This standard guides NYU communicators and marketers to the appropriate platforms for digital communications.
Background
NYU’s web topology is strategically oriented into a hierarchical organization of namespace. Unlike other universities that hew to a “subdomain-oriented” approach which results websites ranging from “biology DOT” to “chemistry DOT” and “bursar DOT”, the NYU web strategy (in concert with the Public Affairs business unit) has been to (a) bring all central administrative units into a single topically-oriented website (e.g., rather than bursar.nyu.edu we have https://www.nyu.edu/students/student-information-and-resources/bills-payments-and-refunds.html) and (b) tuck all school academic and administrative units under school namespaces (e.g., rather than chemistry.nyu.edu we have as.nyu.edu/chemistry).
Standards
Basic requirements for a web CMS solution include:
- Non-technical people can author web pages without the risk of breaking pages with faulty code.
- Branding, design, and accessibility standards can be enforced.
- Code and content can be used in a “write once, use many” fashion.
- Website and pages can be published in the nyu.edu namespace as per the NYU policy for Procedures for Registering and Managing Internet Domain Names Outside NYU.EDU
- Website and pages can be published an SEO-friendly fashion, e.g.:
- URLs are presented like school.nyu.edu/department/topic/issue.html rather than school.nyu.edu/node?=123/456
- Ancillary documents (e.g., PDFs and videos) can be uploaded into a Digital Asset Management system (DAM).
Tools
NYU’s primary web CMS’s:
- Adobe AEM
Central administrative units at NYU are required to be in the AEM-powered www.nyu.edu website with support from NYU IT. Other school websites powered by AEM are:- Gallatin
- Social Work
- Dental
- Tisch
- Arts & Science
- Graduate School of Arts & Science
- Liberal Studies
- NYU Abu Dhabi
- School of Professional Studies
- Drupal
Drupal has been chosen by several schools to power their websites, including:- Wagner
- Stern
- Nursing
- Law
- Liferay
Liferay currently powers the NYUHome portal. It is not recommended as a web CMS platform due to its lack of community at NYU.
Matrix
| Requirements | Adobe AEM | Drupal | WordPress (wp.nyu.edu) | Google sites | NYU Wikis (Confluence) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main purpose | Central administrative units, schools (and their academic and administrative departments) | Schools (and their academic and administrative departments), centers and institutes | Blogs, faculty sites, committee sites, individual sites. | Faculty sites, committee sites, individual sites. | Documentation, private sites. |
| Development skills needed | High | High | Low | None | None |
| Dev stack | Java | PHP | None required | None required | None required |
| NYU IT | Supported | Not currently supported, but some coordination likely in the future | Supported | Supported with vendor help | Supported |
| Customization possible | High | High | Medium | Low | None |
| Included in NYU Search | Yes | Yes | Not typically | No | No |
| Privatization | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Who can use these web CMSs?
A school webmaster can request their school move to Adobe AEM by emailing digital.communications@nyu.edu.
Drupal is not currently supported centrally, so a school desiring Drupal will have to resource that effort themselves.
We recommend using Acquia (acquia.com) as a Drupal hosting and management vendor.
Note: NYU IT is exploring a Drupal and Acquia web service.
How much does it cost?
NYU has a site license for Adobe AEM, so school sites may use AEM at no cost.
Drupal is a free, open-source CMS.