1. Purpose

Missouri S&T maintains web standards to ensure that all university web properties present a unified, professional, and accessible experience for all visitors. These standards serve four core goals:

• Identity: Visitors should immediately recognize a page as part of Missouri S&T.
• Usability: All web properties must be accessible, easy to use and navigate, easy to understand, and quick to load.
• Consistency: Web properties should present a cohesive appearance using the same templates and design language across all formats.
• Accuracy: Content must be up-to-date, accurate, and routinely reviewed by subject matter experts.

2. Scope

This policy applies to any website, page, or document hosted on university or vendor infrastructure that represents the university and is publicly accessible.

Publicly accessible documents linked from university web pages must meet accessibility standards as described in Section 8. Document content is not subject to the branding and design requirements of this policy, though the pages linking to them are.

Externally hosted sites — those not on university or university-contracted infrastructure — will receive no support from Web Strategy and may not use university branding, logos, or imply any affiliation with Missouri S&T unless affiliation has been explicitly granted (for example, a known official presence on a third-party partner platform).

3. Content Management Systems

Missouri S&T maintains two content management systems (CMSs) for university web presence. Entities not representing core university functions are not required to maintain websites, and either platform may be declined if an entity does not require a web presence.

3.1 TerminalFour (T4)

TerminalFour is the CMS for university departments and offices — both academic and non-academic — that exist within the university's organizational chart. Official departments and offices must use T4 if they wish to maintain a web presence.

Examples include academic colleges, departments, and administrative offices that are formally part of the university's organizational structure.

3.2 WordPress

WordPress (sites.mst.edu) is the platform for organizations, groups, and initiatives that are outside or below the university's formal organizational chart.

Examples of WordPress-eligible sites include:

• Faculty sites and portfolios
• Class and course sites
• Conferences and symposiums
• Research interests, groups, centers, and laboratories
• Department blogs and newsletters
• Events
• Student organizations

Note that some of these entities may be closely affiliated with official departments. A laboratory, for example, is a sub-entity of one or more academic departments; the departments themselves are within the organizational chart, but the laboratory is not.

When an official T4 department wishes to spin up an initiative — an event, newsletter, research group, blog, or similar — that initiative goes on WordPress.

Anyone with a university account may create up to 10 WordPress sites. See sites.mst.edu/terms-of-service for platform terms of service.

3.3 Platform Migrations

Sites are expected to exist on the appropriate platform for their organization type. When an organization's status changes — for example, an initiative is formalized into the organizational chart, or a department is dissolved — the site is expected to migrate to the appropriate CMS at the next major site refresh.

Major refreshes may be initiated by Web Strategy, requested by university leadership, or undertaken independently by the department or organization. Web Strategy will provide migration assistance when a site is directed to move platforms.

If a site fails to migrate within three months of notification, it will be treated as a site removal. Web Strategy will contact the responsible department periodically during this period to confirm awareness and offer assistance. The department retains access to its content through the data retention provisions described in Section 10.

4. Content Authors

Most of the university's web presence is maintained through a distributed content author model. Individual departments and organizations are responsible for the content on their sites, and they designate one or more content authors to manage that content.

4.1 Eligibility and Responsibility

At least one content author for any site must be a current university employee. This author need not be a member of the department whose site they manage — they may be an employee of a closely affiliated unit or a subject matter expert elsewhere in the university. Student workers may assist as content authors but may not serve as the primary content author, as they typically have limited tenure and may not have full access to a department's information and processes.

A content author must either be a subject matter expert for the content they manage, or must act under the direction of one. The department or organization is ultimately responsible for the accuracy, currency, and compliance of its web content regardless of who has been designated as content author.

Content authors may be designated as authors on multiple sites.

4.2 Designating Content Authors

To designate a content author for a T4 site, department or organizational leadership must submit a T4 Training Request specifying the intended author and the site in question. See Section 5 for the full T4 access process.

For WordPress, content authors manage their own access within the platform.

