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IU Northwest Website Code and Content Policy

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• Web Account
• Coding and Content
• Responsible Units
• Reporting Violations

Rationale

The Office of Information Technology strives to serve our campus clients with the highest quality level concerning web issues; therefore, it is critical that everyone understands and cooperates with this policy. This policy establishes a foundation to ensure that all official university web sites will function properly, now and in the future. The IU Northwest website design is a collective and united effort to develop a more consistent standard in which campus websites are designed. It is in compliance with Indiana University’s Integrated Image Initiative and the IU Visual Identity. This web account access policy follows Indiana University IT policy and is designed to foster better accountability and coding consistency.

Website

All departmental pages will have the look and feel of the IU Northwest home page environment which follows the communication and vision goals of our campus. The face of IU Northwest's web will be coordinated jointly through the suggestions of the IT Web Team and the Office of Marketing and Communications.

Web Account

Access

Web account access is limited to the following people:

• Sponsor – webmaster: the sponsor is listed as the account webmaster and is responsible for the website content.
• Contact – the web account contact is IU Northwest Web Services and / or the departmental webmaster for professional web accounts.
• Coder – an additional ‘registered’ person who may also be responsible for coding for an indicated website. The coders may be the designated webmaster for the respective department or organization, Student Life Webmaster, or IU Northwest Web Services. Note: The Coder must be officially registered prior to obtaining the website password or gaining website account access via WebShare using their Network-ID.
• E-mail Accessors – those persons authorized by the account webmaster must also be “registered” with the IU Northwest Webmaster. Note: the E-mail Accessors must be officially registered prior to obtaining the website Network-ID password.

IU Northwest Web Services has access rights to all IU Northwest professional websites, shown on http://www.iun.edu/ and those available for faculty and staff business use. A list of designated webmasters for accounts may be viewed at:  http://webdb.iu.edu/Iun/webnw/webmaster.cfm.

Registration Procedures  

Access to creating and updating information presented on a web page will be restricted to that page’s designated webmaster and/or ‘registered’ coder. Coding assistance is available from IU Northwest Web Services, if requested.

Registration for Coders and E-mail Accessors is obtained by contacting IU Northwest Web Services.  Once the registration has been recorded, Coders will gain website account access via WebShare using their Network-ID. The account webmaster will then have permission to give the web account password to the “registered” Coder and the Network-ID password to the E-mail Accessors. Note: it is in direct violation of this policy if individuals give passwords to the web account Coders and E-mail Accessors prior to registration.

Registration Changes/Removals

Once individuals no longer need and / or are eligible for password use to a website, the account webmaster must contact IU Northwest Web Services to have the individuals removed from the registration list.  Network-ID and / or web account passwords must be changed when individuals are removed from a registered function.

Password Protocol

Indiana University IT policy protects password security.  Passwords are not to be given out unless the proper IU Northwest Website Code and Content Policy registration procedure has been followed.

The following password information is outlined for each type of user below:

• Sponsor – given the Network-ID password and web account password. 
• Contact – given the web account password only. 
• Coder – allowed the website password only after registration.
• E-mail Accessors – allowed the website Network-ID password only after registration.

Web account passwords are to be treated the same as e-mail account passwords and are not allowed to be shared.

Class Website Projects

Faculty members need to contact IU Northwest Web Services to make the following arrangements:

1. Identify the professional website account for the class project or internship
2. Obtain a special web account and gain website account access via WebShare using their Network-ID for project work
3. Have student meet with IU Northwest Web Services for coding instructions.
4. When the project has reached the point that it is time to have the work implemented, IU Northwest Web Services must be contacted to:
1. review the coding
2. contact the  departmental webmaster to confirm that permission is granted to upload the pages
3. upload the pages
5. Remove the student from the special project website registration list and WebShare access to the website.  change passwords when project is completed.

Coding and Content

Responsibilities

For this policy, (1) content is defined as the information presented on a web page and (2) coding is the technical formatting of the web page used to present the information. Content and coding will be handled separately. 

• Content – the department manager is charged with website content responsibilities. Content questions may be referred to the Office of Marketing and Communications.
• Coding – the departmental coding person is responsible to post the new or changed content with the proper codes. Coding assistance requests must be submitted to IU Northwest Web Services.

IU Northwest Style Sheet

Referencing of the IU Northwest style sheet, must be done through a virtual link, which points to the IU Northwest style sheet, iunhome/iunstyle.css. This link must be write-protected to prevent its being accidentally overwritten and causing incorrect styles on that specific website. Additions or changes to the style sheet must be referred to the IU Northwest Webmaster. Changes to the style sheet are automatically shown on all websites using the IU Northwest style sheet.

There is a print style sheet that may be added to a website. This style sheet will be treated similar to the IU Northwest style sheet.

Linking to Websites

Linking to websites or pages outside your web account must take the form of the complete URL. This policy is for web accounts hosted on both the veritas and steel servers.

Website Pages

Search engines search all web pages that do not have password security. All web pages not password protected must be kept current. Old web pages are to be deleted or password protected.

If something needs to be changed on a website, the webmaster should be the first person notified. The webmaster will notify the coder (if that is a different person) to make changes.

The coder, webmaster and IU Northwest Web Services, are the only people authorized to make website changes. The webmaster determines and must approve changes being made to the website. If a web page needs to be changed, and the webmaster is not available, and the change is critical, the Vice Chancellor of Information Technology will be the person to give permission for IU Northwest Web Services to make the changes or restore the account from a backup as needed, depending on the situation.  Any fees related to the restoral of web pages will be the responsibility of the web account's department.

Responsible Units

Questions for content should be referred to the IU Northwest Director of the Office of Marketing and Communications. Questions for coding and other web-related issues should be referred to IU Northwest Web Services.

Reporting Violations

As members of the IU Northwest Community, all members must report known violations of this policy. As with any violation of Indiana University policies or standards of behavior, incidents of abuse or misuse of Indiana University information technology resources by members of the university community will be reported to the IU Northwest Vice Chancellor of Information Technology to coordinate investigation with The Information Technology Policy Office.

Illegal actions involving Indiana University information technology resources by members of the university community or by others not affiliated with the University will be reported to the appropriate local, state, or federal law enforcement agency for investigation and possible prosecution. 

July 2004
WebShare information added October 2006

Additional Reference:

• Policy on Sanctions for Misuse or Abuse of Indiana University Technology Resources