Website Standards and Guidelines
(for RWU.edu, SCS.rwu, Law.rwu and other official university websites residing on the main content management system)
RWU.edu is, for many, the first point of contact with the University, and carries an important role in communicating the University’s brand both externally and internally. In order to maintain consistency of message and a unified user experience, and in support of the overall brand, there are certain baseline standards that must be maintained across the official University website. This includes, but is not limited to the site header and footer, primary (hero) imagery, color pallet, typography, navigation and layout. In addition, websites must adhere to existing laws and policies governing acceptable use of information technology resources and brand standards. The University retains the right to revise these guidelines as well as modify or delete websites that do not meet acceptable use guidelines or the standards outlined.
While the content management system (CMS) is designed to maintain consistency, flexibility has been built into the system including several header variations based on the site architecture location and audience, a large variety of available layout options, dozens of widgets and components to display custom dynamic content, a significant portion of page real estate to add and manage content, and the ability to add photo galleries, video, documents etc. The purpose of this is to inform common usages and standards. If you have questions not specifically covered please fill out our contact form.
Content, Advertising, Security
Copyrighted material and imagery must not appear on any web page without the permission of and an acknowledgment to the copyright holder for the specified use. University websites may link to appropriate social networks.
With the exception of sites with approved contractual obligations or business agreements with Roger Williams University, advertising is not permitted on RWU websites. Example: the rwuhawks.com website, which is outsourced to Sidearm Sports. In certain circumstances, partnerships with external firms are permitted to be displayed.
Web pages displaying or requesting non-public and/or sensitive data, such as Social Security, Date of Birth and ID numbers, must be hosted on a secure web server and use an encrypted HTTPS communication protocol. In some cases the requester may need to purchase and maintain a secure certificate if needed to match a sub-domain.
Administration
The two primary website administrator roles are Group Editor and Group Publisher. Editors are permitted to edit page content within the purview of their specific group but not publish to the live website. Publishers can edit and publish content. Because of the wide variety of departments and groups across the University, there is no one set edit/publish workflow. It is up to the discretion of each group to determine the most efficient method of editing and publishing changes to their particular area. We do advise that all edits be reviewed prior to publishing and that all content under a group’s purview be reviewed regularly and kept accurate and up to date. If you encounter inaccurate content that is not accessible with your group’s permissions or maintained by you, please fill out our contact form with a link to the page and describe the issue.
If you need additional users added, new imagery, functionality, navigation items, or changes not within your group permissions, please fill out our contact form.