4.3 Content Author Responsibilities

Content authors are responsible for:

• Keeping site content accurate, current, and compliant with this policy
• Responding promptly to quality and accessibility issues identified by site scanning tools
• Completing required training (T4 authors)
• Coordinating with their department or organization's subject matter experts to ensure content accuracy

5. CMS Access and Training

5.1 TerminalFour

Access to T4 requires completion of a training course. The process is as follows:

1. Department or organizational leadership submits a T4 Training Request specifying the intended content author and the site in question.
2. The author is enrolled in a T4 training course in Canvas, which includes assessments.
3. Upon completing the course, the author submits a T4 Access Request form.
4. Web Strategy verifies course completion and adds the author to T4 and DubBot.

Turnaround times for each form are specified on the forms themselves. Both forms are available at webstrategy.mst.edu.

5.2 WordPress

WordPress is self-service. Any university account holder may create up to 10 WordPress sites at sites.mst.edu without requesting access from Web Strategy. Unlike T4, training is not provided. S&T Sites is at its core a stock WordPress experience, and is the most common CMS in history. Ample free training resources in all formats have been created for it for decades. Authors are encouraged to sample several and find one with a format they like.

5.3 Analytics Access

Analytics are available for all sites.

• T4: Submit an Analytics Access Request through Web Strategy. Your site and account will be configured.
• WordPress: Activate an analytics plugin through your site's WordPress dashboard and connect your own analytics account.

6. URLs and Site Identity

6.1 TerminalFour URLs

T4 sites are hosted at subdomains of mst.edu. Web Strategy has final authority over subdomain assignments. Subdomains will reflect the department's name and will be concise, easy to type, and unique. When multiple acceptable options exist, Web Strategy will present them to the department for selection.

6.2 WordPress URLs

WordPress sites are hosted at sites.mst.edu/<sitename>. WordPress sites may be eligible for promotion to an mst.edu subdomain subject to the Subdomain Promotion Policy available at sites.mst.edu.

6.3 Site Naming

Sites should be identified by their official name. Web Strategy reserves the right to require a name change for any site that uses an unofficial name, attempts to impersonate another part of the university, or creates confusion about a site's affiliation or authority.

7. Sandbox Sites (T4 Only)

Because T4 site creation is not self-service, Web Strategy provides sandbox sites for departments that wish to build or rebuild a T4 site outside of the live environment.

7.1 What Is a Sandbox Site?

A sandbox site is either a blank new site or a copy of an existing T4 site, hosted with -dev appended to its intended subdomain (e.g., department-dev.mst.edu). Sandbox sites are not publicly accessible by default.

7.2 Requesting a Sandbox

Sandbox sites may be requested at webstrategy.mst.edu by any department wishing to refresh their site, or may be directed by university leadership. Each live T4 site is eligible for one paired sandbox site. Sandbox sites are only provided when the department intends to replace the live site with the sandbox's contents.

When a sandbox is directed by university leadership, Web Strategy may or may not assist with building the new site depending on the nature of the request and available capacity.

7.3 Review and Promotion

When a sandbox is ready for departmental review, it may be made temporarily publicly accessible at its -dev URL for up to two weeks. This window allows stakeholders to review the site before launch without the sandbox appearing in search results for an extended period.

A sandbox may be opened for public review up to three times. The two-week clock resets with each review window. If the department determines changes are needed after a review, they may continue work on the sandbox and request another review window.

When the department is satisfied with the sandbox, they submit a promotion request through Web Strategy's services page. Promotion to the live site is performed by Web Strategy. Compliance with university policy is the department's responsibility; Web Strategy will not perform an editorial review prior to promotion but reserves the right to decline promotion of sites with egregious policy violations. Once promoted the site is subject to normal automated scans and Web Strategy and content authors will receive reporting on any quality issues.

7.4 Sandbox Expiration

Sandbox sites not promoted to live within one year of creation will be deleted. Data retention provisions do not apply to sandbox sites — they are simply removed. The live site the sandbox was intended to replace is not affected.

8. Accessibility

All university web properties — on both T4 and WordPress — must meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA accessibility standards. Accessibility is a legal requirement and applies universally regardless of platform, audience, or content type.

This requirement extends to publicly accessible documents linked from university web pages.

T4 content authors receive ongoing accessibility reporting through DubBot (see Section 11). WordPress site owners are responsible for self-monitoring and remediating accessibility issues.

