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| BYU-Idaho web workers create a one-size-fits-all look for Web pages |
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Five years ago the BYU-Idaho Web page made its first appearance on the Internet. At that time two BYU-Idaho employees, Randy Beard, server administrator, and Bob Reed, Internet services manager, were in charge of the entire Web page.
From the first Web site to the current edition, the same two men made sure the site was always online. But their positions changed dramatically one year ago when BYU-Idaho changed its Web pages.
They helped oversee the creation of the Web style guide application software and expanded the administration base of the Web site.
The product of the behind-the-scenes shuffling is a uniform look to the BYU-I Web page.
“One size fits all,” Randy Beard, server administrator, said.
The Web style guide application software inserts a line of code into a BYU-Idaho organization’s Web site code. This applies the university’s standard navigation and header bars on all pages.
One year ago when BYU-I decided to unify all of its publicity under one brand, the university turned to Information Technology to create the software, Merv Brown, BYU-Idaho Communications and Marketing Specialist, said. Their product applies the university’s standard navigation and header bars to Web pages created by university departments, offices and employees Brown said.
“We try and take the direction we get from the administration and apply it with the best technology we have,” Beard said.
Due to the assistance of several organizations, Beard and Reed now focus exclusively on managing the Web site.
“With the Web site, basically all the questions come to us. We can’t necessarily respond to all the questions or fix them, but then we go to somebody else,” Beard said.
Beard and Reed turn to several organizations and at least 100 different people for help in managing the current Web page. The Instructional Technology center in the David O. McKay Library helps train university employees on the basics of Web page design. The Public Relations Office takes care of communication and graphic design. Student employees watch over the server to fix potential problems.
“We credit a huge amount of our success to our students,” Beard said.
The student Information Technology employees are highly skilled for student employees, Reed said. Students are hired only upon referral by a teacher or fellow students, Reed said.
The new software Information Technology and their staff created also allows the BYU-I to make instant, universal changes to the Web page at any time.
“If we ever want to change anything now we don’t have to go out and touch all 200,000 Web pages,” Reed said.
Beard said that just like anything on the Web there are mixed feelings about the Web site. However, the positive comments about the new style of the Web page by far outweigh the negative comments, Beard said.
“Some say the page doesn’t have any variation. But that is what we were trying to accomplish. We wanted people to say, ‘Oh, I’ve been here before,’” Beard said.
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