Introduction

We all use our organization’s name and logo each day, so the detailed information that follows is critical to your work at The University of Oklahoma.

The University of Oklahoma website contains several million pages. While the OU home page hosts around 10,000 unique visitors per day from all over the world, not all visitors enter these pages through the OU home page. Many visitors are external audiences, such as prospective students, parents or researchers. Our Web content will be, for many, their first and only view of the University of Oklahoma community. The Web is essential to our mission of teaching, research, creative work and public service.

Our Web pages need to reflect our values including respect for intellectual property individual’s privacy and the law; accessible information for those with disabilities and the need to support open public dialogue. Thus, the University’s Web policy seeks to establish standards and guidelines that will:

• Support the vision, mission, goals and academic values of the University of Oklahoma;

• Assist Web publishers in developing sites that comply with University policies, rules and regulations and local, state and federal laws;

• Facilitate the official business of the University;

• And enable appropriate online transactions.

  
  

Furthermore, the purpose of this guide is to maintain a consistent OU identity and help streamline all University pages so that users can efficiently find what they are looking for on any OU Web page.

• Web pages located on servers within the ou.edu domain or using OU internet protocol ranges affiliated with the Norman Campus.

• University sites outside ou.edu affiliated with the Norman Campus using OU trademarks in their domain names;

• Web pages prepared for any organization or activity receiving Norman Campus funds or with funds maintained in the University of Oklahoma Norman Campus financial system excluding agency affiliates; and

• Faculty, staff and student pages on servers connected to the Norman Campus network.

  
  

Materials placed on a website including graphics and photos are subject to the same copyright laws and standards of academic honesty as any print-based publication.

To ensure that all websites representing the University of Oklahoma convey a consistent and accurate message and image, all sites involved in a redesign must be reviewed by Web Communications, Marketing and New Media.

Web Communications, Marketing and New Media will review sites based upon the guidelines and checklist contained in this policy. Web Communications, Marketing and New Media will perform audits to check for compliance, consistency and accurate messages.