UT Knoxville Web Templates
This site explains the purpose and function of what has become affectionately known as "the template." It is intended to be used by departments, colleges, and units at the University of Tennessee Knoxville only. Although it obviously draws on elements of the new homepage, the template design is distinguished from that site in subtle but deliberate ways. We encourage your freedom and creativity in the layout of your main content area; however, for the purposes of branding, we ask that you please not mimic too closely the UT Knoxville homepage.
So when's the deadline?
There is no fixed deadline. Yet. Rather, we're asking that campus web developers transition their sites into the new template within three months of the implementation of The University of Tennessee's new content management system, Serena Collage.
Did you say "content management system"?
Yes. Yes, I did.
Once implemented, the content management system will allow people from across the system to gain password-protected access to particular pages, enabling users to edit content without impacting the design. In other words, people who don't know much about CSS, HTML, or FTP'ing will finally be able to make text corrections and create basic pages for unit, college, and departmental websites.
While we hope that the transition to Collage will go smoothly -- and while we plan to do everything in our power to make that happen -- no venture this large ever goes perfectly.
We're making the templates available now because there has been considerable demand for them. (And we have projects of our own to complete.) However, please be aware that some of the work you do now will likely have to be repeated if/when you transition to Collage. Until we're able to play with the CMS ourselves, we won't know exactly how much reworking will be required.
Long story short: Feel free to begin using the templates today, but if you intend to transition to Collage later, you might consider waiting.
Contact The Web Team
Office of Creative Services
107 Communications
Knoxville, TN 37996
Phone: (865) 974-0765
Fax: (865) 974-6435
Email: webteam@utk.edu