Every UAB website has latitude for creativity, but several elements are essential to effective branding and efficient user experience:
Header
At the very top of UAB websites, you'll see a full-width green bar with the UAB logo. This bar is standardized for any website hosted by UAB, whether on Joomla or WordPress.
Below the green bar, both the Joomla and WordPress templates include the site's title set in HTML text with an optional secondary title below. Having the site's name in HTML text helps site visitors who use screen readers or other assistive technology better understand the page content. The text for the website title and secondary title are editable, but the positioning is consistent across all UAB websites. The title will also stay the same across all pages of your website.
On Joomla websites, a search bar and a pre-determined UAB Quicklinks dropdown menu will be displayed in the top right corner on desktops and within the search icon on mobile. The search input box is populated by either a site-level search or a custom search where requested and/or applicable. WordPress sites do not require the UAB Quicklinks dropdown menu, and a search bar can be placed by the site admin in the position they choose.
Joomla Header
WordPress Header
Standardized Footer
All UAB-hosted website footers, whether Joomla or WordPress, must be the pre-built, standardized footer. This footer contains a UAB Logo, text-only link, links to our Privacy website and Terms of Use, and our copyright. There is also an Equal Opportunities statement required by law.
There are three color options for the standardized footer on any UAB-hosted Joomla website and one color option for the standard footer on any UAB-hosted WordPress website. You can preview these options below.
Smoke Grey Footer
Joomla and WordPress
UAB Green Footer
Joomla only
White Footer
Joomla only
Fonts
The UAB logo uses the Proxima Nova font. However, please bear in mind that all logos, wordmarks, taglines, and anything else that is presented near the UAB monogram should be created by University Relations.
If you would like to produce other materials that use Proxima Nova and you are an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber, you can add this font to your workflow by syncing it to your computer via Adobe Typekit. Ask your IT support staff for details. If you do not have access to Adobe Creative Cloud, you can license the typefaces directly from Adobe.
UAB websites use Proxima Nova and Kulturista, which are available in Adobe Typekit or licensed from Adobe as described above.
Note: Fonts carry license agreements just like any other software. As such, we cannot make them available for download.
Proxima Nova
Thin (font-weight: 100)
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Regular (font-weight: 400)
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Semibold (font-weight: 600)
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Bold (font-weight: 700)
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Kulturista
Light (font-weight: 300)
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Medium (font-weight: 400)
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Semibold (font-weight: 600)
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Colors
The official university colors are green and white, with gold traditionally used as an accent color. Learn more about our UAB colors in the Brand Basics section of this Toolkit website.
Accessibility
All UAB sites should follow the web accessibility guidelines we've outlined in the Accessibility section of this website. Review our Web Accessibility Overview page to learn more about these standards and guidelines.
FAQs
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Why do I need UAB branding on my website?
According to university web policy, all UAB websites are required to meet minimum brand standards. UAB branding communicates our image and identity; and proper branding affects our ability to recruit and retain the best students, faculty, and staff. Additionally, UAB branding ensures that audiences are able to easily associate your work or services with the university.
UAB's Web team is charged with maintaining an online strategy with a clear set of best practices to simplify access, navigation, and search; promote high-quality web design; incorporate social networking; and uphold security. Web content hosted on UAB platforms is copyright of UAB. Additionally, UAB website footers always include necessary legal disclaimers.
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What can I change/alter on my UAB website?
If you are using a UAB-hosted website, it must remain within UAB's brand standards outlined above. But as the manager of your UAB website, you have creative control over content, layout, navigation, user experience, etc. and may alter your site's:
- Copy
- Navigation / menu items
- Images
- Page design and layout
If you are building out a UAB Joomla website, you can find more information for support and training on page updates on https://www.uab.edu/toolkit/web/joomla. This training can help you feel more comfortable and confident implementing different page layouts and design features on your website.
To learn more on building out pages and content on a UAB WordPress website, go to https://www.uab.edu/toolkit/web/wordpress. WordPress also has great options and opportunities to customize your page layouts and give your site a custom and modern user experience design.
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What can I not change/alter on my UAB website?
Because UAB websites are required to meet the brand standards listed above, some elements of the page cannot be altered. These elements include:
- Header at top of page*
- Footer at bottom (includes required UAB logo, Privacy, Terms of Use, Copyright, and Equal Opportunities statement)
- Fonts
- Colors
Additionally, altering the website's CSS to override required branding is not permitted.
*Special initiatives comprised of multiple, non-UAB entities may be allowed to remove UAB branding from the header, though branding will be maintained in the footer. These special instances will be evaluated by University Relations' Digital Strategy and Marketing team on a case by case basis. Please email Annee Cook, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., about custom branding options for your website.
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May I use UAB branding on a personal, non-UAB website?
Launching a personal website presenting as an official UAB website is never permitted. To ensure authenticity and eliminate public confusion, only true sites hosted by UAB may feature UAB's brand elements. UAB funds cannot be used to launch unofficial or official websites outside of UAB approved vendors.
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Is there an alternative to having the green bar at the top of my UAB website?
Special initiatives comprised of multiple, non-UAB entities may be allowed to remove UAB branding from the header, though branding will be maintained in the footer. These special instances will evaluated by UAB Web team on a case by case basis. For these exceptions, a neutral grey UAB branded footer (below) may be used.
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How do I change the color of the required footer on my Joomla website?
This is a template change that requires super-admin access in Joomla, so our web team will need to change that for you. Not a problem! Just use the Web Support form at https://go.uab.edu/websupport and request the color be changed to one of the three options listed on this page.
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What if I don't think my website should be UAB branded?
According to university web policy, all UAB websites are required to meet minimum brand standards. If the website is hosted on a UAB platform, UAB branding will be integrated by default. Websites for programs, projects, initiatives, studies, or campaigns supported by UAB funds -including 3rd party awarded funds - are still required to be UAB hosted and branded.
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How can I keep the content on my UAB website accessible?
Please see our Accessibility Guidelines and Resources page on our Toolkit website for more information on UAB's standards for web accessibility.
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What are the branding parameters for sites built on the uab.edu domain but not within the UAB Joomla or WordPress platforms?
Non-Joomla or WordPress sites built on the uab.edu domain require special approval from UAB's Web teams\ prior to building. If approved, these sites must include the current university logo and avoid violating any UAB brand standards. Once built, the site must be reviewed and approved by UAB's Web team prior to launch to ensure branding is acceptable.