Important Features of the New Website 

Common Header and Footer
The new csusm.edu adopts a standardized header and footer. The header is extremely important is it contains important navigation options for users, including:

  • a common navigation bar with buttons and drop-down menus that offer one-click access to important common categories of information,
  • an improved search function that allows users to search for either content or people, and
  • an Index A to Z feature that allows users to browse the site in an alphabetical fashion.

All university maintained pages, administrative offices, colleges, the School of Nursing, and Extended Learning will adopt the new header and footer by October 31, 2008. The presence of the header and footer on all of these areas of the CSUSM website will unify our web presence and bring a new standard for ease of use to our site visitors.

Standardized yet Flexible Design Templates
In addition to the common header and footer, most pages in the new csusm.edu will also adopt common design templates provided by the Cascade Content Management System. These templates bring a professional and uniform appearance to campus web pages, and simplify maintenance for content contributors through the use of predefined fonts and formatting options. While offering the benefits of uniformity, the design templates also offer flexible design and formatting options that allow campus content contributors to customize their sites to their unique needs.

University-Maintained Pages
University-maintained pages possess two key characteristics that make them a critical component of the new csusm.edu:

  1. They are the top-level pages in csusm.edu, usually the very first thing visitors see when they access the site. As such, they act as user-friendly gateways to departmental pages and other deeper levels of the site.
  2. They are regularly reviewed and maintained by the Office of Communications to ensure that content and links are never out of date.

Ease of Maintenance
Content contributors across campus will maintain their pages and sites using the Cascade Content Management System. As noted above, Cascade allows site administrators to seamlessly incorporate the new common header, footer, and design templates into their sites. Cascade also offers advanced features like publishing schedules and timed expiration of outdated content.