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General Provisions
All web pages published on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville web server(s) must comply with the criteria identified below for each category of user. All university computing resources are property of the state of Wisconsin and, as such, commercial use outside the mission of the university is prohibited. In addition to these criteria, web pages will be consistent with the following existing laws and policies (non-inclusive):
OUR PUBLIC WEBSITE - www.uwplatt.edu
Any content within the www.uwplatt.edu domain is representative of the university, and therefore must follow standards of appropriateness.
There are two primary types in which content may be published:
- University Pages
- Profile Pages
University Pages
University Pages are official pages that directly represent the university, its colleges, departments and offices. They exist for the purpose of delivering curated content to its various audiences:
- potential students
- current students
- parents
- employees
- friends
- alumni
- visitors
- casual visitors
University Pages are not owned by colleges, departments or offices; rather, they are guided by them as content experts. Therefore, these pages must conform to the design styles and logos adopted by the university marketing department to give the site unity, coherence, functionality, and readability. They must also conform to specific levels of professionalism and inclusivity.
Profile Pages
The purpose of profile pages is to showcase professional information, share educational content, and connect with other collegues. Creating content on the uwplatt.edu domain constitutes as paid work, just as any use of the university property constitutes as work. As such, content is subject to university standards. While these pages are personal in content, they do reside on the university web server(s) and reflect the image of the university, and therefore can be audited for inappropriate content.
For more information and the full UW-System policy, see Copyrightable Instructions Materials Ownership, Use, and Control
Public Website Oversight
The public website oversight is governed by three groups:
- Marketing and Communications ( Top-Level Pages )
- Colleges, Departments ( Academic Pages )
- Offices, Buildings and Services ( Resource Pages )
While maintenance of content is restricted to Marketing and Communications, any group may submit changes to update their respective pages. Because web content is so visible and valuable, it is strongly suggested that each college, department and office invest time and energy into its representative content.
View these sites for more information on editing website pages and requesting a change.
Auditing Process
Marketing Communications or ITS has the authority to audit webpages and make changes based on content in a consistent manner. They may also remove content without first communicating with colleges, departments or offices if the information is out-of-date or no longer relevant.
OTHER UW-PLATTEVILLE SITES
Like many universities, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville has a network of complex systems that all work together to manage the information for various colleges, departments and offices.
A Web Environment Diagram is provided to visually see the entirety of our systems.
In order to have a common naming convention for systems, this document helps with understanding the differences in terminology.
Standards
ADA compliance
The University of Wisconsin-Platteville adheres to WCAG 2.x Level AA standards for accessibility compliance and makes every attempt to design pages that are compliant. https://www.w3.org/
Compliance includes:
For information regarding W3C Accessibility standards, please visit the W3C web site on Accessibility or visit or Accessibility Pages
Images and Video
Whether manipulated or original, images and video should portray a positive image of the university and its intended actions, of its programs and activities, and of the faculty, staff, and students, and promote appropriate and tolerant behavior. Images should not be suggestive of discrimination (as defined in the university discrimination and harassment policy) or illegal activities; nor should they promote, endorse, or construe sexual or drug-related behavior by the campus population or alcohol-related behavior by students. For consistency, images used on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville website(s) must come from by the University photographer or purchased from a University approved image resource website. All video displayed on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville website(s) will be delivered from a University of Wisconsin-Platteville YouTube account.
Text
Like images and video, text content should portray the university and its constituents in a positive manner. Marketing Communications will write text appropriate with the University brand voice and message on behalf of the faculty; academic staff and leadership in order to maintain consistency and tone.
Advertising non-university programs
Non-University Programs should be associated, in partnership, or in collaboration with a related program at UW-Platteville. Non-university program content should be appropriately weighted against UW-Platteville content on the same page.
Social Media
Social media links must direct to university-affiliated accounts. Those accounts must have an active presence, and must maintain the above content standards to present the university in a positive light.
For a full list of approved social media policies, please reference the approved Social Media Policy governing UW-Platteville social media.
Links to other websites
Links are considered a type of content. Therefore, links must be in some way related to the purpose of the office or department and in no way for promotion. Linking to an off-site page is in essence a way of vouching for another page's content. Consider carefully what you are "vouching" for, and review links regularly in case off-site content changes.
In the event a webpage has a considerable amount of links, like a list of related sites for instance, a disclaimer is necessary.
The University of Wisconsin-Platteville is not responsible for the content of linked pages. Consider fair representation when listing products, groups, or businesses.
Student Organizations
Any student organization may establish its own web presence outside of the UW-Platteville domain, but as an official student organization, the off-site web presence must adhere to the same university standards as on-site pages.
Subdomains for uwplatt.edu
Because of certain underlying principles supporting subdomains, subdomains may only be implemented if the web site meets the following criteria.
- The web site resides on a physical server other than the primary web server, contains content or applications that cannot be hosted on the primary web server, and the content must be made available to the University community.
- The subdomain name is for one of the University's audiences. Because of the challenge and expense involved in managing large numbers of individual subdomains for every department, Individual departments or programs should not have their own.
- All subdomains must be approved by the CIO.
- Subdomain names should be reviewed annually by Information Technology Services (ITS) Department. Subdomains no longer in use should be retired each year.
- All subdomains must use the
*.uwplatt.edu domain name.
- Educational domains (.edu) are not permitted to sell advertising space.
Need help?
If you have questions, please contact the ITS Help Desk at 608.342.1400 or helpdesk@uwplatt.edu. You may also visit the Help Desk on the first floor of the Karrmann Library.