OHSU is getting ready to update the global footer - thank you everyone who provided feedback.

See a sample page with the new footer

Implementation Timeline

June 25: Approved by the Web Strategies Advisory Committee

August 6: Present draft content to the WSAC

August 7 - August 13: WSAC/OHSU web managers review

August 14: Update footer content based on feedback

August 17: Update footer in development environment

August 18: Footer updated in production

About the Update

The change expands the presence and functionality of the footer - this extended style is becoming increasingly popular and offers extra user functionality.  Popular websites using this style include apple, digg, firefox and the White House.  This format is also being used by other healthcare and academic organizations and has been promoted by industry leaders in design and usability (such as Dan Cederholm from simplebits).

This update does not require any additional work from you – Web Strategies will apply the change.  Design comps showing the proposed change can be seen from the links seen above.

(Please note: the links in the footer are not final; shown for design purposes only)

Benefits of an expanded footer:

• Enhance usability and save visitors' time by reducing the number of clicks required to jump from page to page
• Creates additional space to promote important pages without detracting from primary content
• Engage users to follow links they may have otherwise missed

The Web Strategies Advisory Committee approved this change on June 25, 2009 after reviewing your feedback.

Q & A

Would this new footer impact performance?

No, absolutely not. There would be no impact to page load time.

Are the links in the design comps representative of what the permanent links would be?

No, these links are for design purposes only.  All links in the current footer would be transferred to the new style.

Would this also be the footer on the old sites on the NFS server?

This footer would only be used for sites that have been redesigned with the new look and feel.  There would be no change to footers in the Tier II environment (NFS cluster).

Will it be a contextual footer for each mission/subsite, or a global one for all of ohsu.edu?

Right now, the intent is to have only one institutional footer.  Down the road, we could consider this enhancement.  (OHSU's web community would be asked for input before this change was made)