The Web Developers Users' Group met on March 15, 2002, at 3:30 PM in Parliamentary Room, PSU Ballroom East.

WDUG Forum presentation

Joe Kuster presented a overview of WDUG Forum. First he discussed the overall objective for the WDUG Forum. He also demonstrated several of the more common functions of the program :

• To access and edit personal profile information such as signatures, click on the Profile link.
• To view messages that other members have posted in the forum, select the forum you wish to view, and click on the title of the members post.
• To see new posts since last visit, click on the Active Topics link, and click on the message to read.

He also described which category to post under for various topics.

• To subscribe to the forum, so that it will email you each time a new message is posted, click Subscribe to Board. To subscribe to a specific category to receive a email message each time a new message is posted to that category, click the Subscribe to forum subscribe to category symbol.
• To unsubscribe to the forum's board or to the Category, click the Unsubscribe to forumunsubscribe symbol.
• To create a post new topic, select the forum to post to, and click the New Topic New Topic symbol or link.
• To reply to an existing topic, click the Post Reply Reply to Topic link or symbol.
• To reply to an existing topic, and automatically quote the existing post, click thePost ReplyReply With Quote symbol or link.

Update: Sara has reorganized the WDUG Forum categories to be more flexible. The current WDUG Forum categories now include:

• Web accessibility
  Post questions or tips about web accessibility and to see any update notifications from the Web Access Compliance Team
• Browser compatibility
  Questions and answers regarding developing web content to be multi-browser compliant
• HelpPost questions regarding using the WDUG Forum
• Sharing
  A category for sharing information on various web development programs such as FrontPage, DreamWeaver, and Photoshop
• Web design
  Post requests for others to test web sites, tips on good URL naming, and Missouri State Template issues

Suggestions on the WDUG forum

Members suggested other information that can be shared throughout the forum:

• HTML section
  Members can post HTML questions and tips
• Web development jobs section
  Members can post the position and find someone to do the web job
• Importing and exporting files section
  Members can raise questions or provide solutions on importing documents

Web access guidelines update

Sara announced that we currently use Section 508 guidelines as the Missouri State web access standards. The state government of Missouri has plans to release Missouri's final web access standards, in July 2002.

Missouri State will have to meet the new guidelines for compliance. Any standard changes or updates will be posted on the web access site at http://www.missouristate.edu/web/forms

Accessible web pages demonstration

Joe brought up Counseling and Testing Center web site as he explained various aspects of making web sites accessible. He pointed out many of the changes that have had to be made to bring the web pages into compliance with the Section 508 checkpoints. For more information on the web access checkpoints, see checkpoints.

Mike McManus asked a question about making one of his web pages that contained data tables compliant. Joe explained that the web page is not compliant because the data table needs to have headers and scope tags. Since the web page was generated automatically through SQL, it will also require changes to how the page is generated.

Joe also brought up the issues of the FrontPage 2002 server extensions. When the new server extensions are installed it will automatically make bullet images web accessible.

Update Notice: Computer workshop and training

A Photoshop workshop will be offered through Human Resources. The date is set for June 21, 2002, from 8:30 am - 4:30 pm. People who are interested can register through HR.

Another training class called Digital Imagery will cover scanning & editing. The date is set for May 24, 2002. Again, people who are interested can register through HR.

Next meeting

The next WDUG meeting will be held in the Parliamentary Room, PSU 313, on May 17, 2002, at 3:30 PM.