Rhody Connect is the official mobile app for the University of Rhode Island. Rhody Connect integrates with all of the university’s major information systems and provides an interactive mobile campus experience for current and prospective students, faculty, staff, and visitors. Guided by the URI Mobile App Advisory Committee, the ITS Innovation Group helps manage the app brand, user experience (including navigation and content hierarchy) and notifications.

This document has been developed to aid stakeholders, to familiarize support team members with the best practices, and to help ensure that users have a positive experience when viewing and interacting with the app.

Screens

It is recommended to use the Collage Template only. This template incorporates functionality of the other templates with the additional ability to apply some customization.

Branding

All screen content must make proper use of the URI brand, as laid out in URI Brand Visual Standards Guide and What Are the Qualities of a Branded Web Page? Any exceptions must undergo the branding approval process. This will be coordinated through the development and implementation cycle with ITS.

Accessibility

Follow the accessibility guidelines delineated in What Are the Qualities of a Branded Web Page? Additionally:

  • Text size should be easy to read
  • There must be sufficient contrast between foreground colors (text and graphics) and background colors to accommodate low vision and colorblind users
  • Images and user interface elements must include a text component to accommodate screen reading software

Content

  • Use language your audience will understand
  • The less copy the better – keep your message clear and concise
  • Condense paragraphs into bullet points when possible
  • Use headings to break content up into sections
  • News and events should be relevant to the user/persona
  • News and events should be timely, not evergreen
  • Events must have a date, time, and location

Images and Banners

The Modo Labs platform always retains the original, full-resolution image, and will use it to re-generate the scaled versions if the scaling parameters or page templates are modified in the future, or when server caches are cleared as part of server maintenance. For this reason, it is generally best to upload relatively high-quality, high-resolution images and trust the platform to resize and re-optimize them as needed.

  • Images should be used to help the user navigate and understand content
  • Do not use images purely for decoration
  • Ensure URI has permission to use the photo or graphic
  • File size: between 500KB and 2 MB
  • Formats: PNG, JPG (high-quality JPG recommended)
  • Minimum size: 800px wide (1200px or higher for full-width images) 
  • Maximum file size: 2 MB

Forms and Buttons

  • Keep forms simple — include only the fields that are absolutely necessary
  • Use short names for buttons
  • Button names should indicate the action performed by tapping the button, e.g., “Sign Up”, “Apply Now”, “Request Information”, “Purchase Tickets”
 

Live-Publishing Event Agendas via Google Spreadsheet

We use CSV-formatted Google Spreadsheets as the live data source for event agendas. This allows you to update data in real time, and see changes reflected on your site or app without needing to upload any files to the production environment.

  1. Create a new Google Spreadsheet
  2. Populate the spreadsheet with the following columns and headings:
    • Title
    • Date (Format: mm/dd/yy)
    • Start (Format: hh:mm)
    • End (Format: hh:mm)
    • Track (For filtering, e.g., to give users the ability to select events just for students or just for parents)
    • Location (Must match the placemark name in the Map data source. To verify, enter the location on the search bar on https://university-rhode-island-prod.modolabs.net/rhodyweb/map/. Adjust as necessary to return the correct location in the map.)
    • Description

    The order in which the columns are specified is not significant, but the column names are significant and must match the above naming.

  3. Enter your agenda data
  4. Click the File menu
  5. Select Share, then Publish to Web. Make sure Link is underlined.
  6. Click Entire Document and select the sheet that contains your data
  7. Click Web page and select Comma-separated values (.csv)
  8. Click Published content & settings and make sure “Automatically republish when changes are made” is checked
  9. Click the Publish button, then OK
  10. You’ll see a URL for the published file. Copy that link and send it to your Rhody Connect Admin, who will enter it as the data source in the Modo Admin Console.
  11. You can return to the Google Spreadsheet at any time to update data. Published files update automatically whenever a change is made in the original file, so your data source will automatically have access to the new data within approximately 15 minutes.

Notifications and Messages

Please refer to the Guide to Rhody Connect Notifications document for more information.

  • Message content should be relevant to the user/persona
  • Message quantity should be kept to a minimum
  • GPS geofences can be created to send notifications to users at specific locations and should link to screen content for additional information
  • Updates to the app should be messaged to the user only when a significant addition or change is made.
  • Updates to screen content should not be messaged to the user unless a critical change has been made
  • News and events should be relevant to the user/persona
  • News and events should be timely, not evergreen
  • Events must have a date, time, and location
 

View Rhody Connect in a Browser

It is possible to view all of the Rhody Connect pages as HTML5 in your browser. However, the page layouts are all optimized for mobile devices. Use Device Mode in your browser to reformat the page to simulate the mobile user experience.