Colorado State University

Dear All,

Welcome to the long awaited Biology website version 2.0! Since we created the old website close to 4 years ago, a lot has changed, in both technologies, and use of the web. It was time to look at how we could make our site state of the art as well as easier to use.

This overhaul revolves around a few of different things.

1. SEO – search engine optimization – Let’s make our site easier for search engines to crawl and index its pages!
2. Web applications – This would involve making the content database driven, dynamic, and easy/fun to use.
3. Updated GUI – Technically moving away from tables toward a more standards based ‘div’ architecture which is more universally understood by browsers now and under development. SIMPLIFY – and channel users to the information they want without any backtracking.
My Biology
Overall, the way that most web content will be updated has changed so that BioIT will act simply as a gatekeeper and objective editor (spelling/grammar etc) and those responsible for the content can be free to do so at their leisure. Beyond the simple static GUI overhaul, I will be implementing a gateway called “My Biology” which will allow a user to manage their Biology related IT resources based on their permission levels. My Biology will require an active CSU eID as authentication.

Examples:

> Submit TWIB Entries
> Seminar coordinators can update events and seminars in real time.
> Faculty and Staff can change manage their blurb and publication list
> Graduate Students and Academic Professionals can edit their blurb and photo etc.
> … and much more, which will be added while the site is live!
Certain content changes from “My Biology” will cross the BioIT inbox as they must be evaluated by me (Graduate photo and profile changes for example). BioIT simply needs to “Accept” or “Reject” these changes to make sure they are appropriate for the public web presence.

So, play around and let BioIT know if you notice anything crazy (good or bad)!