Web Development Blog

CSS From the Ground Up

2009-10-13T15:26:50-06:00

We've been doing a lot of layouts in CSS recently ... which is simultaneously good and bad. Good, because CSS is an incredibly powerful mechanism for doing layouts and managing site-wide style. Bad, because CSS is incredibly temperamental and...

Shameless Plug: Function Web Design Free Icon Set

2009-08-04T11:03:35-06:00

We've been using the Function Web Design icon setfor some of our internal facing web applications. I have never been at a loss for iconography when I turn to their series of 128 well-designed PNGs. Thanks, Function Web Design....

Google Analytics: Follow-Up

2009-06-18T11:03:37-06:00

Our team has finished the changes to the way that Google Analytics reports site statistics. When you log in to Google Analytics now, you will see new sub-profiles underneath the profile "http://colum.edu UA-534393-20". There should be a new sub-profile that...

Google Analytics Changes

2009-05-13T13:24:17-06:00

Many people have emailed us requesting access to Google Analytics so that they can view the metrics associated with their portion of our site. As a department, we couldn't be happier that people are taking an interest in objectively reviewing...

Our New CMS / How Columbia Will Proceed

2009-05-07T11:20:21-06:00

After demoing dozens of content management systems and showing 4 of their finalists to our CMS users, Columbia College Chicago has selected Hannon Hill's Cascade Server. The Web Development department is now in the process of installing the software, transitioning...

Replacing Serena Collage: F.A.Q.

2009-01-04T14:05:18-06:00

There have been lots of questions about our migration away from our content management system (hereafter abbreviated CMS) Serena Collage and what that means to all the Collage users at Columbia. We would like to answer some of those questions...

Attractive, Functional Image Galleries with Lightbox

2008-05-08T14:05:45-06:00

In an effort to give the web developers at Columbia College Chicago tools that make their jobs easier while providing the end users with a useful site, we've launched a script that allows you to include elegant, easy-to-browse image galleries...

ShortUr is in place

2008-02-17T10:45:04-06:00

The new short URL service "shortUr is in place, and has supplanted "shorty" as the best way to create share-able web addresses for print or email campaigns. The venerable "shorty" service will be disabled by March 21, 2008. If you...

Shorty -> Shortur

2008-01-17T11:35:32-06:00

Bryan Zera has nearly finished testing the new "short URL" tool that will replace shorty, and will be contacting folks around campus for feedback on the new system. If you're a heavy Shorty user, please contact us so we can...

New Staff

2007-12-17T11:16:17-06:00

We're pleased to announce two new staff to the Web Development group: Josh Lefley and Bryan Zera. Josh has accepted the mantle of "CMS Administrator" and will be building and maintaining the Columbia's Collage content management system (that's what lets...

CSS link styles

2007-01-26T13:47:08-06:00

We're experimenting with a few new icons for links in the CMS: allegro.colum.edu - links to the intranet. google.com links that open in a new window. links to PDF files. These styles will automatically be applied to all pages that...

New RSS Parsing - SimplePie

2007-01-08T17:07:05-06:00

MagpieRSS has trouble working with high-ascii characters, so we've switched to SimplePie for displaying RSS feeds from within our web site. Example:

Shorty

2006-10-30T16:36:46-06:00

UPDATE: Please note that shorty has been replaced by ShortUR. A modified version of Shorty (http://get-shorty.com/) has been installed at http://www2.colum.edu/go/ to allow our web authors to create short URLs on demand. For example, the Admissions web author may need...

Mail Archiver for OS X users

2006-08-20T11:56:23-06:00

OS X users may find this useful: a program to archive your old email messages for posterity. Mail Archiver X...

Schoolhouse

2006-08-16T09:04:03-06:00

Students may find Schoolhouse useful: sort and organize your assignments, exams, and projects; publish your assignments to the web automatically for anyone to subscribe to; graph your GPA; calculate your final grade; and more -- plus it's free!...