UF colleges, departments, centers, institutes, offices, and other campus units will be able to use pre-built templates that align with the updated UF brand. The templates will be flexible, and each editor can use use/hide modules within the template that are/are not applicable to them.

The Mercury theme templates will be available in multiple formats, so campus units can choose whether to use Terminal Four, WordPress multisite, or HTML to build their website.

These web templates will be available to colleges, departments, centers, institutes, offices, and other campus units. While the use of the Mercury theme is not mandated, their implementation is encouraged to protect the integrity of the UF brand.

Note: If the templates are implemented, each party will be responsible for the set-up, content creation / migration, launch, and maintenance of their own website.

Using the Mercury web theme is not required but strongly encouraged to retain brand continuity. The templates within the theme also meet current accessibility standards.

Colleges or departments that do not use a CMS will still be able to leverage the base tech stack (HTML, CSS, and JS) developed for the project templates.

Using the theme will not incur a cost, however, units may incur additional costs if they have an outside vendor implement the template for them or work on website assets such as copy, videos, images, etc.

Each college, department, center, institute, and administrative unit is responsible for installing their own template, migrating their content, setting up analytics and launching their own site.

SCM will work with the marketing agency to develop documentation that outlines:

• How the template should be installed and used
• Issues and bug fixes
• Specs for images, character limits, etc.
• Specs for each content module and how to update it

If users opt to use the Managed Service option, please contact UFIT Web Services. Users who are using the Self Service option are responsible for the installation of the Mercury theme and the website build. All the resources to get started can be found on the Self Service and Template Documentation sections of this page.

For brand-related questions, please contact SCM.

If a marketing agency/vendor is setting up the template for a UF client, the UF client is responsible for downloading the template files and documentation and sending that to the vendor.

It is not encouraged to modify templates so as not to disrupt brand continuity. Custom blocks and integrations can be made within the template if the base template does not meet a unit’s specific functionality needs.

Modifying the look of the templates or components with the intent of positioning them as the official UF templates or distributing them is prohibited. Templates or components cannot be modified in a way that misrepresents the UF brand identity or violates the UF Accessibility Policy. Agencies or vendors assisting any unit with setting up their official UF template are prohibited from using Copyright or Designed By [Vendor’s Name] language on the site or claiming the design as theirs in their portfolios.

It is not encouraged to modify templates so as not to disrupt brand continuity.

Modifying the look of the templates or components with the intent of positioning them as the official UF templates or distributing them is prohibited. Templates or components cannot be modified in a way that misrepresents the UF brand identity or violates the UF Accessibility Policy. Agencies or vendors assisting any unit with setting up their official UF template are prohibited from using Copyright or Designed By [Vendor’s Name] language on the site or claiming the design as theirs in their portfolios.

The self service option is for those on campus who have internal technical support from their own development staff or an agency, and who will not need ongoing support from UFIT Web Services. Self service clients will be able to have access to the Base Code Bundle (HTML, CSS and JavaScript files) and the WordPress templates for single site installation.

The UFIT hosted web content management option is for those on campus who would like to receive support from UFIT Web Services to set up their template instance. UFIT Web Services will only be supporting the TerminalFour and WordPress Multisite templates.

A recording of one of the information sessions can be viewed below. If there are additional questions, we encourage users to use the contact form on this page.

TerminalFour

UFIT will offer live Terminalfour training sessions for the UF community. Please continue to check the UFIT training calendar website to see scheduled training dates.

For additional information regarding the Mercury web templates, please visit the Brand Center.

WordPress

From October 2023 to March 2024, the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing (SCM) facilitated live WordPress training sessions with Stamats, the vendor that SCM and UFIT partnered with to create the new Mercury web templates.

If you missed those trainings, you can access one of the recordings here:

The Mercury form styling is not designed for use with the Orbital Theme. In the settings for Gravity Forms, select Default Form Theme instead of Orbital Theme. If the Gravity Forms 2.5 Theme can be chosen, choose that.

Additionally, in the Gravity Forms settings, make sure that Output HTML5 is turned on.

Yes. UFIT Web Services has developed a Design Kit that units may use to generate mockups prior to development. Note that this resource is only available to users with a GatorLink. Visit the Design Kit web page to learn more.