Minutes (Oct. 11, 2007) Web Advisory Committee

Present: Dr. Nedal Arar, Dr. Barry Norling, Dr. Sara Gill, Alan Miller, Kat Myers, Lydia Leos, Richard Ongkiko, Dr. Vid Desibhatla, Dr. Bob Badgett, Natalie Gutierrez, Brian Bell, Heather Cura, Katie Prentice, Steve Atkins, Lewis Smith, Becky Holloway, Anita Alvarez, Nancy Arispe, Lynda Howell, Roseanne Hurst, Kim Clark, Sean McGee, Georgina Anguiano-Elliott, Luke Rosenberger, Dr. Ivon Foster, Doug Hartzler, Xiaoshan Qiu, Gilbert Sosa, Rene Torres, Tim Presley, Jim Barrett and Mary Yanes.

Dr. Nedal Arar, the chair, called the meeting to order. Committee members approved the Oct. 4 minutes.

Dr. Arar introduced Nancy Arispe, who described the marketing and branding initiative, and introduced guests Steve Atkins and Lewis Smith from the Atkins Group, contractor for the project. The agency distributed a booklet showing templates of eight potential page layouts. Ms. Arispe said instructional sessions would be scheduled to explain how to use the templates.

Mr. Smith described the templates and requirements to make them work. He said pages would need a file extension such as .asp, .php, or an extension that allows active scripting for include files. Mr. Smith displayed two types of "landing," or main, pages. The committee discussed at length whether the page banner should be the same for all sites, and whether it would contain a search box. In further discussion, the committee discussed whether the search would be of the uthscsa.edu domain, or the school, department, or other entity hosting the particular page.

In further discussion, the committee and its guests also discussed colors, fonts, footers, and fixed-width pages.

Asked about a timetable, Ms. Arispe said the homepage, and web sites for the schools, the president, and the Office of External Affairs would be the first to use the templates.

Members at the meeting asked when they could try the templates and determine how well they would work. Mr. Smith said he could provide the required files and graphics in about two weeks.

There was no other business, and the meeting was adjourned.

-- Minutes prepared by Jim Barrett and Mary Yanes
-- Approved Nov. 7, 2007