WordPress sites found to be non-compliant with accessibility standards will be disabled until remediated. T4 sites with persistent accessibility issues may have individual pages or the entire site unmapped pending remediation.

9. Documents

The preferred method for presenting information is as a webpage. Documents should only be provided as printable alternatives to information already presented on the linking webpage, and only when a webpage is technically or legally insufficient.

9.1 Preferred Formats

When documents are necessary, the preferred format is Microsoft Office 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.). Office formats, when hosted and shared online via Office 365, allow users to benefit from Microsoft's accessible interactive viewer and are preferred over PDFs for this reason.

9.2 PDF Exceptions

PDFs may be used in the following circumstances:

• The PDF has been formally remediated for accessibility, with proof of remediation or a passing accessibility check retained and available on request.
• The document is a government publication required to be served in its original form.

For other document types or formats not addressed here, contact Web Strategy for guidance before publishing.

10. Site Retirement and Data Retention

10.1 Unmapping

When a site is taken offline — whether at the department's request, due to platform migration, or as a result of policy enforcement — the site is unmapped from its public URL rather than immediately deleted. Unmapped sites are inaccessible to the public and to content authors.

Content authors previously assigned to an unmapped site may request temporary access to retrieve data during the retention period. Department leadership and assigned content authors may request an offline snapshot of the site as a .zip file.

10.2 Retention Period

Unmapped sites are retained on CMS infrastructure for a period of one year. After this period, the site may be permanently deleted.

10.3 Historical Archiving

Departments retiring a site may request consideration for historical archiving through the Web Archival Service. Historical archiving is discretionary and is reserved for sites with clear institutional or historical value. Requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and may be declined.

The Web Archival Service provides a best-effort static snapshot of a site at a designated archival address. Archived sites receive no maintenance, remediation, or functional support. See the Web Archival Service Policy for complete terms.

11. Quality Monitoring

11.1 DubBot (T4)

All T4 sites are monitored by DubBot, a site quality tool that scans for accessibility issues, broken links, and university policy compliance (including brand writing guidelines and department naming conventions). DubBot access is provided automatically when a content author is added to T4.

DubBot reports are available at any time to Web Strategy across all sites. Content authors receive weekly email reports filtered to issues within their responsibility and capability to fix. Content authors are expected to address flagged issues promptly.

Web Strategy monitors aggregate site quality. Sites with persistently poor quality scores may receive a remediation reminder. Ongoing patterns of neglect may result in Web Strategy requiring the department to designate a new content author, unmapping of specific pages or the entire site, or other action as appropriate.

11.2 WordPress

DubBot is not provided for WordPress sites. WordPress site owners are responsible for monitoring and maintaining the quality and accessibility of their own sites.

12. Content Standards

The following content standards apply to all university web properties unless otherwise noted.

12.1 Accuracy and Currency

Content must be accurate and kept up to date. Departments are responsible for routine review of their site content. Content authors should work with subject matter experts to ensure accuracy.

12.2 Originality and Copyright

Content should be original to the department or site. Do not copy and paste content from other websites — link to the source instead. This prevents content duplication, staleness, and potential copyright violations. Do not post copyrighted content without appropriate rights or permissions.

12.3 Advertising and Commercial Content

University web properties may not include advertising, commercial links, or promotional content for external entities. Accepting sponsorship from commercial entities in exchange for advertising, links, or promotion is not permitted.

An exception exists for factual acknowledgment of corporate partners — for example, listing funding sources for a research project or naming industry partners on a research center's site. These acknowledgments must be factual and must not constitute advertising.

12.4 Site Credits (T4)

Credits identifying the creator, builder, or maintainer of a site — such as "Created by," "Powered by," or "Built by" attributions — are not permitted in T4. University web properties represent Missouri S&T and its departments; individual or group credit attributions are not appropriate in this context.

12.5 Legal Compliance

All content must comply with applicable local, state, and federal laws; university policy; and UM System policy. This includes but is not limited to copyright law, FERPA, and HIPAA where applicable.

12.6 Linking vs. Duplicating

When information is maintained by another department or organization, link to it rather than reproducing it. Content should be maintained by the party responsible for it.

