This handbook is for CAES and UGA Extension website liaisons who collect and prepare web content for submission via OIT’s online intake form for websites under the centralized website management model. This handbook explains your responsibilities and how to request website changes.
Quick start guide for web liaisons
Web liaison role: Content Partner + Point of Contact
A web liaison serves as the connection between your department and the CAES Web Team.
Why the change to centralized website management?
- Improve consistency across CAES websites
- Strengthen accessibility compliance
- Provide better support for departments
- Create a more sustainable approach to website maintenance
What is changing?
- All updates are submitted through a request system
- The CAES Web Team publishes all website updates
What is staying the same?
- Departments still own their content
- Departments remain responsible for accuracy of information
- Departments identify needed updates
- Departments provide subject-matter expertise
What you are responsible for [Full role and responsibilities list]
- Completing required training
- Submitting website update requests
- Coordinating content approval within your department
- Ensuring content is complete and accessible before submission
- Serving as the main contact for web-related communication
What you are NOT responsible for
- You do not directly edit or publish websites
- You do not manage site design or technical structure
How to request updates [Full instructions]
- Prepare final approved content
- Include alt text for images and create accessible documents
- Submit via the Web Team intake form
- CAES Web Team completes the update (typically 3 to 5 business days for routine requests)
Accessibility reminder
All web content must meet CAES accessibility standards. If you need help, contact caesweb@uga.edu before submitting your request.
How centralized web management works at CAES
CAES uses a centralized website management model to ensure consistency, accessibility, and long-term sustainability across all college websites. The CAES Web Team is responsible for implementing and maintaining all official CAES websites and subsites, including departmental, unit, center, and program/initiative sites.
Under this system:
- The Web Team manages publishing, formatting, and technical updates
- Content updates are submitted through a centralized intake process
- Accessibility and technical standards are applied consistently across all sites
Departments remain responsible for providing accurate, approved content, but do not publish directly to websites.
Read more about the CAES transition to the centralized model.
Your role as a web liaison
What is a web liaison?
A web liaison is the primary point of contact between your department or unit and the CAES Web Team for website updates, requests, and communication. Each department designates one or more web liaisons to coordinate website content and serve as the department’s representative throughout the website update process.
Think of the web liaison as the bridge between your department and the CAES Web Team. You gather approved content, coordinate reviews when needed, and submit requests so the Web Team can implement updates.
Departments continue to own and approve their website content, while the CAES Web Team manages publishing and technical implementation.
Web liaison responsibilities
Content
- Coordinate website updates within your department
- Gather and submit accurate, approved content
- Review your website regularly to keep content current
Communication
- Serve as your department’s primary contact for website requests
- Coordinate content reviews and approvals
- Communicate priorities and questions with the CAES Web Team
Accessibility
- Help ensure submitted content follows accessibility best practices
- Provide alternative text for images and accessible documents when applicable
- Complete required accessibility and web training
Quality advocate
- Submit complete website update requests through the CAES OIT Work Requests form
- Review completed updates and notify the Web Team if any revisions are needed
- Share feedback that helps improve the website update process
What you are NOT responsible for
Web liaisons do not need to edit or publish websites directly. You don’t need to know HTML, coding or web design. You don’t need to manage website infrastructure or technical issues.
Your role is to help ensure your department’s content is accurate, approved, and ready for publication while partnering with the CAES Web Team to maintain a high-quality web presence.
Training requirements
Before submitting website update requests, web liaisons must complete the required accessibility and web training. You will receive instructions from a member of the CAES Web Team when it is time to begin training.
We also encourage you to review the Prerequisite Knowledge section below to become familiar with web content standards, accessibility requirements, and the website update process.
Prerequisite knowledge
Digital accessibility ensures that all users, regardless of ability, can access and interact with content online. Compliance with federal regulations is required by April 24, 2027 for CAES and UGA Extension.
To assist with compliance, all designated website liaisons should understand the basics of digital accessibility:
Digital Accessibility Handbook
Our handbook offers resources, training, and best practices to help CAES and UGA Extension personnel meet ADA and WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards.
