Technology Services

Making a Web Request

“To support and highlight the work of the Gustavus community by providing web-based tools and services.”

Submit a RequestRequest a Form

Common Types of Requests

Request Timeline

Your projects are important to us. We strive to reply to all requests within one business day, however, circumstances may arise that prevent a timely response. If you feel your request has been overlooked or hasn’t been adequately addressed, please don’t hesitate to contact us again.

Most minor text and image update requests are resolved within three business days. Access to edit existing websites can usually be granted in a similar time frame (if you are a student requesting access to a website, please have your supervisor/advisor email us prior to making the request). Online forms and many other requests are often handled within one week, although the size and complexity of some projects may require more time. It is always advisable to propose a deadline when making any request. We’ll do our best to meet it, or we’ll contact you with alternatives.

Requesting Online Forms

We built a system to simplify some of the more time-consuming and repetitive tasks that come with form creation. This system, aptly named “the form system,” helps us stay on top of the massive number of form requests we have received (1,000+ in recent years), while ensuring every form looks and functions the same way. The benefits of using a form system are hard to overstate, but there are downsides, and the primary detriment is flexibility. The form system does not offer complex logic, and it can’t create forms that replace multi-step processes. It excels at allowing us to create basic, but highly detailed forms—involving registration, data collection, online payment—quickly and consistently. We avoid forms that will require ongoing changes (they are easier to manage with Google Forms) and, with few exceptions, forms for campus events. If your form request does not fit the parameters of the form system, we will give you the following options:

Web Application Development

Our web application development schedule is normally set at least one year in advance. We can often adapt an existing system or tool to cover your needs, but occasionally your project will be rejected due to time and resource constraints. This isn’t necessarily the end for your request. If it’s feasible and you’d like us to add it to our web application development schedule (a year or two in the queue), we’d be happy to discuss it again. Since these projects are intensive and require ongoing maintenance, we prioritize projects that most closely reflect institutional priorities or those that we perceive will offer the most benefit to the most people. If your project is to automate a tedious office task that will free up your time, the answer will probably remain a firm “no” unless we can broaden your request and come up with a way to automate tedious office tasks for you and dozens of your colleagues.

Website Analytics

We use Google Analytics to provide detailed measurements of website traffic and performance. We can schedule basic reports be sent to your e-mail address on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. If you need to request a specific metric, let us know in advance in order to ensure we can provide it. We can also help you create customized URLs that will be tracked by Google Analytics whenever it is used (on websites, in e-mails, or shared via social media).

Banner Images

The large images that you see on many of our main sections (about, admission, academics, arts, etc.) are referred to as banner images. If you’d like a banner image on your site, we’d need at least one high-quality image that is no less than 1200×550 pixels—graphics made by the Marketing and Communication office are almost always acceptable. Although what constitutes a great photo may be subjective, we reserve the right to refuse any image that we deem unsuitable based on content, composition, lighting, color, focus, size, and overall quality. Basically, we are looking for only the best photography to showcase your website. One amazing image will serve you better than several mediocre ones! Also, we limit banner images to website homepages only in order to keep the mobile browsing experience fast and friendly. However, we do make exceptions for “destination pages,” which can be loosely defined as any page that receives a considerable amount of direct traffic through links, search engine queries, and other promotional materials.

Promotional HTML E-Mails

E-mails require design, creation, proofing, and testing. The process can take several days, and working it into our schedule requires more planning. If you’d like to send out a promotional e-mail, please have all of your materials (text, images, links, e-mail list) ready at least two weeks prior to your desired send date.