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CS-2: 1
1. About This Case Study
The Common Web Design (CWD) is the new presentation for the University of Lincoln's online
services. Developed with HTML5 and CSS3 technologies, the University of Lincoln’s Common
Web Design enables rapid development of attractive, interactive and modern Web sites. Served
from a content delivery network and optimised with speed, accessibility and progressive
enhancement in mind, the Common Web Design also includes libraries for working with
authentication, geo-location, and mobile content.
This case study looks at how the Common Web Design came into being, design decisions, the
underlying technological architecture and how it plays a fundamental part in our Web design
toolkit, allowing us to develop rapidly effective and powerful Web sites and applications.
The Common Web Design (CWD) can be found at http://cwd.online.lincoln.ac.uk/
Target Audience
The intended audience of this case study are Web site managers and developers working at
Higher Education institutions who wish to explore some of the new features that HTML5 and its
associated technologies offers. It will also interest practitioners looking for work-arounds for
some of the situations they may encounter when working with the new technology.
What Is Covered
This case study addresses the following areas:
History of the Common Web Design
Use of HTML5 (and other modern technologies) in CWD3
Implementation of the CWD for http://gateway.lincoln.ac.uk
Challenges
What we learnt
2. History of the Common Web Design
In January 2010, the author
joined the University of Lincoln’s Online Services
Team (OST) in
the IT Services Department (IT). One of the first project activities was Posters at Lincoln
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, a
repository and showcas for posters displayed around the University. This project, along with
others, came out of a student focus group about improving student communications run by
Marketing and IT.
At the time the author was also carrying out freelance work for the Careers and Employability
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department and provided speculative design for a new corporate home page. This provided an
awareness
of the University’s branding guidelines
which led to work on a more modern design
than the one used by the IT services department at the time.
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Posters at Lincoln, http://posters.lincoln.ac.uk/
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University of Lincoln Careers & Employability, http://www.ulcareers.co.uk/