Web Policies and Guidelines - Department and Organization Web Sites

To promote a more unified web presence for the University of Maine at Fort Kent, and to provide more easily accessible information to the public, the Web Services department has established the following policies and guidelines. Any questions concerning the policies and guidelines outlined in this document should be directed to the Web Services department at umfkweb@maine.edu.

• All academic program and departmental web pages intended to be part of the UMFK web site and will be required to conform with the aesthetic established by the Web Services staff. At minimum, all web pages must have a header and footer region that is consistent with the UMFK site's design, and must use a color scheme which does not clash with the other elements in the design. Web pages for the various departments will be designed and developed by the Web Services staff, and Web Services will work with each department to ensure that the pages meet the requirements of both the department and the Web Services staff.

• Web Services staff are not responsible for site content. It is the responsibility of each department head to ensure that their content is current. Should the department's web page need updating, the department head must provide the updated content in an electronic format (such as a Microsoft Word document) to either the person responsible for updating content within their department or, should there be no staff in the department assigned the task of web updating, to the Web Services staff.

• Each department may purchase a copy of Adobe Contribute, an easy to use web content management software, to update their own web page content. Should a department opt to purchase this software, Web Services will assist in the installation, setup and training of staff in the use of the program.

• All web sites produced after June 30, 2007 and hosted on the UMFK web servers must be compliant with up-to-date web standards. At a minimum, sites must meet Section 508 accessibility compliance (a checklist for meeting Section 508 guidelines may be viewed at http://www.webaim.org/standards/508/checklist.php), and should be compliant with the xhtml 1.0 transitional specification or higher (an FAQ on HTML versus XHTML may be viewed at http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/2004/xhtml-faq). A number of resources are available to validate your pages against Section 508 and XHTML standards:

  Section 508 Accessibility:

  • http://webxact.watchfire.com/
  • http://www.contentquality.com/

  XHTML Validation:

  • http://validator.w3.org/

  In addition, some web authoring software, such as Adobe Dreamweaver, have built-in validation capability to ensure your pages meet set standards. Should you have questions regarding Section 508 and XHTML compliance, you may contact Web Services at umfkweb@maine.edu.

• Web sites hosted on the UMFK web servers but which are separate entities from the UMFK web site (i.e. sites with a subdomain, such as http://bookstore.umfk.maine.edu) may have their own design separate of the university's web identity but must still meet accessibility and web standards as outlined above. Such web sites are required to provide a link to the UMFK web site to indicate their hosting arrangement with the university.

• It is not the policy of the University of Maine at Fort Kent to host web sites to organizations not affiliated with the university. If an organization wishes to have their site hosted on the university's web servers, they must show that their site will be beneficial to the University and the on-campus community, and must be sponsored by a department of the University in order to be considered for hosting. A final decision on hosting for such candidates will be made by the Web Services department. As with other sites hosted by the university, sites for non-profit organizations must adhere with the coding and accessibility requirements outlined in this document, and must provide a link to the university's web site to indicate their hosting arrangement with the university.

• Any web sites hosted by UMFK which were produced prior to June 30, 2007 will be be allowed to remain on the UMFK web servers in their current design without re-coding to meet compliance as outlined above. These web sites will be expected to meet the outlined accessibility and coding compliance in their next re-design.

Web Policies and Guidelines - Personal Web Pages

Students, faculty and staff have access to web hosting on the UMFK web servers for academic use. However, in order to have access to personal hosting space, individuals must adhere to certain policies outlined below.

• All advertisement, sales, or commercial use of any kind on personal pages hosted by UMFK are strictly prohibited.

• Individuals are responsible for the content they place on their personal web pages, and said content must adhere to any and all conduct codes established by the university. Pornography and profanity are not permitted. Should an individual's web page(s) be found in violation of established conduct codes, the individual's site will be removed, their web server rights revoked, and the individual will be subject to any consequences established in the conduct code.

• Any action taken by an individual that results in a security violation or damage to the server will result in the immediate deletion of the account and possible disciplinary action.

• Personal web pages are currently not required to adhere to XHTML or Section 508 compliance, though these standards are strongly recommended by the Web Services staff.

• Personal pages hosted for students, faculty and staff must place a disclaimer on their pages stating the following:

  Any opinions and statements provided on this site do not reflect the views or opinions of the University of Maine at Fort Kent and are strictly those of the author.

• Any student wishing to have a personal web account on UMFK's web servers must first complete a Web/FTP server contract, providing the Web Services office with the individual's signature and email address. This contract will remain on file at the web Services office. By signing this contract, the individual agrees to adhere with any guidelines pertaining to personal web space outlined in this document, as well as to the terms and conditions of the contract.

• A student's personal web space will remain active for two semesters, after which it will be removed. If a student needs their web space to be active beyond the end of this time period, the student may contact Web Services to request an extension of their contract for an additional two semesters. By requesting an extension, the student agrees to continue adhering to the terms and conditions of the contract, as well as established guidelines outlined in this document pertaining to personal web space.