University Web Services (UWS)

Why would I change a page layout?

The University Web Services team has launched page layouts reflecting the new logo and brand of UC Denver. The templates are an exciting opportunity for departments, schools and colleges to update websites with a consistent brand and style.
Building the page layouts has been an iterative process between the University Web Services Web developers team, content owners and University Integrated Communications members. The following basic design principles were considered when creating the page layouts:

• Consistency. This ensures that visitors to the UC Denver site can navigate around the university site without getting surprised by changing design standards. For example, the global navigation is always across the top. As the visitor pages through the site, they will “learn” that contact information can always be found at the bottom of the page.
• Speed. The visitor comes to your site and wants to find information quickly. The placement of the content containers on the different layouts has been done to ensure that visitors can scan the page quickly and find the information needed. Of course, how the content is written goes hand-in-hand with this design component.
• Screen size. The design of the page size has been determined to eliminate un-necessary scrolling. So when visitors come to the UC Denver site, they will see the most important information in the top-left part of the page. And they will not have to scroll down to access critical information.

When considering what layout to use, consider all parts of the layout. If you don’t have content to use in the third column, for instance, choose another layout. If you need to have a different page layout for your content, please contact University Web Services. Start by looking at the Style Guide developed for each site. The style guide will explain the font attributes, page layouts and specific design elements. Currently, these are the available page layouts:

• Content Page 1
• UCD Content Page 2
• UCD Department Home
• UCD Department Home/local
• UCD Section Home 1
• UCD Tabs Layout
• UCD Welcome Page 3
• UCD Welcome Page 4