This document summarizes Nathan Gerber's presentation on leveraging responsive web design (RWD) at Utah Valley University. It discusses Gerber's role and experience at UVU, outlines a three-pronged approach to RWD involving connecting, training, and collaborating with campus web teams. It also provides examples of tools and resources used like engagement sessions, content management systems, and communication channels. The presentation recommends keeping designs and content simple while focusing on the user experience across different devices.

1. Nathan Gerber
Utah Valley University

2. Nathan Gerber
 Director, Web Dev. Services,
Utah Valley University 14yrs.
 Web IA, CMS Consulting
 Noel-Levitz Associate
Consultant, Web Strategy
and Interactive Marketing
Services team
UVU
 Centralized CMS
 Decentralized content
 30,000 public pages
 400+ web folks across
campus
Nathan Gerber
@nathangerber

3. Leveraging the energy around RWD
Focusing technology on the people
Creating communications plan
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2
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Disclaimer: No website was made responsive
during the making of this presentation

7. Resources Administration
Campus
CommunityTechnology
Changes

14. Three Pronged Approach
 Connecting
 Training
 Collaborating
Our Tools
 Engagement Sessions
 CMS
 Comm. Channels
◦ Website
◦ Email
◦ Blog

15. Marketing ITTHE WEB
TEAM

16. University Communications Committee

17. Trainings
Videos
Communications
Events
Contacts

18.  Past community experience
◦ Drinking through fire hose
◦ Dictator
 Too techie

23. Images
Scripts
Styles
Resources
Simple
(does not mean boring)

26. - Trent Walton -

27. stacking vs. interdigitating
- Trent Walton -

33. Flexible Templating
System:
 Developers
create, content experts
can use
 Content elements
become focus, not page
 Paradigm shift for
developers and content
experts

37. ©2013 Noel-Levitz, LLC. 2013 E-Expectations Report: The Impact of Mobile
Browsing on the Online Behavior of College-Bound High School Students.

38. Recommendations:
Students checking e-mail on a smartphone are not going to
read the same way they will on a full-size PC or laptop
screen. Your e-mail messages need to adapt to this reality.
• Economize your e-mail copy as much as possible so
mobile users won’t have to scroll through long lines of
text.
• Create designs that, while attractive, maximize the screen
space of smaller displays.
• Move calls to action up so they display before the fold or
on the first scroll of a mobile display, and repeat the
request at the end.
• Test all of your messages on a variety of mobile platforms
before deploying.

39. Web
Community

40. “When the student is
ready, the teacher
will appear”
-- Buddist Proverb --

42.  HTML basics
 SEO help
 Social media
strategies
 CSS styling
 Search improvements
 Content writing
 Photoshop mockup
templates
 Email strategies

43.  What are your channels?
◦ Meetings, Website, Blog, CMS messaging
 What goes out to each channel?
 How often does information go out through
each channel?
◦ Emails, once per month
◦ Blog posts, once every 2 weeks
◦ CMS messaging, as system needs
 Who has access to each channel?
◦ To consume? To send?
 Can any communications be repurposed?

44.  Your Web Community can be a vast resource
 Working together is key!
 Your existing tools must support your efforts
 Communications plan is a must!
 RWD has energy, capture it
 Keep it simple, not boring

45. Q & A
nathan.gerber@uvu.edu