Stand-alone websites and items of web content
Advisory
The information on this page does not apply to websites on University-supported web editing platforms, such as T4 and ELE, as those sites are not 'stand-alone'.
It also does not apply to websites created by a third-party and then passed to any of the following teams to oversee or maintain:
- Digital
- the Digital Team
- the Digital Learning Team
- the Design Studio
- IT Services
- FX Plus
- Business Technology Services
Introduction
A stand-alone website is a University site which was created by a third-party without the oversight of one of the University's technical teams (refer to Advisory for a list of technical teams).
Typically, stand-alone sites are commissioned by research groups to communicate research activity, but they may also be used in other contexts. Once built, the content is usually updated by a member of that group, while the site hosting and any changes to overall design are managed by a third party.
Stand-alone websites may also be 'inherited'. This happens when the site was originally created as part of another organisation, but the group responsible for it has subsequently become part of the University.
Regulatory compliance
University websites must comply with accessibility regulations if their production was funded, developed or controlled by the University.
Third-party-created content is only exempt from the regulations if none of those three conditions applies.
Stand-alone websites are therefore within regulatory scope.
Responsibilities of the website owner
The technical support teams don't have capacity to provide accessibility assistance for websites that they haven't commissioned or built. In these cases it is therefore the responsibility of the site owner to ensure that this is provided through other means.
The website owner will need to:
- become familiar with web accessibility legislation.
- arrange for someone with an appropriate skillset to design and edit the website in accordance with regulatory requirements.
- ensure that the launched site has an accessibility statement.
- provide for ongoing reviews and maintenance in order to maintain compliance.
- monitor for any regulatory changes.
- arrange for any redesign that may be necessary as a result of regulatory changes.
- respond to any audit communications and resolve issues identified by auditors within the given timeframe.
Leaving the University
Site owners should also ensure that their sites are handed over to a new owner, communicating these responsibilities, before leaving the University. If no new owner is designated, this responsibility will default to the former site owner's line manager until the role has been reassigned.
Guidelines for stand-alone websites
There are no practical training materials here for editors of stand-alone websites because these websites are, by their nature, on unsupported platforms. However, the following set of broad guidelines provides a general overview of aspects to be aware of in different contexts.
- If editing a stand-alone website, refer to Guidelines A: Editing a stand-alone website.
- If you will be creating an item of web content (e.g. a document or video) to upload to a stand-alone website, refer to Guidelines B: Creating an item of web content using a third-party application.
- If commissioning a third party to:
- create a stand-alone website, refer to Guidelines E: Commissioning a third party to create a website.
- create an item of web content (e.g. a document or video), refer to Guidelines F: Commissioning a third party to create an item of web content.
- create a stand-alone website, refer to Guidelines E: Commissioning a third party to create a website.
- If procuring a third-party application for the purpose of producing items of web content (e.g. documents or videos) to use on a stand-alone site, refer to Guidelines D: Procuring a third-party application to produce items of web content.
