Help Menu

General Information

This version of the English department web site was launched on Monday, August 11, 2003. Version History

Compatibility

The site is optimized to work with any CSS enabled browser, including Internet Explorer, Netscape 6+, Opera 6+, and most other modern browsers. Operating platform should be irrelevant.

This site is fully HTML transitional 4.01 compliant, which includes full Section 508 compliance.

A very few functions in this site use javascript, such as the "fine print" link on the bottom of every page. So javascript is a nice extra, but is not required for functionality.

Many courses use software called WebBoard, which does require primary cookies to be enabled for login purposes. Third party cookies are never used and can be disabled.

Navigation

Most of the navigation should be very straight forward; we tried to put information where it logically belonged.

Generally speaking, the primary navigation is listed horizontally near the top of the window.
Most areas also have secondary navigation areas, displayed horizontally just below the primary navigation, using a reversed color scheme.
Many areas also have tertiary navigation, which is listed vertically, normally on the left-hand side of the screen.

All links are designed to use a "hover" mouseover effect to make browsing easier.

On the top right hand side of each page, there are four main links:

• SiteMap

  The SiteMap is a convenient way to see the contents of the entire site at a glance.

• Search

  The Search function allows the user to search for a term or phrase in one of three locations:
  1. Inside the English Department web site
  2. In all of NIU
  3. Using one of several external search engines, such as Google (default and recommended)

• Contact

  The Contact link displays the office locations, phone numbers, and email addresses of the primary contact persons in the department.

• Help

  The page you're looking at right now ;-)

Overview of Site Design:

• Home

  The Home page contains an introduction to the department and displays any department wide announcements.

• Courses

  The Courses page contains the interface to the online course database, allowing users to search for and display courses in a variety of ways.
  The Courses page also contains links to WebConnect (a utility used by NIU for students to enroll in courses and for teachers to check course enrollment) and a link to NIUs online course schedule database.
  The Courses page also contains a link to Study Abroad programs and information.

• People

  The People page contains the interface to the online personnel database, allowing users to search for faculty, staff, and graduate students in a variety of ways. It also contains a link to the NIU online Phonebook.

• Graduate

  The Graduate page contains information about the graduate program, including information about applying to the programs, the M.A. program, the PhD program, the Certificate programs, and the Teacher Certification program.
  The Graduate page also has links to the graduate Handbook and EGSA, the graduate student organization in the department.

• Undergraduate

  The Undergraduate page contains information about the undergraduate program, including information about the Major, the Minor, the Honors program, and the Teacher Certification Program.
  The Undergraduate page also contains information about various scholarships available through the English department.

• FYCOMP

  The FYCOMP page contains information about the First Year Composition Program, including information about ENGL 103, ENGL 104, ENGL 105, the Chance program, and the ESL facilities.
  The FYCOMP page also contains links to information about contest and awards available through the department, and links to resources for teachers of Composition.

• Technology

  The Technology page contains information about some of the different ways that technology is incorporated in the department. It contains separate sections for the uses of technology in the Graduate, Undergraduate, and FYCOMP programs. It also contains links to some tutorials.
  Finally, the Technology page includes our categorized and (mostly) annotated list of and external web links.

• Organizations

  The Organizations page contains links to the three main organizations hosted by the department: EGSA, Sigma Tau Delta (the honors English Society), and STC (the Society for Technical Communication).

• Resources

  The Resources page links to the various units, programs, and departments that interact with the English Department on a regular basis.
  Some of this information, such as the links to Scholarships, Awards, Secondary English Teacher's Resources, Professional Writing, and Internships, are simply convenient collections of information available elsewhere in the web site.
  Some, such as the links to the ESL Center and the Writers' Workshop, are links to resource centers run by the English Department.
  And the others, such as the links to the Writing Center, the WAC program, Liberal Arts & Sciences External Programming, and the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, are links to external units with whom English faculty, staff, and students interact on a regular basis.

• More . . .

  The More . . . link contains information that did not fit anywhere else. It contains the link faculty and staff use to login to the departmental accounts, the link to the News and Announcements database, and a link to the "Links" section of the Technology page.

Questions?