Development Center

• An HTML-free work environment
  • The Development Center is a form-based, point and click web-based application with everything you need to create and manage your web site
• You can edit a site anywhere as long as you have an Internet connection
• No additional purchase of software or hardware required to use the system
• Save development and maintenance time

Point and Click options available through the Development Center

• Build course lists using Academic Systems' course descriptions
• Build personnel directories using HR data resources
• Display each faculty members' course schedule for the active semester
• Create interactive e-mail forms
• Create more complex interactive forms with results submitted to the database
• Add campus news and press releases maintained by University Communications 
• Add technology news maintained by Information Technology and University Computing Services 
• Add department events to the university calendar
• WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) text editor with spell checker (available for the PC and Mac) Immediate access to new content modules as they are added to the system

Content and Layout

• Article workflow - approve and reject articles from other team members
• Choose from 12 page templates that offer a variety of layout options
• Consistent navigation to improve the user's experience from site to site within the Ball State domain 
• Easily add images, links, and other media objects, such as Flash, Real Media, audio, video, Java tickers and rotating images boxes to page templates
• Easily distribute workload among other staff members or students
• Embedded multimedia options including streaming media/audio, Flash objects, and PowerPoint presentations
• Intergration with other data sources
• Multiple display options for each article, calendar and other content items
• Page templates allow a developer to focus on the quality of the content versus the page design without causing additional workload for the developer
• Reduce the number of pages you maintain by allowing the system to build them for you
• Share content (articles, images, and media objects) with other departments
  • Improves message consistency and accuracy
  • Eliminates duplication of content
  • Enables access to information developers may not otherwise have access to
• Shared links
• Shared navigation images eliminates the need for graphic know-how and graphic design tools
• Style and Layout Editor allows you to choose from a variety of different images for navigation and headers, color schemes and layout options

Features and Tools

• Course and Event Search option available throughout the web site
• Departmental Search box available throughout the web site
• E-mail a Friend, Printer Friendly version, and Add to Outlook (for events only) automatically available for every article and event
• FAQ Search (available university-wide) built using FAQ articles from each department's account
• Manage users and access control for your account
• Search tracking tool used to monitor what people are searching for on the individual web sites
• Site tracking tool used to monitor site usage and visitor behaviors
• When the design of the Ball State Web site changes, your site changes with it - no additional work or steps involved to keep your site up to date