Web Content

Do you have content that you’d like to add to the college Web site? Do you need help with site updates? Touch base with Web Content services!

Contacts

Primary: Phil Thompson, Web content specialist, thompsps@whitman.edu 522-4412, Memorial 312-C.
Backup: Ruth Wardwell, director of communications, wardwers@whitman.edu 527-5768, Memorial 312-A.

The Web responsibilities of the Office of Communications relate primarily to content that supports and advances the college’s mission and strategic objectives. Generally, this includes:

Development and maintenance of the college home page.
Managing the architecture (structure) and navigation (flow).
Coordinating efforts to maintain a consistent look and feel of first through third tier pages.
Coordinating efforts to keep pages current.

Web content responsibilities include the following services:

Strategic Planning — we can help you plan a course that identifies and targets your key audiences and meets those audience needs as well as your departmental/organizational communication goals, aligned with the mission and strategic objectives of the college.

Design and content development — we can edit, write and create graphics toward development of compelling Web content.

Here’s how it works

For basic updates to the text of your Web site, feel free to simply e-mail the changes to Phil Thompson at thompsps@whitman.edu. Or, Phil can provide training so that a member of your staff can maintain your Web page. This doesn’t require any technical skills; it’s as easy as writing in MS Word.

For major updates, design work, or new Web sites, contact Phil to discuss the best available options. After talking with you, Phil will meet with our creative services team to discuss the project; together they will develop specific steps for moving forward. Phil will follow up with you to discuss an analysis of the project, specific recommendations, and an outline of the budget and time needed to complete the project. These meetings will produce an action plan that you and Phil will execute together.

Communications offers services to help you plan and develop your message, and build your Web site. College staff perform or supervise the production of your site, but since services are in high demand we may assign the execution of parts of your project to qualified student employees. Student employment wages – about $10 per hour – will be passed on to your department.

It’s important to know that...

Space on the front page of the Whitman site is limited, and the items that appear there are strategically placed and scheduled well in advance. We will always try to work with you to promote your events, but specifics will always depend on what else is scheduled for the front page.

Our focus is Web content; we work closely with and rely on WCTS staff to ensure that the technical/technological aspects of Web sites are feasible.

When your department or organization's Web address changes, we need to know, so that your site will still be available from elsewhere on the Whitman Web site. If you plan to change your Web address or reorganize your pages, e-mail or give us a call; we'll make sure that links to your Web site from other Whitman pages keep working after your updates are complete.