Present: Dr. Keith Krolick, Alan Miller, Debbie Valle, Kat Myers, Dr. Nedal Arar, Dr. Vid Desibhatla, Roseanne Hurst, Heather Cura, Lynda Howell, Ida Garcia, Doug Hartzler, Kimberley Clark, Sean McGee, Georgina Anguiano Elliott, Dr. Jan Wilson, David Reichert, Mary Etlinger DeLay, Nancy Arispe, Dr. Ivon Foster, Luke Rosenberg, Lydia Leos, Richard Ongkiko, Katie Prentice, Dr. Robert Badgett, Gilbert Sosa, Greg Talbert, Rene Torres, Mary Yanes, Jim Barrett, Lewis Smith, and Steve Atkins.
Dr. Keith Krolick, acting for the chair, called the special meeting to order. Committee members approved the Aug. 2 minutes. Jim Barrett said today's meeting was called at the request of Mary Etlinger DeLay to examine web-site changes proposed in the university's branding and marketing initiative. Mr. Barrett said he wanted the committee's feedback on template designs from the Atkins Group, the agency hired to create the initiative, and a proposed timeline for implementing them on the university web site. Lewis Smith of the Atkins Group said he had prepared a rough draft of a page, and would prepare others in final form as he better understood the needs of the university web publishers. He said the use of SSI, or server side includes, would help speed any page conversions during a rebranding of web pages. Members of the committee asked several questions based on the draft page. The pages contained a header, left navigation column, and footer, with content in the center along with a horizontal photograph. Asked about the left navigation column, Mr. Smith said it was conceived to be mandatory on all web sites and have the same links, but could be repopulated with other links if the university decided to do so. A lengthy discussion took place. The topics included liquid vs. fixed-width design, usability testing, accessibility standards, and what role the Atkins Group should play in implementation. Mr. Barrett asked the group to consider a second issue: a timeline for implementation. The group agreed the proposed Feb. 15 deadline is too soon because no final templates were available. In the end, the committee and Atkins representatives agreed that Atkins' designers need more time to prepare final templates for evaluation. Mr. Smith said he would prepare them and advise the committee. He also said he would provide wire-frame mockups of 5-7 URLs so the committee could quickly get an idea of what the design templates would look like for specific web sites. There was no other business, and the meeting was adjourned. -- Minutes prepared by Jim Barrett-- Approved Oct. 4, 2007