Quick week but a lot accomplished, so quick I forgot to post the links for the week. A couple of days late but no harm done. This weeks links range from interesting to technical. Enjoy.

• HTML5 Live DOM Validator
• The power of ideas
• Open Web Podcast - Episode 2: Brendan Eich and Arun Ranganathan on ECMAScript Harmony
• Web Axe - Podcast #65: Top 10, SXSW, Nikita, and Joe
• Learning SEO: A List of SEO Audio
• Fastest-growing US companies rapidly adopting social media
• Brown University’s design stolen again
• College Web Editor - 5 tips to help aspiring university presidents bloggers
• Karlyn Morissette.com - Getting Real Recruiting Results with Interactive Technologies (eduWeb 2007)
• SquaredPeg - Integrating Social Media into your Recruitment Strategy
• The Complete Guide for You to Become an Almighty jQuery Developer | Effectize
• Linux.com :: Using free software for HTTP load testing
• Analytics for the Admissions Website
• Automating Website Screen Captures on OS X
• SquaredPeg - Split Test Your Emails: A or B?
• Survey: IA in the real world
• An Email Minute - How students choose

Like most universities, our photographers are out every day taking photos. These photos go into our photo library to be used for publications, web, press releases, etc. Unfortunately, the numerous people in the photos never get to see them.

If one wanted a printed photo, they had to request the photo from the photography department it would be printed in-house and mailed out. This process was time consuming for the customer and the photo staff.

The ordering process broke down like this:

• Figure out the phone number to the photography department.
• Describe yourself to them and get an email with a bunch of photos to review.
• Select photos and wait for photography to make the prints in-house.
• Wait for the photos to be arrive in the mail.

We decided to change this process. We looked at various options from building our own photo ordering system to a full service, fully managed system.

We decided on a system that allows us to manage which photos to publish, choose which printing packages to offer, what vendors to use for printing (local vendors preferred) and choose our prices. This gives us the most flexibility without having to manage the actual system ourselves.

The new process:

• Photography passes out cards at the event referring to the photo ordering site.
• Customer reviews photos, selecting the ones they want to order.
• Checkout, entering their credit card information and preferred shipping method.

This allows our photography department to upload the photos and forget about them. It also allows the customer to view photos in a friendly format and pay by credit card (something that was not possible before). The photos are printed and shipped within a day.

The company which offers this software is called PhotoReflect.

The Wayne State photo ordering site can be view at: http://waynestate.photoreflect.com

Two weeks of students not roaming the malls on campus. Summer classes are out, Fall classes about to start, its a crazy time a year for us. New President, Welcome Back Week and tons of events scheduled. Enjoy the links of the week, they might include links from previous weeks but still worth reading.

• Web-Based Tools for Optimizing, Formatting and Checking CSS
• Combo Handler Service Available for Yahoo-hosted JS
• The Top 5 Web Site Home Page Mistakes
• The 5 hidden costs of running a CMS
• An alternative to sIFR: Facelift Image Replacement | Breathe new life into your web pages
• 96 of the Best Ever Free Icon Sets - For Web Designers, Developers and Bloggers | Speckyboy - Wordpress and Design
• Ten guiding principles for interface design. Very nicely written. (via…
• .eduGuru - New Standards for Email Subject Lines
• Interactive Media for Higher Education - Walled Garden + Walled Garden = A Third Walled Garden
• The Simple Formula for Marketing Successfully on Social Networks
• Accessing Incoming PUT Data from PHP - LornaJane
• WebAnywhere: A Screen Reader On the Go
• MIT Web accessibility guidelines
• Take Some Load off MySQL with MemCached

We just launched the redesigned Government and Community Affairs Web site. The redesign was prompted by a need to expand functionality and their site outgrew the old navigation.

The design was inspired by a drive to simplify the navigation, the old site had 3 areas where a user could find links. Centralizing the links to the top and using the bottom section for the main action items visually equalized the page. The rotating main image on the homepage has a main goal of giving the user a nice feeling that a lot is happening and they can easily get involved and when they do it will be worth while.

The main goal of the site is to get the community affairs section more traffic, leading to more volunteers. So we added reference images and promotions to the sides of those pages to show how easy it is to volunteer and how rewarding it can be.

