Nyack.edu is the public presence of Nyack College and Alliance Theological Seminary on the World Wide Web. As such, it reflects the academic excellence of our institution, its programmatic offerings, and the associated stories of faculty, students, and alumni who have contributed to the vitality of our academic community and their own personal success.

The mission of Nyack.edu is to describe to a variety of interested constituencies the success of Nyack, its programs, and its extended community through compelling imagery, the written word, and interactive components making Nyack.edu a "living, breathing" website. The site will serve as the most up-to-date location for pertinent information for external and internal audiences and will allow prospective students to make informed decisions and take the necessary steps toward their enrollment at Nyack.

II. Design

A. Homepage. The homepage of Nyack.edu serves the unique purpose of presenting visitors with an overview of Nyack's many programs, the latest news about the institution, and a clear method by which to navigate the site. Its primary purpose is to provide prospective and current students from all programs with updated academic information and enrollment services. The homepage is also a hub for alumni, donors, and friends of Nyack, providing news headlines, personal updates from the President, and links to Nyack’s other services and online communities.

B. Template and Design Schedule. Nyack.edu employs a template-based design and content management system. This system allows design and content to be managed independently and gives the entire site a consistency and unity of design. The template is redesigned at least once a year, with minor tweaks being made frequently. Template design is determined and executed by the Webmaster and the Office of Enrollment. Individual departments may not request changes to the template for their own areas of the site. Exceptions to this rule include Nyack Warriors Athletics and the Nyack|ATS Libraries.

III. Content

A. Types of Content. Nyack.edu hosts content which can be broken down into the following categories:

1. Static Content. These are traditional “web pages” rendered in HTML with text, images and hyperlinks. These items can be edited by the Webmaster or by approved and trained staff and faculty members (see Section IV below).

2. Dynamic Content. Dynamic content includes interactive forms, file downloads, and browseable databases. This content is contributed by staff and faculty, but can only be posted and edited by the Webmaster.

3. Departmental Features. Each departmental/divisional website includes an optional blog and calendar which can be maintained by approved and trained staff and faculty members (see Section IV below).

4. Media. Includes photo galleries, videos, audio, and podcasts. Videos are hosted by YouTube or Vimeo (for ease of sharing and bandwidth issues). Audio clips and podcasts are hosted on-site. Podcasts are made available through iTunes. Podcasts will be pruned after each semester, and departments are limited to 5 audio clips per semester.

B. Other/Off-Site Content. Nyack provides many online services which are not hosted on Nyack.edu nor supervised by the Webmaster and the Office of Enrollment. Many of these additional services can be accessed through a single hub at http://my.nyack.edu.

1. Faculty. The Office of Enrollment agrees that faculty should have access to a website to freely post course supplements, syllabi, and other educational materials. This is a service of the Distance Education department, which maintains eCollege access expressly for this purpose.

Online grading and registration services are provided through CampusWeb.

2. Students. Student organizations and clubs would fall under the category and structure of intranet services. However, if student organizations desire to have their own website, they can request the webmaster make a link to their off-site page from an area - designated by Webmaster - on the official college website. Approval by the Dean of Student Life must be obtained before any such links will be created. At this time, Nyack cannot provide students with server space to host their sites.

Online registration is provided through CampusWeb.

3. Alumni. Alumni of Nyack College are served through Nyack’s new online Community, which can be accessed through the my.nyack.edu sub-domain.

IV. Website Updates

A. Content Ownership and Responsibility. It is the policy of the Webmaster and the Office of Enrollment that individual departments, divisions, and schools are responsible for the content in their respective area(s) and page(s) of Nyack.edu. Specifically, directors/supervisors are exclusively responsible for overseeing the addition, removal, and accuracy of their content. The Webmaster will NOT seek out content updates.

Beginning in Fall 2009, a Help With This Page form will be added to the bottom of each page on Nyack.edu which will relay public inquiries directly to the director/supervisor responsible for that content. This is meant to encourage interaction with the public and ownership of content by the department.

B. Content Update Policy. Content updates for Nyack.edu can be submitted through the Web Update Request Form, found at http://www.nyack.edu/staff.

1. Who May Submit Web Requests? Any member of Nyack’s faculty and staff may submit a web update request, however they must have permission from the owner of the content (director, supervisor, or appointed staff member in the department which owns the content).

