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MSE site features
Quick links menu
Certain information is needed frequently by users, and rather than force viewers to re-navigate deep into the site, a Quick links menu has been made available on each page. To request additions to this list, please e-mail the MSE Web Administrator.
Top level navigation
Information has been "sorted" based on the subject the viewer is seeking. The five headings in the red navigation bar above each expand to provide a menu of options within that heading. By simply clicking on the heading--for example the word "Alumni"--viewers are taken to a page with a listing of links within that section. These are the same links available if the cursor is held over the red bar heading and the menu is allowed to expand.
Secondary and tertiary navigation
The navigation menu on the left is an example of how one may navigate within a given section of the site. In this case the section is identified as "Department". The gray buttons show a list of subjects available within the section; indented links provide links within a given sub-section--in this case the "About" sub-section.
Tab order
A tab order has been assigned to a number of the top level links. Tabbing through these highlights the link and, by pressing the "enter" key, takes the viewer to that page. These are, in order:
- Quick links menu (use arrow keys to scroll through selection then press "enter" key to select)
- View button (to activate the selection from Quick links)
- Search box
- "Search MSE site" button to activate search
- Undergraduate top level link
- MS & Ph.D. top level link
- Alumni top level link
- Faculty & Research top level link
- Department top level link
- "The Ohio State University" (links to the OSU home page)
- "www.osu.edu" (also links to the OSU home page
- Banner image (press "enter" to return to dept. home page)
Accesskeys
Some web browsers support the use of "accesskeys" (sic). These allow access to designated links by means of key strokes: for PCs, ALT+accesskey; for Macs, CTRL+accesskey. For the MSE site the top level page for each of the subsections may be called up by using the following keys:
- u links to the Undergrad top level page
- m links to the MS & Ph.D. top level page
- a links to the Alumni top level page
- f links to the Faculty & Research top level page
- d links to the Department top level page
- s links to the Search options page
The accesskeys are designated by the underlined letter.
Misc. features
The search feature has been made prominent to aid in finding information.
A site map has been added to aid navigation. This is a hierarchical listing of the sections and topics within the site.
The banner image serves as a link back to the home page. Additionally, each primary section of the site (the red bar navigation sections) has a common banner image; i.e., all Department pages will have the same banner image. This provides a visual cue of where one is and when one leaves a section for another. The exception to this involves the individual faculty pages. The banner images for these pages come from the faculty member's research.
When a viewer chooses to print a screen, all navigation is removed from the printed document and the page content is displayed across the full page.
Viewers may now bookmark pages on the site. While far from innovative, the previous site was constructed with frames which displayed content pages within a "shell" hiding them and making bookmarking difficult at best.
The red and gray masthead at the top of the site helps to identify the MSE department with Ohio State. Additionally, each serves as a link to the OSU homepage.
A subtle distinction has been made on many of the links in the site. Those that include the words "go to" indicate a link that moves the viewer within the site; links that state "link to" indicate that a new window will be opened upon clicking; and links that state "view..." indicate a document that is to be downloaded. This naming system is not universal, but is used in many of the links.
Questions?
Please contact the MSE Web Site Administrator with any questions at (614) 292-7280 or e-mail the site administrator.
