My UW-Madison
Guidelines for the Representation of Modules within the Portal

My UW-Madison (a.k.a. “the portal”) is the principal campus resource for highly personalized information. The guidelines below will help the portal maintain a consistent look and feel for a better user experience and keep it from becoming unwieldy or evolving into an online advertisement for campus services as more resources are added over time. Groups and departments that want to add content to the portal will be asked to follow these guidelines.

Types of Modules

Stand Alone Modules

When a module contains content that is unique to that module, it will generally be named based on the content it contains (e.g., Lost and Found in the Services tab). The My UW-Madison (MUM) Service Team will recommend whether new content warrants a stand alone module or whether it should be housed within a Multiple Resource Module.

Multiple Resource Modules

When a module contains multiple entries that fall into the same basic category, the module will generally be given a generic name reflective of its content (e.g., Marketplace in the Services tab.) The MUM Service Team will recommend where new content should be housed.

Content within Modules

There are several types of information that can be hosted within My UW-Madison modules. Depending on the content, there are varying degrees of flexibility in graphically presenting the information. As a general rule, simple text links will be the default approach. Additional graphics or text will only be permitted in special circumstances.

Link to a Campus URL or Application

If the content is a link to a web page (e.g., Computing Guide for Faculty/Staff in the Computing and Software Module of the Services tab) or to an application (e.g., WISDM in the Financial Information Resources under the Services tab), the information will be a simple text link using the service name and the color and font scheme of the overall portal. An occasional exception will be made for high-profile services (e.g., WiscAlerts in the Home tab). For these modules, a small graphic may be included. The MUM Service Team will recommend whether an exception is necessary and can assist with development of the graphic, if applicable. The graphic itself should serve as the hyperlink, whenever possible. There should be no “click here” language.

Application Appears within the Module

When the information within the module is dynamic content drawn from a department application, there is less flexibility in deciding how the information is displayed (e.g., Earning Statement under the Word Record tab). As a general rule, however, the content should be modest in size, consistent with other modules, and not include non-essential text, such as additional service descriptions.

Editorial Style: Module Titles, Descriptions and Coding Standards

Each module has a title and a brief service description in the Add/Remove Content area. The title should be succinct and to the point, and the service description should be very brief phrases or summaries of the content, generally no more than one sentence long. As a general rule, there should be no or minimal additional text (e.g., mini advertisements that describe the service) in the module itself.

In addition, these recommended coding standards will help render your module code into a simple, clean view. The MUM Service Team may suggest revisions to your module copy and style in the interest of maintaining consistent editorial style throughout the portal.

Tabs

The set of tabs within My UW-Madison is relatively fixed. As a general rule, a service requesting a presence in the portal cannot request a separate or new tab. They should choose the tab placement that most aligns with their service and intended audience. In rare circumstances, the MUM Service Team will recommend whether content warrants a new tab.

*These guidelines were developed in 2008. As a result, modules developed before that time were grandfathered in and may not reflect these guidelines.