13. Design and Brand Standards

13.1 TerminalFour

All T4 sites use a single shared university template. The template is not redesigned, replaced, or forked for any individual site. Template updates are applied centrally by Web Strategy and rolled out across all T4 sites without advance notice to departments; Web Strategy makes every effort to ensure updates do not require action from content authors.

Content authors may not inject custom scripts or styles that modify the shared template wrapper (header, footer, navigation). In-page content areas have technical restrictions on scripting and styling; Web Strategy may occasionally assist with approved in-page customizations.

All colors used on T4 sites must comply with brand guidelines. Writing must follow the university style guide. Both are available at brand.mst.edu.

13.2 WordPress

WordPress sites are provided with a university-branded template but are not required to use it. Brand guidelines are strongly encouraged for sites representing a university function, event, or official initiative, but are not enforced on WordPress.

Accessibility standards (Section 8) apply to all WordPress sites regardless of template or design choices.

13.3 Responsive Design

All T4 templates and content types are designed to be viewable and accessible on common device types including desktop, tablet, and mobile. Content authors should not intentionally introduce content that breaks responsive layout. Web Strategy will assist in identifying and resolving responsive design issues when they are discovered.

14. Third-Party Integrations

14.1 TerminalFour

Third-party integrations in T4 are managed by Web Strategy. No third-party tool or service may be integrated into a T4 site without Web Strategy approval and IT procurement. Web Strategy provides a suite of supported integrations covering analytics, site quality scanning, and embedded content such as maps. Departments seeking a third-party integration should consult Web Strategy first to determine whether an existing solution meets their needs.

14.2 WordPress

Third-party integrations on WordPress are managed by CampusPress and are available at their sole discretion through the platform's provided suite of plugins and themes. Specific plugins or themes not included in the platform suite cannot be requested.

15. Forms and Data Collection

15.1 Web Forms

Missouri S&T supports two form platforms for web use:

• Microsoft Forms — available to all university account holders.
• Qualtrics — available through UM System for more advanced survey and data collection needs.

General web forms are limited to Data Classification Level 1 (DCL1) data by default. Collecting data at higher classification levels requires an exception. Contact Web Strategy for guidance.

For the full UM System Data Classification Level policy, see umsystem.edu – Data Classification.

15.2 Automated Data Collection

Automated data collection on university web properties (cookies, analytics, tracking) is governed by the UM System Privacy Policy and is managed at the platform level. This is outside the control of individual content authors and departments.

16. Faculty Profiles

All Missouri S&T faculty are required to maintain profiles in Elsevier Pure, the university's faculty information system. The university directory points to these profiles. Profiles are automatically generated and maintained by the library; faculty who wish to edit their profile directly or supply updates may contact library@mst.edu for details on access and update options.

Faculty may create personal websites on S&T Sites (WordPress) but are not required to do so. Faculty are encouraged to use Elsevier Pure as their primary web presence and to create a personal site only if they wish to share information beyond what Pure accommodates and intend to keep that site routinely updated. An outdated or abandoned faculty website reflects poorly and is worse than no website at all.

17. Security

Use of university web systems is subject to the UM System Acceptable Use Policy and Missouri S&T's Password Policy. Content authors are responsible for maintaining the security of their accounts and credentials. CMS accounts use university Single Sign-On (SSO) and are subject to all applicable IT security policies.

18. Web Strategy and Development

18.1 Responsibilities

The Web Strategy and Development team:

• Maintains T4 and WordPress infrastructure
• Manages centrally maintained university web properties
• Administers T4 access and training
• Reviews and approves T4 third-party integrations
• Processes sandbox promotion requests
• Monitors site quality across T4
• Conducts periodic strategic reviews of core university web properties
• Provides consultation to departments on content and information architecture

18.2 Strategic Reviews and Centralization

Web Strategy periodically reviews sites that are core to the university's function and may initiate redesigns or refreshes at its own discretion or at university leadership's direction. In consultation with university leadership, Web Strategy may choose to centralize any site and take over its maintenance and management. Centralization decisions are handled on a case-by-case basis.

18.3 Consultations

Departments may request a consultation with Web Strategy regarding their site's content, structure, or information architecture. Consultations are provided based on availability.

18.4 Getting Help

For help, support resources, and service request forms, visit webstrategy.mst.edu.