Excerpt from the 2015-2016 OIT Annual Report
OIT’s Web Technology team and Public Affair’s Web Development and Design team partnered in the spring of 2015 to launch a new model for creating Rice websites. The strategy leverages the use of a leading commercial cloud hosting service by Acquia Corporation using the Drupal content managing system. The model uses a set of templates that greatly simplify the creation of sites. The templates are predefined but allow for flexibility in arranging content. They also comply with Rice brand standards.
The Public Affairs team provides the design themes and creates the templates, the OIT team provides engineering support, Drupal expertise, and template training. They also develop software modules and integration with other Rice systems for automated content such as course feeds. Once the shell of the site is completed, including navigation and integration points, the site owner provides the content. Minimal technical skills in web development are required in order to add and maintain content. There is no charge to the Rice department for the creation of a template-based site or ongoing hosting costs within the framework.
The first sites that tested the new process were new sites created to support Rice’s strategic research initiatives including the Rice Academy of Fellows (http://www.riceacademy.rice.edu/) and the Creative Ventures (https://creativeventures.rice.edu/) websites. The team’s skills and workflow were successfully put to the test when the sites needed to go live in a few weeks in order to maximize the timeframe in which applications could be accepted for the program.
Weekly Drupal training sessions are held for the campus web community to become familiar with the templates techniques for adding and maintaining content. Other activities include co-sponsoring a monthly web forum for campus administrators with an interest in or responsibility for web sites.