Division of University Advancement
Frequently Asked Questions
Below is a list of frequently asked questions about the website redesign and CMS implementation project:
Why is UNC Charlotte changing its website?
What CMS was selected for the new UNC Charlotte website?
I am not currently a Drupal user. Will you be providing training?
What options will my college or department have in terms of look and feel with the new design?
What services are included in the centrally-supported Drupal offering?
Why is UNC Charlotte changing its website?
UNC Charlotte is engaging in this website redesign process in order to support organizational consistency in branding, messaging and identity.
Our goal is to create an enhanced user experience that provides content in a more uniform look and feel while also meeting legal requirements for web content accessibility.
An additional goal for this project is to employ a Content Management System (CMS) to help separate content from the design of the site. Some advantages to using a CMS include the ability to have greater control of the site's navigational structure, employ editorial workflow to manage changes, and generate dynamic content.
If you would like to learn more, please visit the Project History and Goals section.
Who is responsible for making decisions regarding the project? If I have specific questions, who can I ask?
The Web Advisory Council, a group of 15 stakeholders from across campus, is charged with overseeing the implementation of the CMS and providing design guidance.
If you have specific questions, please click here for a directory of Web Advisory Council members.
What CMS was selected for the new UNC Charlotte website?
Drupal, an open source content management system, was selected for UNC Charlotte's new website. Drupal is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and is maintained by a community of developers and end users.
A wide variety of colleges and universities, as well as government and entertainment sites, use Drupal to manage their content. To see a list of sample sites, visit the About Drupal page.
I am not currently a Drupal user. Will you be providing training?
Yes. We know that communicators across campus currently manage their websites using another CMS or by maintaining content using Dreamweaver or FrontPage.
In the Resources section, you will find the beginning of what we hope will become a robust training suite that includes PDF how tos, screencasts, and a schedule of in-person training seminars.
In addition, we have posted Drupal Help for Joomla Users, Drupal 101, and Site Conventions to help you get started.
What options will my college or department have in terms of look and feel with the new design?<
College and departments will have flexibility in their page layout. We will offer a variety of navigation options, such as horizontal only, horizontal + vertical, or vertical only.
To see some examples of how this will look, please visit our Project Statistics page.
What services are included in the centrally-supported Drupal offering?
The Core Project Team supports a suite of services in Drupal that will meet the needs of most users. Our team also listens to site managers' needs, and works in conjunction with the Web Advisory Council to add to the offering as needed. With an eye towards creating a service that will benefit the majority of users on campus, and that can be supported by our ITS colleagues, new services are added. We are currently in the process of rolling out an event registration system (version one is for free events; version two will include a payment mechanism); we have also developed a method to accommodate the need to restrict certain types of content by user via granular security permissions. For a full list of the services currently available, visit the CMS Offering & Templates page.
Last Updated: 7/21/2011