2. Tech Specs for User-Uploaded Files. Users may upload up to ten files in support of a web update request. Please observe these technical specifications when uploading content:

a. All Files. All uploaded files must be smaller than 2 megabytes. (Larger audio and video files can be sent on CD/DVD.) Acceptable filetypes are: JPG, GIF, TIF, EPS, PDF, DOC, RTF, XLS, CSV, MP3, MOV and MP4.

b. Text Documents. Text content can be pasted directly into the large text box on the Web Request Form or provided in a Word document. Word docs should NOT be formatted or designed. This means: standard font, normal text size, no text color, no tabs, and no columns. Bulleted lists, hyperlinks, and tables are fine. Do NOT embed images within Word documents. They are difficult to extract and will be greatly reduced in quality.

c. Images. Images should be uploaded separately from Word documents, and do not need to be web-friendly. The Webmaster will prepare images for placement on the web. As long as each file is small enough to upload (under 2 megabytes), it is acceptable. Large numbers of images (more than 10) should be sent separately from a request in an email or on CD-R to the Webmaster.

The Webmaster reserves the right to edit, crop, compress, or reject any image.

d. Video. Video content must be approved by the Webmaster and the Office of Enrollment prior to posting online. Approved videos may be provided as files (QuickTime or MP4) or on DVD. Videos must be shorter than ten minutes. The Webmaster reserves the right to edit, compress, and reject videos.

e. Audio. Podcasts and audio content must be approved by the Webmaster and the Office of Enrollment prior to implementation and posting online. Podcasts will be pruned after every semester, and departments are limited to 5 audio clips per semester. Audio may be provided as MP3 files or on audio CD. Audio clips too large to upload through the Web Update Form should be sent separately from a request on CD-R to the Webmaster.

3. Physical Materials. When digital files are not available, content may be provided via physical materials. However, the Web Update Request Form MUST be completed in advance of all requests, even those with no file uploads.

The Webmaster can scan photos, rip audio from CDs, and extract video from DVDs. The Webmaster will NOT re-type written documents. Printed documents intended for the web MUST be re-typed by the user submitting the request or they will be scanned as images and posted as PDF files on the website.

4. Turnaround Time.  The Webmaster asks for at least 5 business days to complete all web requests. Most are completed in only a day or two, but the buffer is necessary given the volume of requests. Requests submitted with a needed-by date of "ASAP" will be completed within 5 business days. (Exception is made for emergency deletions and legal matters.)

5. Submission Limit. A single user/department may not submit more than 3 requests in a single business day. Requests may contain multiple items.

V. Online Payment System

A. Online Payment System. In 2008, Nyack began accepting payments online through PayPal’s payment gateway. (This is not the same as "taking PayPal," rather it facilitates credit card payments from users through our site.)

B. Online Payment Policy. Individual website payment items (called “products”) must be approved by the Business Office before they are implemented. Only directors/supervisors can request new products.

C. Product Types. Products are broken down into the following categories:

1. Fees. Student fees, typically related to the enrollment process (Admissions/Student Financial Services). Only Admissions and SFS directors may request new fee products.

2. Account Payments. Students may make payments on their accounts online. (Student Financial Services only.)

3. Donations. These products are related to general giving or to special fund raising projects. (Advancement Office only.)

4. Event Registrations. Event registrations can be managed online. These products require Vice Presidential and Business Office approval.

Event registrations are only available for single events with single registration fees (multiple registrations on the same payment are possible, though). Multi-event registrations or registrations with multiple configurations (e.g. levels of registration) are not possible at this time. 

VI. Statistics, Promotions, and Shortcuts

A. Web Statistics.  The Webmaster and the Office of Enrollment use Google Analytics to monitor traffic statistics. Traffic reports on specific pages within a specific timeframe are available ONLY to Vice Presidents, and may take some time to assemble.

B. Promotional Policy. Departments are often concerned with the visibility and accessibility of their Nyack.edu web content. The Webmaster and the Enrollment Office forbid the use of external domain names (e.g. nyackalumni.com) to direct users to content.*

Instead, every departmental/divisional/school site on Nyack.edu is assigned a permanent, easy to remember shortcut (e.g. www.nyack.edu/alumni). These shortcuts can be published and will always redirect to the latest version of the department’s web content. (Note that our policy is to provide these shortcuts in lieu of subdomains, e.g. alumni.nyack.edu, which are not available.) The standard site shortcuts are automatically provided, however additional shortcuts to specific content may be set up on request (e.g. www.nyack.edu/alumni/survey).

(*An exception is made in regard to external domains for large events and promotions which are beyond the scope of Nyack.edu’s tools and features. External domains and web content may be the best solution in these situations, and can be pursued after approval from the area VP and the Office of Enrollment.)

updated July 24, 2009