LJMU Websites - guidelines for staff

The LJMU website is authored through a content management system (CMS) called RedDot.  Using a CMS means that we have been able to develop a corporate web page template in line with the LJMU brand. This template is applied to all the pages on the website, ensuring we have a branded and coherent web presence with standard navigation schemes - left and right hand menus and bread crumb trail.

Web authors enter their content into these pre-designed templates. Content can include text, images, video and graphics. No particular IT skills are required to use the content management system - it is intuitive to use and web authors receive training and support on technical aspects from the CIS web team.

If you wish to set up a website for your department or for a particular event, campaign, course or group etc. please contact Marketing and Corporate Communications in the first instance. We can advise you on how to best proceed with your website requirements.

Please note: all LJMU webpages must sit within the corporate CMS unless there are technical reasons why this is impossible. Even in cases where an exception needs to be made for technical reasons, those portions of the website that are viable to sit within RedDot must do so and we can link to other areas while a potential solution is researched in-house.

Please contact Helena Eaton or Neil Grant to discuss your website requirements.

Advantages to using a content management system

• As RedDot is standard across the University, any web page can be updated by authorised web authors - so even if a RedDot author is away from the University, pages can be maintained.
• The CMS guards against having externally-designed websites which then require a retainer fee to maintain. It also minimises the risk of having a site hosted and updated externally by a company that could go out of business, leaving either no website at all or one that quickly goes out of date and contains inaccurate information.
• The corporate templates ensure that our website is corporately branded with an appropriate and coherent look and feel.
• The content templates are designed to comply with accessibility guidelines and standards.
• The CMS separates design from content meaning that web authors can concentrate their time and efforts on the content of their pages - including images, video, graphics, case studies, testimonials etc.  It means that any member of staff - not just those with a background in IT - can contribute to web authoring.
• The CMS provides a workflow mechanism which means that a page can be put together by one or more members of staff and be sent for approval to a nominated person before going live. This helps to guard against typographical and factual errors.