Departmental web development and maintenance has often fallen to student workers, which presents problems associated with high turnover, varied experience with the web, or an eventual loss of funding. For example, Environmental Health and Safety expressed a desire to use the new templates after having upwards of six students managing the site over the course of its short existence. In the case of the English Department, a faculty member saw to the design and maintenance of the website, which was fine until the individual left the university. The abandoned site could thus not be edited as the development files (required for editing the pages) had departed along with the previous site manager. Consequently, the department could not perform simple editing tasks, resulting in their site becoming outdated and unmanaged.

Since the release of the new Western website, over a dozen departments have adopted or are in the process of adopting the template design. In many cases, departments have contacted Web Services with the desire to move their current websites to the template design simply to match the look of the new Western web site. The template alleviates the pressures and challenges of design because it has already been developed, thus allowing the department to focus entirely on content, which is what's really important.

Those currently using the template include: Office of University Residences, New Student Programs and Family Outreach, Department of Public Safety, President's Office, Woodring College, and the Human Services Program.

Those in the process of redesigning with the templates include: Department of English, Physical Education, Health and Recreation, Environmental Health Services, Graduate School, Extended Education and Summer Programs, and the Teaching-Learning Academy.

ATUS Web Services can't take over all of the work needed to maintain department websites, but use of our templates can make that job far easier for you. For more information on the templates, please contact Web Services at 650-3096 or send email to webhelp@wwu.edu.