Header and Footer
Obviously copied ...
The Web is one of the primary ways in which Arizona State University presents itself to the world and communicates to its various audiences. Therefore, it is essential that all Web pages impart a visual presence that is unified, of high quality, and accurately represents the university—both in function and appearance.
At the request of ASU’s executive and academic leadership, a Web audit was conducted in early 2008 to evaluate the ASU Web site in terms of branding, graphic design, messaging, usability and accessibility. Based on the Web audit team’s findings, the executive leadership and the Web Editorial Board approved the team’s recommendation to mandate a standard header and footer for all university Web sites that have an exclusive affiliation with ASU and reside on asu.edu. This includes colleges, research centers and institutes, and departments reporting to VP areas.
The universal adoption of the standard header/footer template will greatly raise the quality of ASU’s Web site on several levels:
- Usability: The universal navigation in the top right corner provides consistent navigation for our users no matter where they are on ASU’s Web site. Analytics of the first version of the header/footer prove that our users are already relying on this heavily as a source of navigation.
- Accessibility: The template has been coded with several important accessibility features, including skip to links, sizable text, and a pure CSS layout. Just by moving to the standard header/footer code, the level of accessibility of ASU’s Web site will greatly improve.
- Branding: In our continual pursuit to build trust with our users, the standard header will strengthen ASU’s brand by providing consistency and a unified web experience across all of ASU’s Web site.
Elements of the Header/Footer
Color: All core services pages of the ASU Web site will use the gold header to provide the highest level of consistency. College and school pages may use the optional maroon or white header.
Logo: If a unit has an approved endorsed brand logo, it should be used instead of the standard ASU signature. The endorsed logo should always be linked to the homepage of the site. If the standard ASU signature is used, it should link to www.asu.edu.
Universal Navigation: Consistency in the top right links is imperative to maintain a reliable universal navigation across the entire ASU Web site. The easiest way to ensure these links are always accurate and up to date is by using the include file (see technical instructions for details).
Sign in: If a site uses functionality requiring users to sign in, there is a version of the header available that includes the sign in function. For usability reasons, the sign in functionality should always use the same verbiage (sign in / sign out) and appear in the same place across ASU’s Web site (under the Universal Navigation). Once a user is signed in, their name will be displayed next to the “sign out” link. If your site does have sign in functionality, make sure the importance of signing out is messaged to your users.
Scoped search: A scoped search is available if your site has detailed information and it would help your users to limit the search to your site. If the scoped search radio buttons are used, the scoped search should be the default and listed first with the ASU search button second.
Footer: The universal ASU footer links must be included with the standard language, order and URLs, followed by a page contact for the site. Physical location information is optional. The footer links and contact information can be styled according to what looks visually appropriate to the rest of the site.
Using Templates
See instructions on how to use the templates on a new or an existing site.
ASU Header and Footer, Version 4.0 https://drupal.asu.edu/wiki/asu-header-footer-version-40
Those responsible for maintaining each unit’s Web site should also be on the Web Community mailing list to ensure that they receive update information in the future.
