Maintenance
New and Redesigned Pages


Once you create your site, you’ll need to budget time and resources to maintain it. Make this a regular, planned task.

Maintenance
It’s vital that you maintain your site with the same care as you built it. Outdated information and broken links will frustrate and alienate your users.

• Post new information as soon as possible.
• Create a plan and timetable for updating your site. Archive or delete information that is no longer timely or useful.
• Check links frequently to identify bad URLs and e-mail addresses. A number of "link checking" programs are available.
• Recruit experts from your program or department to review portions of your site regularly.
• Encourage error reporting by providing contact information and/or a feedback form. Promptly acknowledge all feedback you receive.
• Routinely conduct usability testing on your site to make sure that navigation and information is user-friendly.
• Plan to redesign your site every one to two years.
• If you revise your site organization, avoid renaming or moving pages or directories. If you do, provide a "redirection" page. Remember to notify the Office of Internet Communications if you change URLs.

New and Redesigned Pages
If you are adding, redesigning or reconfiguring a Web site, please contact the Director of Internet Communications and provide the new URLs. This helps your site be correctly linked from DePaul’s directory pages. If your site is a subset of a larger site, such as a program within the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, you also should contact the editor of the larger site so that links can be updated.