University of Rochester
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About Our Design

The University of Rochester hompepage was designed and developed by the University Web Group in conjunction with University Publications Services. The goals of the design are:

  1. To provide more space on the homepage for dynamic content (changing images, updated University news and spotlight features)
  2. To create a more consistent navigational scheme that would allow visitors to find information more easily across all the University schools and divisions
  3. To use standards and validation to ensure that our pages are accessible to users with disabilities and that they conform to a growing set of Web standards that are being increasingly adopted by modern Web browsers.

The new design (first launched in January 2004 and revisited in December 2005) validates to XHTML 1.0 Transitional and uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to separate the content of the page from its presentation. That makes the page much more accessible to visitors using screen readers and other Web-enabled devices, such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and cell phones. This approach also makes it much easier to maintain and update the look of the site going forward.

Because of these benefits, we decided to move forward into the realm of standards and CSS for this redesign. However, a small percentage of users with older browsers (specifically, Netscape 4 and Internet Explorer 4 or below) may experience some problems with the design and look of the site.

Why upgrade?

We certainly do not wish to alienate our visitors who use older browsers. We did ensure that all the content on the site is available to them, and that the site itself is usable and meaningful when viewed in older browser versions. However, in order to see the site as it was truly designed, we recommend that these visitors update to a more recent browser version.

Updating your browser is free and easy. And as more and more Web sites adopt Web standards, your online experience will be greatly improved by a browser that supports them. Use the links below to upgrade to a standards-compliant browser, and find out what you've been missing! And for more information about Web standards and why you should upgrade your browser, visit the Web Standards Project.