Build on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln brand
The public identity of each department is strengthened by a strong association with the UNL brand. Very few units at UNL can afford to build their own recognizable brands.
The entire university community helped to design it
All students, faculty, staff and alumni were invited to provide feedback on the template design.
Benefit from the work of others
There are over 150 members of the UNL Web Developer Network dedicated to the continuous improvement of the UNL website. The template is on the cutting edge of accessibility, code compliance and design and by using the template you leverage the expertise of the entire university's resources.
Make your web page accessible to everyone
The law requires us to be accessible. Using the template according to the guidelines is the easiest way to achieve the highest standards for accessibility. It is in Triple-A conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as formulated by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
Keep up with the latest advances
The template is future-proof. Not only is it compliant with accessibility requirements, it's constructed of valid code. Browsers are becoming less tolerant of errors in the HTML and CSS code that makes up a web page. UNL's is done according to Hoyle.
Easy access to the online calendar
The easiest way to publish a calendar online is through events.unl.edu, and that calendar is in the templates. The UNL templates include a mechanism that allows your unit to display its upcoming events as a feed out of the UNL calendar.
Benefit from the recognition of the template design
Sites based on the templates have won awards (Admissions, specifically) and other major research universities have noticed our work and are developing sites heavily influenced by our site.
Oh, and because Harvey said so.
References:
Personal email from Robert Crisler, UNL Webmaster, December 2006