Accessibility Training Courses and Webinars
Sign up to participate in a self-paced course, an upcoming online webinar, or an accessibility topic discussion.
Use this checklist to ensure your content is ready to submit:
- Content has been reviewed and approved
- The information is intended for the website
- Images include alternative text
- Attached documents are accessible
- The request includes the page URL and desired changes
PDFs are convenient for formatting for print, but they aren’t ideal for digital distribution. If the content is distributed digitally, content managers should be aware that making PDFs accessible requires extra effort.
Read our Guidelines for using PDFs before deciding whether to include a PDF on your website. There are alternatives!
If you must include a PDF, the self-paced PDF Accessibility Course is required:
Self-Paced PDF Accessibility Course
This self-paced course is available to all CAES and UGA Extension faculty and staff. If you plan to distribute digital PDF documents on a website, by email, over social media, or any other digital means, this is a required course.
When producing web content, CAES and UGA Extension experts are expected to:
- Establish authority with content backed by research and a strong brand reputation
- Write quality web content that builds trust and credibility with our audience
- Ensure web content is accurate, informative, and easy to understand
- Produce digital products (i.e. videos, podcasts, PDFs) that meet ADA Title II compliance requirements
Start here:
Resources from the Office of Marketing and Communications:
We use DubBot to scan our CAES and UGA Extension websites and to identify potential web issues such as accessibility barriers, broken links, spelling errors, and content quality concerns. DubBot identifies and reports these issues, but it does not fix them automatically. Web liaisons should submit corrections based on DubBot’s findings through the Web Team intake form or using DubBot tasks.
If you are a web liaison and don’t have a DubBot account, please contact us at caesweb@uga.edu.
It’s important to find the right balance between creating visual impact and still putting together a fast and user-friendly web experience.
Whether you take your photos or use stock images, be sure to select high-quality, relevant images that align with your brand’s message and target audience. Comply with any copyright terms and conditions if you use photos that are not your own. Also, have a signed likeness release consent form for images (or video) featuring a person.
Image resources:
Optimizing images for the web
Our ready-to-use image templates in CAES Canva for Teams make sizing images to the appropriate resolution and dimensions for your website incredibly simple.
Canva website image templates:
Currently, we recommend using the JPG format for photographs with PNG files being used only if needed for logos. Ultimately, images on your website should never be larger than 500KB in file size.
Help articles:
Well-chosen images can enhance your web pages and reinforce your message, but search engines cannot interpret images. Alternative text for images provides text for search engines to crawl and improves the accessibility of your website.
Each image you submit should include a concise description (under 120 characters).
Any video or audio file published on CAES and UGA Extension websites must be made accessible to those with disabilities. We recommend YouTube as a video host.
- Best practices for video and audio accessibility
- Closed captioning and posting videos to CAES and Extension YouTube channels
YouTube channels:
Instructions for submitting updates
Step One: Compile updates or new content
As a designated website liaison, you may be responsible for compiling or producing web content for your website. It is important to gather all content before submission.
Examples of website update requests include:
- Editing existing page content
- Adding or replacing images
- Uploading a new or revised PDF
- Creating or removing a page
- Updating links
Examples of project work include:
- New sections
- Large content restructures
- New functionality
- Complex accessibility remediation
Step Two: Submit via intake form
Faculty and staff designated as web content liaisons will submit content updates for an existing website via the CAES OIT Web Team Work Requests form.
To submit your request:
- Enter your name, email, and associated office/unit/department name
- Choose Timely Support Request
- Select the urgency of your request
- Check the box labelled Website content updates
- Enter your website URL (the address of a specific webpage or online resource)
- Next, tell us about your update request (and/or you can attach Word docs, images, screenshots, etc. that will explain your request)
- Finally, click the Submit button
Step Three: Updates processed by OIT Web Support
Once your website update request is received, it will go into our ticketing queue. Most routine requests are completed within 3 to 5 business days. Requests requiring additional review, coordination, or remediation will be scoped as project work with a timeline provided.
Contact
The CAES Web Team is here to help you! Contact us with your questions.