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Template Information

Benefits of Using the UMD Templates

  1. Increased usability.
    The templates improve usability through consistency in navigation and information architecture. Usable sites increase productivity. Users retrieve information more efficiently with sites built with the new templates and avoid wasted time.
  2. Increased accessibility.
    The templates have built-in accessibility features like skip navigation links, table summary attribute, language attribute, abbreviation element, etc. The templates have been Bobby 508 approved. Bobby is a tool that helps make web pages accessible to those with disabilities.
  3. Device independence and liquid design.
    The templates use liquid design which helps support device independence. A key to accessibility is to design for device independence, so that pages work on any device that supports the openly published standards. For Web content to be device independent, it should be possible for a user to obtain a functional presentation associated with its Web page identifier via any access mechanism. With the growth of PDAs, and even Web site content delivered to cell phones, having accessible content is becoming more important. Liquid design also helps to helps eliminate horizontal scrolling. A liquid web page re-flows to fit a window no matter what size window you pour it into. Most users strongly dislike horizontal scrolling, except where they can realize that the nature of the content made it inevitable.
  4. Validation to web standards.
    Templates have been validated to the W3C XHTML Standard. This allows us to use the latest techniques to display our site. XHTML has added a number of elements and attributes that enrich accessibility. We validate to web standards for future web compatibility. It is the only way to know that code won't fail as the syntax develops.The validation to web standards allows for future web compatibility. It is the only way to know that code won't fail as the syntax develops. The templates also use Cascading Style Sheets that have been validated through W3C. They comply with CSS Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. CSS is a great way to specify the look of a site, e.g. fonts, colors, leading, margins, typefaces, and other aspects of style without compromising its structure. The templates use imported style sheets which are a powerful way to apply global rules to many pages at one time.
  5. Increased branding of the UMD site.
    The templates increase a consistent, clearly recognizable "look-&-feel" for the total UMD web site.
  6. Increased maintainability and efficiency.
    The templates allow redundant items to be easily used repeatedly. This reduces site maintenance. For instance the templates have built-in University of Minnesota required elements like equal opportunity statement, date of last revision, copyright information, link to the University's privacy statement etc.
  7. Increased cost savings.
    Don't reinvent the wheel. Much thought and effort has gone into the templates. Take advantage of this valuable resource and save University funds.

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