Atrévete a Ser el Primero [Dare to Be First]
CURRENTS Article The University of Delaware launched a website in Spanish in November 2011. This online foray into another language is an important step in the institution's continuing globalization and its goal to develop a more diverse campus community.

Core Communications
CURRENTS Article In this article, three communications professionals from San Diego State University, Hamilton College, and Michigan State University, respectively, describe the processes their campuses went through in redesigning their websites and the issues they had to address, including content management systems, accessibility for people with disabilities, what should be included on the home page and why, and training campus site editors to maintain site consistency as well as ease of use.

Advance Work: Word Play
CURRENTS Article Educational institutions should consider adding video captioning to their online multimedia content. Captioning not only helps users who are hard of hearing, but it also increases Web searchability.

Advance Work: Optimize Primer
CURRENTS Article As SEO becomes a larger part of communications and marketing, institutions need to reevaluate their own Web sites.

Office Space: Show Don't Tell
CURRENTS Article In such a crowded digital world, institutions' Web pages need to be the providers of fresh and interesting content.

Web Usability
CURRENTS Article Now that campuses have sophisticated web sites and are using content management systems, are Web sites doing what campuses want them to do? Does the site work? This seeks to answer these questions by examining examines the concept of Web usability. It describes a quick and easy exercise for testing and evaluation and why and how it works. It also looks at the advancement-IT relationship and how communications and marketing professionals can and should be a part of Web usability tests.

AdvanceWork: Black and White and Raspberry All Over
CURRENTS Article Campus designers should consider color trends when looking to update campus logos or create publications. Using a new generation of colors can help communicate to younger students and even help attract enrollees. Hot colors include lime green and retro shades such as pink and turquoise. Designers can tone them down for other audiences.

AdvanceWork: Caging the Cardinal
CURRENTS Article Stanford University constituents seeking information about campus activities need look no further than the Web, thanks to the efforts of several Office of Communications staffers. In May 2003, these campus communicators launched events.stanford.edu, an online events calendar that details campus activities in more than a dozen categories. The site is the winner of a 2004 CASE Circle of Excellence Silver Award.

AdvanceWork: Sorry, Charlie!
CURRENTS Article Web site error messages don't have to be unfriendly and ugly. Savvy Web designers and editors will replace "404: Not Found" with text that helps Web site users find what they're looking for and an appearance that resembles the rest of the site.

AdvanceWork: Drawing Attention
CURRENTS Article An idea of interest to Web and design staff comes from Simon Fraser University, where the external relations office has made its Web site more appealing and personal by including watercolor sketches of each staff member.

Form Follows Function
CURRENTS Article Barnard College found that the best way to approach redesigning its Web site was to divide responsibility for specific functions--PR, academic, administrative--among the various departments that had already established operations in these areas. The article lists different approaches to institutional Web sites, notes users’ expectations, outlines important principles, and describes how Barnard carried out the redesign process.

AdvanceWork: Internet Disconnect
CURRENTS Article The "most wired" colleges don't always have state-of-the-art Web sites

Call in the Experts
CURRENTS Article This article discusses issues associated with alumni organizations hiring outside vendors to design alumni organization Web sites. First, know the total cost of a vendor, including annual maintenance fees and start-up fees. Second, understand that a vendor will bring convenience, expertise, and possible delays to the Web site design process. Third, hire a vendor that recognizes the organization’s need for security and privacy. To conclude, five simple suggestions are offered to those alumni organizations that decide to hire a vendor: assess your needs; consider your options; know what you want; use good business sense; and talk with colleagues. Includes a sampling of online vendors that offer services for alumni.

In Advance: Technology vs. Reality
CURRENTS Article The real deal on eight common misconceptions about hardware and software