• Brief History
• New Content and Infrastructure
• Innovations and Features Developed

Brief History

One year later after the first Internet connection of Turkey (TR-NET) was established in 1993 between METU, Ankara and NFS Washington DC, in 1994, the first METU-CWIS web pages of Computer Center within the scope of University web site was created.

Some technical infrastructure modifications have been made in 1997 and 1998 on METU-CC web pages and the visual design was renewed. Between 1999-2000, all the content and the graphical design of the pages were changed. The English and Turkish versions of web pages were introduced simultaneously.

As a result of the efforts undertaken after this period, the web site that is available today is introduced into service on April 15^th, 2002.

Samples from former METU-CC main web pages
New METU-CC web site home page

New Content and Infrastructure:

As in the previous years, the new METUCC web site is accessible at http://www.bidb.odtu.edu.tr (Turkish content) and at http://www.cc.metu.edu.tr (English content).

At the top of the site there are some main titles. Accessible under these main titles are some sub-titles in menus.

• About CC: This link aims to provide information about the services that CC offers and this is most useful and helpful for those occasional users who knows nothing about CC. The mission of CC, its history, organizational scheme, and information about CC administration can be found in detail on this link. Moreover, a CC Guide that introduces CC and its services; and CC Settlement Plan that shows the places where user services are made available under this link.
• Services: Direct links to those services, especially those concerning the end users (Newsgroups, Web Services, Licensed Software, CC Library, Electronic Lists, User Accounts, Print-out Service, PC Rooms, User Seminars, Consultancy Services etc.) are provided in the menu under this link.
• CC Groups: The links to the pages that introduce 7 groups of CC and the services that these groups provide can be found here. These groups are: Network Group, Administrative Support Group, Administrative Applications Group, Informatics Group, User Support Group, DNS Project Administrative Group and Infrastructure Support Group.
• Announcements: Users can access to the archives of announcements beginning from the year 1998. The links to current announcements are also available in this section.
• Site Map: This section lists all the main titles and sub-titles that are available in METU-CC web site. This site map may facilitate the navigation within CC web pages for most of the users.
• Contact Info: CC Contact Information, Departmental Computer Coordinators and ECS (Electronic Communication System) User Codes are accessible at this section.

At the left side, right side and in the middle of the pages, there are various titles, logos and tools with directly accessible links. All these features are accessible from every page visited within CC web site.

At the left side the following links are available;

• Computing & Networking Ethics link provides access to "METU Computing and Networking Resources Usage Ethics" text, which includes currently effective ethical norms, and regulations that users must obey when benefiting from CC services.
• ftp.metu.edu.tr link provides access to METU FTP Site for users that own a domain name with .tr extension.
• Job opportunities link provides access to current CC job announcements (if available). If they would like, the users may submit the job application form that is available on this site.
• Helpdesk logo provides a link to an interactive web site, which is available only to METU users. On this interactive site, users may convey the computing and networking problems they experience on METU systems.
• Virus Alert logo provides access to pages where information is available about current virus threats, the characteristics of available viruses and the precautionary measures that the users must take. General information about viruses and detailed information about antivirus software is also available at this section.
• Campus Technical Infrastructure logo provides access to a page where links are made available about campus wide local area network service and PC Rooms service of CC.
• Security Pages logo provides access to a web site prepared by Information Technologies Security Team within CC. The site itself provides links to various security announcements, articles, documentations, links to other sites, etc.
• CISN logo provides access to the main page of CISN electronic journal, which is prepared periodically by CC.
• Coordinators Page llogo provides access to web pages where CC communicates with and provides information for the Departmental Computer Coordinators.

At the right side the following links are available;

• Users can search CC and METU web pages, Telephone Directory, ftp.metu.edu.tr and Google search engine on the word basis.
• Direct access to Webmail and Student Affairs Information System is provided.
• Electronics and Computer Terms Dictionary yields English-Turkish entries according to the search word you provide.

In the middle the following links are available;

• Links to Current CC Announcements and CC Announcement Archive are provided.
• Direct links to various information technology news sites (currently available sites are NtvMsNbc.com, Slashdot, linux.ie) are provided.
• Access to a page where information technology sites are listed is also available.

The site design of new CC web pages aims to achieve a structure that will not delay the users' access to information. The information should be easily accessible and fast. Keeping that in mind, menus are utilized for allowing fast and easy access to links. The new site structure emphasizes the information given; therefore a system is built in the background to provide full (but not long and complex) up-to-date information. This system enables each CC Group to prepare and arrange the information about themselves on their own on the pages that belong to them. In other words, the content of the CC web site shall be developed with the cooperation and participation of all the CC staff. CC staff will be authorized to plan, decide and execute any modifications or additions to their pages.

Innovations and Features Developed:

The information technology news that are derived from various information technology news sites are provided on the main page of CC and these news pages are automatically updated. The news and information that are outdated are removed from the list, and latest news is displayed afresh on the main CC web page. A program available at the background periodically performs this daily update routine.

In a similar way, the "CC Announcements" listed at the top of News Section is displayed on the page until the expiry dates of the announcements. The announcements that expired are removed from the list. A similar program available at the background periodically performs this daily update routine.

In the new CC web pages, users can switch between Turkish or English content fast and easily as compared to the previous CC web pages. The buttons at the right side of every page, which provide links for either "Turkish" or "English" content, will instantly display the English or Turkish of the text that is displayed on the screen. This feature will hopefully be favorable a practical for those users who are experiencing problem with the native language.

Another feature added to the new web pages is the Feedback Form that is accessible from every page. Users can convey their opinions, suggestions, critical remarks and wishes about each page via the form link available at the end of every page they have visited within the site. All user opinions are evaluated seriously as they add tremendously to the development of site content and design.

Cihan Yıldırım