Web Guidelines
Draft - Web Policy
Guidelines for Writing for the Web
- Use ordered/unordered lists instead of paragraphs when possible. Limit your lists to ten or less.
- Write short, meaty paragraphs and put whitespace between them.
- Focus on one topic per paragraph.
- Include internal subheadings to make scanning easier.
- Use internal links to related topics instead of cramming too much information onto one page.
- Use you instead of I to connect with readers.
- Keep sentences short.
Avoid using ‘Page Under Construction’
- The simple rule is if your page isn’t ready, don’t put it on your website.
- Don’t tell visitors what you don’t have – focus on what you can do here and now.
- If the information is important to your website then put some brief useful information there. You can always go back later and add more.
- Better to have something than nothing at all.
- It’s part of the beauty of the web: You can change anything on your website at any time. Your website should never be finished.
Don’t say ‘Coming Soon’ without giving a date
- Not what you want to see on a web page
- These almost never have an indication of date, so what does soon mean: In the next few minutes? Next week? Next month? Next year?
- To the website visitor, ‘soon’ doesn’t mean anything without a context. So rather than ‘soon’, commit to a date and stick to it.
Content
Filenames
- Filenames should be descriptive but brief
- Consider readability when requesting a new filename.
- Filenames, including PDF filenames, may not contain spaces.
- Filenames are all lowercase and use hyphens or run the words together.
Tables
- Tables should only be used to organize tabular data on a webpage
- Tables are not used to control the layout of the page
Emphasis
- To emphasize a word or phrase
- bold is preferred
- italics is acceptable
- underlining, highlighting or CAPS is not acceptable
- Italics are used for emphasis or titles of published works, not for headings
- CAPS are used for acronyms (EOPS), and not for emphasis
Special ADA Considerations
Non-distinguishable links – The same link text cannot be used for links going to different destinations on the same page. Links with the same descriptive words, must go to the same place.
The following are examples of typical non-distinguishable links:
- Read more...
- Click here
- For more information...
Copyright
Individual campus units are required to comply with all federal copyright laws. Text, images, music, and video may not be placed on the Las Positas College website unless proper copyright permission is obtained. In addition, campus units are responsible for obtaining official releases from students, faculty, staff, speakers, etc. if photos are taken.
Security
All information on the Web server is searchable, and thus should be assumed visible to the public. Confidential information must not be uploaded to University websites.
Collection of sensitive information, including but not limited to social security numbers, credit card information, and other personally identifiable information, is prohibited.
Content Maintenance
All content on the Las Positas College website must reflect current information. Monitoring of accuracy and currentness is the sole responsibility of each department for their respective content areas.
Archive Content
Las Positas College websites are not to be used for storing or archiving old web pages and files, particularly those whose content is time-sensitive.
All campus units are required to review and update content at least once per semester. One primary goal of this review is to remove such outdated content from the site.
If a department needs to reference past content as part of the current site, the site owner should create new content that provides proper context and reference to the information rather than simply leaving outdated pages or files in their original form.
The College may periodically require the relocation or removal of such outdated content to adhere to best practices.