Check out the site. If you like it vote for it on eduStyle.

If you are a web worker and haven’t seen it yet, please take ten minutes to complete the 2008 A List Apart survey so we can build a snapshot of our industry.

I am getting married this weekend and will be offline for the next two weeks. Hopefully I have included enough articles to keep you busy. Mainly social media and standards related. I will be back in two weeks, hopefully totally refreshed and with a new set of ideas to implement. Enjoy.

• The Web Development Skills Crisis
• Social Media and Higher Education - Part 1: Admissions
• Refresh Detroit July 30th, Casual Meeting + Dinner
• My Computer Ninja: The Blog » 2 hours of Video on JavaScript from Douglas Crockford
• Cheat Sheets for Front-end Web Developers
• “Gorilla” Usability Testing | GarrettDimon.com
• The next newsroom in Second Life
• 60 Not To Be Missed Web Development Articles - June 2008 Web Builder Zone
• Marketing to the IPod Generation
• SquaredPeg - How will gas prices affect Admission?
• NorthTemple.com : The Accessibility Checklist I V…
• Great Package Design
• College Web Guy - University Web Template Hell, or Variation within Constraints
• What the F**K is Social Media?
• Smarter Auto-Linking
• Adobe Makes Flash Searchable - The Holy Grail of Website Usability? - ReadWriteWeb
• Should Links Open In New Windows? | How-To | Smashing Magazine
• A List Apart: Articles: Writing an Interface Style Guide
• Social Media 101 - CommonCraft video says it all
• Real World Web Standards - Slidecast Uploaded
• uwnews.org | Online service lets blind surf the Internet from any computer, anywhere | University of Washington News and Information
• Collection of Great College TV Ads

The School of Business Administration runs an E-Commerce Summer Camp for 16-17 year old’s to learn key computer and business skills. Part of the camp is a paid internship where they can put what they learn to practice.

This summer we are accepting an intern from the camp. Our summer intern, Orlando Collins, a senior at Inkster High School started today. He likes computers and business, our department offers both.

We have had the long tradition of teaching and mentoring. Quite a bit of our full time staff started out as students or entry level. I have a feeling you will be hearing more about Orlando in the coming months.

A few days too late, but better than never. Quite a bit about social interaction in higher education. Enjoy.

• EduWeb Buzz - Connecting with the Facebook Generation
• Veen on data overload
• Oprah Winfrey’s Stanford Commencement Address [Weekend Watching]
• The Experience Evangelist - Campus Tour Prank Video - University of Colorado
• Recap of Adobe Acrobat 9 Presentation
• How we read online. - By Michael Agger - Slate Magazine
• 21 Incredibly Creative Flash Websites
• FJ Gaylor Photography - Summer Session - St. John’s University, Queens, NY
• Guide to Better Napping
• FAQ: When to use italics?
• Its about Telling Stories
• How to Change the World: The Inside Word on Word-of-Mouth Marketing
• Walk on AIR: Create a To-do List in Five Minutes [JavaScript & AJAX Tutorials]
• Ron Bronson - The students who get away
• Video: Zeldman on Journalism and The Web
• Video: Andy Clarke on Web Layout

We just launched a contest to win a Dorm Room Makeover. The site is based on three videos which have a similar feel as viewing a famous person’s crib. The goal of the site design is to encourage viewing each video and make a selection of your favorite to enter the contest.

With screen shots of each video we placed a large play buttons right in the center. When playing a video a tab at the bottom brings the user directly to the entry form and pre-selecting video they were just watching.

The design of the site mirrors the introduction and conclusion of each video. Check out the site.

http://dorms.wayne.edu/

Not a lot of articles this week but some good quality reads.

• College Web Editor - Higher Ed Magazines: Gone Digital, Going Paperless?
• Facebook catches MySpace in visitors
• EduStyle Blog - The future face of Higher Ed websites?
• Making Video Accessible
• Writing Style for Print vs. Web (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox)
• How to become a viral phenomenon
• College Web Editor - Don?t upload your higher ed video to YouTube (or other video-sharing websites) before doing these 5 simple things
• How to Build a Better Content Model for Your Site: Understanding News Consumption Patterns