn’t introductory content.
  • Use headings to make an outline of your content.
  • Avoid images of text. When necessary, the alt text should contain all text in the image.
  • Don’t use heading markup (e.g., h3, h4) to make an “important” statement; consider a Notice Block instead.
  • Don’t use bold or italics for an entire sentence.
  • Use meaningful text for links; avoid brief abstract terms like read more or click here.
  • For web addresses, write descriptive link text.

Make sure you’re following the style guide.

  • In time references, use figures with a.m. and p.m throughout. Omit :00.
    • Examples: Summer office hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Telephone support is available 2:30-4 p.m. daily.
  • In email addresses, capitalize each word. Example: BoomerBear@MissouriState.edu.
  • Preferred capitalizations, spelling and usage:
    • Phone numbers: use dashes, not periods. Omit parentheses around the area code. 417-836-5000
    • Most words beginning with “non” or “post” should be formatted as one word with no hyphen (ex. noncredit, nondegree, nondegree-seeking, postbaccalaureate, postdoctoral, postdoctorate). Post-master’s should be hyphenated.
    • Email, not e-mail.
    • Use only one space between sentences. Do not use a space at the end of a paragraph or bulleted list item.
  • Common Bear terms:
    • Bear CLAW
    • Bear Line
    • BearWear
    • BearFare
    • BearMail
    • BearPass
    • Bear Park North (South)
    • BoomerMeals
    • Bear Breaks

Resources

Editorial Style Guide

Web Accessibility Clinic

Omni CMS Documentation

Filed Under: Accessibility, Training Tagged With: a11ysummit, Accessibility, conference, gaad

Omni CMS training available for migrated university websites

April 6, 2022 by Valerie Cummings

Over 25% of university websites have now been migrated to the new Omni content management system.

Once your site has been successfully migrated, as content editor, you will be contacted and automatically enrolled in our Basic Omni CMS Training in Blackboard. This Blackboard training course has been split into 5 sections with a short quiz for each section.

After scoring 100% on all 5 section quizzes you need to submit a Training Completion Form, which will notify us for verification.

You will regain editor access to your site through Omni CMS once your training completion has been verified.

After training, drop by our Web Editor Open Lab, available every Friday (2-4 p.m.) in Cheek 100, to receive additional in-person support with Omni CMS. Our sandbox training area will also be available by request for those needing more hands-on training.

You may also find step-by-step guides to using Omni CMS within the TeamDynamix knowledge base.

In addition, you may visit Omni CMS Support online for training videos written specifically for content editors.

Questions?

Contact the Web Support Help Desk available 8 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday-Friday, excluding university holidays.

  • Voicemail: 417-836-5271
  • Email: WebSupport@MissouriState.edu

Filed Under: web strategy and development Tagged With: Omni CMS training

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