Redesigning the English Dept. Web
(Last revised 3/6/00)



Current Working Outline for New Site (last revised 3/6/00)

 

  • About our Dept.

  • Innovative Initiatives
    • Overview
    • History and Historicity
    • Contemporary Culture and Theory
    • Public Humanities

  • Outstanding Projects
    • Overview
    • Early Modern Center
    • Transcriptions and Digital Cultures
    • Affirmative Action page
    • Etc.

  • Research
    • Overview
    • Faculty Research
    • Grad Student Research
    • Reading Groups
    • Conferences

  • Teaching
    • Overview
    • Courses
    • Profiles of Teaching Award winners
    • Featured Course: (rotates)

  • Undergraduate Program (Chris's notes for components; organization will need to be reconciled with the rest of the site)
    • Overview: Why Study English? How to plan a major? Life after the major.
    • Course Listings from General Catalog
    • Major Requirements
    • Minor Requirements
    • Annual Course Offerings
    • Quarterly Course Offerings with descriptions
    • Information on Prizes and Awards with submission timelien
    • How to Declare the Major
    • Office Hours for Staff Advisor and Grad. Student Advisor(s)
    • Undergrad Handbook
    • Instructor Codes
    • English Club description-information
    • Calendar-link to Univ. Calendar with graduation ceremony dates

  • Graduate Program (Laura's notes for components; organization will need to be reconciled with the rest of the site)
    • Overview
    • Admissions and Recruitment
      • Links on each page to:
        • Awesome projects, new stuff
        • Faculty research interests (with links here to office hours/email)
        • Graduate Course Descriptions
        • Graduate Program Requirements
        • Special programs (Transcriptions, EMC)
        • Graduate Division
        • Dept. Newsletter?
        • Alumni news
      • Welcome note, how-to for on-line apps, how-to for paper apps
      • Admissions requirements and standards
        • GRE, writing sample, etc.
        • Standards: average GPA of admits, average GRE scores, etc.
      • Brief description of programs - Note, no terminal MA, no creative writing
      • Brief description of financial support available (+ links to handbook, graddiv)
      • Statement about Placement
    • Graduate Faculty: Research Interests and links to indiv. Web pages
    • Program Requirements
      • Brief version (like in brochure)
      • Detailed version (including all handbook info) but broken up into indiv. pages:
        • The MA/Phd Program
          • Course Requirements
          • Distribution Requirement Normal Progress For M.A./Ph.D. Program
          • Incomplete Courses
        • The Ph.D. Program
          • Course Requirements
          • Distribution Requirement
          • Normal Progress For Ph.D. Program
        • Incomplete Courses
        • Special Courses Two-Quarter Courses
        • Coursework In Other Departments
        • Foreign Language Requirement
        • The First Qualifying Examination
        • The Second Qualifying Examination
        • Advancement To Candidacy
        • The Dissertation (Link to Guide to Filing)
        • Registration
        • Leaves Of Absence
        • Deadlines
        • Job Placement
        • Counseling And Career Services
        • Financial Support
        • Administration Of The Graduate Program
        • Reading Lists For The 1st Qualifying Exam
    • Graduate Course Descriptions
      • Current, heavily linked to faculty research interests and faculty web pages
      • Past years
    • First Qualifying Exam
      • Ten Reading Lists
      • Exam tips for study
      • General Instructions
      • Where to find readers, etc
    • Second Qualifying Exam
      • Excerpt from handbook
      • Sample Prospectii
      • Doctoral Colloquium syllabi, etc.
    • Dissertation Resources
      • Workshops (links)
      • Guide to Filing link
    • Registration Tips
      • How to register, enroll codes, instructor table
    • Calendar of Events
    • Alumni News
    • Funding Opportunities
  • Alumni
    • Overview
    • Newsletter or "Recent News"
    • Archive of materials from the Friends Newsletter
    • Web registry kept in Filemaker that can be filled out by alumni
    • Web discussion forum (moderated) or "letter to the chair" feature
    • The "T-Shirt" or "Coffee-Mug" idea

  • Sponsors
    • Overview
    • "Recent News" about the Dept. and the profession
    • Prioritized funding needs
    • Information about how to direct gifts to the dept. and who to talk to

  • Features Section:
    • Feature of the Month (or Quarter): an exhibit, interview, excerpt, etc. Might also include "Colloquies" (online conversations on topics that would interest the outside world; participants could include our faculty, our students, eminent people from other universities and other social sectors)
    • Tour our Dept. (Web tours for undergrads, parents, grads, external faculty, sponsors)
    • "Paths": Interviews with selected past majors and grad students who have ended up in a variety of careers
    • Upcoming Event Announcement

  • Utility Section:
    • Department Desktop
      • "The Portable UCSB" (links and phone numbers of essential UCSB services)
      • Resources for Dept. Faculty
        • Calendar of instruction-related dates
        • Policy on grading
        • Policy on plagiarism, cheating, student absences and illnesses
        • Policy on accommodating students with disabilities
      • Resources for Dept. Undergraduates
      • Resources for Dept. Graduate Students
      • Resources for Dept. Staff
    • Searchable Directory of Faculty and Grad Students, including office hours and links to bios, courses, etc.
    • Searchable Course Lists (interactive database)
    • Map of Department and South Hall, with driving and parking directions for visitors. The map of the dept. would have clickable hotspots with links
    • Calendar of Events

  • The Profession
    • Overview
    • Links to external resources in the field: organizations, major library sites, major Web sites, etc.

  • Interact
    • Contact info for staff and dept. officers
    • Web discussion boards for undergrads, alumni



Graphic Design Concept (last revised 3/6/00)

Note from Alan on Eric's design idea:

Dear all:

Please take a look when you have time at the online "diary" of design thought that Eric Feay has started for our new dept. Web site. I think he is really onto something. The idea he expresses in the diary has powerful graphic appeal as well as metaphorical relevance for what we do. The idea is to design the site graphically around some image motif that comes from literature itself--perhaps some motif (I am improvising on his idea here) that could be identified at various locations on the site not just with a single allusion (e.g., the Wuthering Heights image Eric mentions) but many such allusions across the periods. (It's sort of the same idea as using "Yellow Woods" for our alternative careers page.) The image motifs that Eric examples all have to do with intersections or transitions (windows, gates, doors, paths, etc.). This seems right to me (because our graphic design should not be tied to a particular period, literature, or content; and because it allows for the most flexible use of the design). The idea is elegant, simple, and visually promising. It made my strike my forehead and say, "why didn't we see this earlier?" As Eric so incisively argues, there is nothing interesting about showing pictures of our department or campus per se; what we want to show is what we see when we read, research, and teach—a vision that literature itself helps image of connections, openings, transitions, vistas. Such a design unified around a single (or set of) such images (plus perhaps identifying quotations) would really distinguish our site from every other English Dept. site. Depending on the ideas chosen, the motif could be worked into the site not just at the level of photos or illustrations but buttons, navigation tools, etc.


Eric's initial draft of a design (with placeholder images only).

 




These class notes are for a course in the Transcriptions Project | Page content by Alan Liu | Last revised 3/6/00