Web site

New OIT Web Site

September 2, 2014 by Sylvia Bass

Last month, OIT introduced a new web site, full of features intended to make it easier for UCI faculty, staff, and students to find the information and services they need. Here is a brief tour of some of those features.

A version of this article with screenshots can be found on the OIT web site.

Services

If you’re looking for information on a particular service, you can browse the services section of the menu bar, or access the services directly from the alphabetical list on the home page. They are organized by category.

Audience Landing Pages

One of the most significant changes is our new Audience Menu at the top of the website. We have created audience landing pages to make it easier to find OIT services that relevant to various campus audiences. Each link goes to a page with a collection of links relevant to that group (undergraduates, faculty, staff, researchers, etc.)

Homepage Sidebar

Other areas of note are arranged on the right edge of the home page. Service alerts will advise you when there are issues with a major campus service. There is a convenient set of links with logins to various email, calendar, and file storage services, as well as a collection of links for common needs. There is also a sidebar with links to various forms of assistance.

Website Feedback

Finally, if you have suggestions for improvement to the site (either corrections or additions to a page, or new pages that would be useful to you) there is a feedback gadget on the right side of every page.

Web Hosting and Development

October 21, 2005 by Dana Roode

There are many ways for departments and researchers to create and maintain Web sites at UCI. NACS has one solution which affordably meets a variety of potential needs.

NACS offers a Linux-based service which provides the Apache server, MySQL for simple databases, and programming in Perl, PHP, and Python. Subscribers are given 1 GB of storage space and shell access to the web server via SSH to setup content for their Web site. NACS provides server maintenance, system administration, file system backups, and web server configuration.

NACS also offers the standard Microsoft web suite of IIS and ASP on a Windows Server.

If you want help creating content, NACS can work with you to design and develop your site, or to enhance an existing site. An initial consultation will be needed to define the scope of the work and to provide a estimate of the time required to complete the project.

If you have a server and want a 24-hour supervised, secure, climate controlled environment in which to house it, NACS can host web servers in ourAcademic Data Center.

Additional services will be offered either as a standard hourly rate or a flat monthly charge depending on the nature of the services being requested. Seehttp://www.nacs.uci.edu/support/webhost.html for more information.

These services can be combined or provided independently of each other. Please contact us to discuss your specific needs or any questions you may have.

Class Websites in 60 Seconds

June 24, 2005 by Dana Roode

In just one minute, Faculty can build a class Website — without having to learn HTML or other special Web design tools — by using EZE3. This popular fill-in-the-form tool now has extra features, and is as easy as ever to use.

How easy? Login to EEE, click the WebSiteManager icon in the toolbox on your personalized “MyEEE” page, select a class, and click the “New EZE3” link. There are options for choosing a color scheme, password-protecting your Website, and rearranging content in the order most useful to your students. A push of the Upload button can link a syllabus, lecture notes, study aids, assignments, or additional publisher-prepared Web materials. Students can then obtain these materials online to view, download and/or print. A link to the class Website appears automatically on enrolled students’ MyEEE pages.

Editing the site is also simple and straightforward. Return to your “MyEEE” page, click on “Manage” next to the Website URL, and then click on “Edit Page.” The materials stay in EEE and are accessible until you decide to remove them.

With 1,337 class Websites available this spring, UCI instructors are becoming webmasters in their own right. “I really appreciate the convenience of this tool”, notes Professor Jennifer Terry of Women’s Studies. “Lugging around 600 syllabus papers to the lecture hall is no longer necessary, and we can count on it 24/7 when we need to distribute materials ASAP”. Terry emphasizes the necessity of social interaction within the brick-and-mortar walls of the classroom, while complementing the physical classroom with EEE’s communication tools like EZE3.

Building a class Website with this no-nonsense, fill-in-the-blank method is a popular way to quickly and efficiently get a class Website up and running. Use of EZE3 is growing rapidly: over 30% of the Spring quarter class Websites were created using EZE3.

To see an example of an EZE3 page, visit http://eee.uci.edu/help/eze3/example/