Web Publishing

Service Description

The web publishing service allows staff and students to create and publish institutionally-hosted websites. It can be used to promote and disseminate University business such as research, teaching or community engagement and it can also be used to reflect on academic life. 

The service is divided into two core areas:

  • The first is corporate web publishing for the publishing of websites reflecting the business of the University, including information about the University, teaching and research activities 
  • The second is personal web publishing which allows the publishing of personal websites for staff and students to reflect on their experiences in the university and academia.

Features

  • PHP-based web programming platform; this platform is provided to facilitate advanced websites that make use of dynamic page rendering and integration with content provided by databases or other web integration technologies, such as web services.  
  • A database hosting platform based on MySQL is also provided to facilitate the use of data driven websites, augmented with access to a database administration tool which is provided to help manage the database.
  • All websites are indexed by the University’s search engine (a Google search appliance).
  • Facilities to aid in the building of web forms; there is a form building tool (http://forms.ncl.ac.uk) that can be used in the creation and administration of web forms.
  • A content management system is in pilot phase for publishing of research-based sites.
  • Web editing software including Adobe Dreamweaver and Adobe Contribute are available via RAS (https://ras.ncl.ac.uk), as are secure file transfer tools.

Users

Corporate web publishing can only be used by University staff.

Personal publishing is available to both staff and students.

External developers may be commissioned in the development of official University websites however a Newcastle University member of staff must be the main contact for any request and remains responsible for all content hosted on the site.

Service Hours

Consultation, advice and guidance: 09:00-17:00, Monday to Friday, excluding University closure periods.

The service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The ISS “at risk” period is 07:00-09:00 every Tuesday.

Level of Service

Web editors publishing content to the corporate website (www.ncl.ac.uk) receive support with regards to information architecture, site structure and how to publish from the Corporate Web Development team, in the Marketing and Communications Directorate (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/marketing/).

Web publishing support from ISS is limited to provision of a hosting platform and advice. Web editing software is provided on an as-is basis and ISS does not provide training in their use.

Support and Documentation

Information on corporate and personal publishing is available at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/web.

The web strategy and web publishing policy outlines where types of content should exist on the suite of web hosting options offered http://www.ncl.ac.uk/documents/webpublishingpolicy.pdf.

University Branding, Corporate Visual Identity and Style Guides

The public presentation of University information should make use of the standard website template; details available at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/web/developers/styleguide/.

Accessibility and Usability

Corporate websites should comply with the ISS Accessibility Guidelines (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/accessibility-advice/authoringaccessiblecontent/websites/) and must be tested against the supported browser lists.

Form Builder

Information about the Form Builder is available at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/form-builder/.

Web development

Web development support information is available at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/web/tools/.

Additional support is available via the ISS Service Desk on 5999 or it.servicedesk@ncl.ac.uk.

All incidents relating to this service will be handled according to the ISS Incident Management and Major Incident Management processes.

Request Process

For sites to be hosted on www.ncl.ac.uk

To request a site on the main corporate site contact the Corporate Web Development team as detailed at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/marketing/services/web.

For research, conference, teaching or other supporting corporate sites

To request use of the supporting corporate web publishing facilities (non www.ncl.ac.uk sites) email it.servicedesk@ncl.ac.uk declaring an interest in making use of the service including a description of the purpose of the site and which .  

Content Management System Pilot

To enquire about the content management system pilot contact the IT service desk (it.servicedesk@ncl.ac.uk).

Personal web publishing

Please apply via the relevant form linked from the explanatory pages at: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/web/publishing/personal/

MySQL database for web publishing

Please apply via the relevant form linked from the explanatory page at: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/web/developers/databases/

Requests for any other aspect of the service should be made via the ISS Service Desk on 5999 or it.servicedesk@ncl.ac.uk.

All requests relating to this service will be handled according to the ISS Request Fulfilment process.

User Responsibility

All pages on the corporate web publishing infrastructure are subject to the standards outlined in the Rules and Policies section of  http://www.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/web/rules/guidelines/.

Site structuring and the use of a publishing tool are the user’s responsibility.

Note the web publishing and hosting platform does not support the installation of 3rd party applications, including content management systems (such as Drupal) which are expressly forbidden by the rules of use: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/web/rules/.

Costs

The hosting of the web publishing service is centrally funded, as is the development of official sites on www.ncl.ac.uk by the Corporate Web Development team.

Costs may be incurred where external domain names are registered or external web development or design agencies are commissioned.

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/web/publishing/personal/