draftCalifornia State University, Dominguez Hills

World-Wide Web Best Practices

 

The California State University, Dominguez Hills World-Wide Web (Web) site is a primary publisher of information about the University. This document provides a set of Web best practices that are intended to serve as a guideline to all University units engaged in the development and maintenance of Web resources. Created under the auspices of the executive director of Information Technology, the best practices are meant to facilitate consistent, reliable, and efficient deployment of Web services across the University. The document’s criteria should be viewed as baseline recommendations.

ADA Accessibility

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (Title II) requires a public college to “take appropriate steps to ensure that communications with [persons with disabilities] are as effective as communications with others” [28 C.F.R. ss 35.160(a)].

  • Many resources are available [see ADA Accessibility in the CSU Dominguez Hills Web Style Guide] and should be studied.
  • Use cascading style sheets.
  • Use an online evaluation (e.g., www.cast.org) to test a page’s compliance.

Web site requirements:

  • “What’s New” section

A living Web site contains news. Viewers will not return to a dead site. And make sure viewers can find the news!

  • Search engine or site map
    • Use a search engine for a large site (e.g., www.csudh.edu/), a site map for a fairly compact one (e.g., www.csudh.edu/infotech/).

o       Call the site map “site map”--not “map”--in order to distinguish it from a campus or Carson map.

  • Consistent navigation within the site

Navigation should be intuitive, predictable, and prominent (in the first screen of a page). Let viewers know where they are and where they can go from here.

  • Last update notation
  • Feedback mechanism
    • Use a simple "mail to" link, which opens up a blank mail message, usually addressed to the site manager.
    • Even better is a pull-down menu that lets users route their feedback to a specific place (site manager for content, webmaster for technical feedback).
    • Feedback should be acknowledged (automatic responses work well) and personally responded to in a timely fashion.
  • Return to the CSUDH home page
  • Consideration of the click
    • Usability studies indicate that a viewer wants to find his/her information within three clicks.
  • University location (address, department telephone number)
  • Avoid changing filenames
    • You can’t be sure where viewers enter your site, and some viewers may have bookmarked a page that has a new name. Post a pointer page at the old URL to redirect traffic to the new address.

Web page (a site contains one or more pages) requirements:

  • University seal or logo on official pages, no seal or logo on unofficial pages [see CSU Dominguez Hills Web Policies]
  • Ensure content is accurate, up-to-date, correctly spelled, and grammatically correct
  • A last update notation
  • A feedback mechanism [see above]
  • A return to the site’s home page
  • A return to the CSUDH home page
  • Consideration of the click

Meta-tag standards:

Create meta-tags for all of your HTML documents. The University site’s search engine as well as external search engines seek meta-tag keywords. See the CSU Dominguez Hills Web Style Guide for meta-tag guidelines.

Security information:

If your site accepts sensitive information such as social security or credit card numbers, include an explanation of your security protocol and an indication of when a transaction is secure.

Related policies and laws:

  • U.S. Government, Title 28--Judicial Administration, Chapter 1—Department of Justice, Part 35—Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Government Services

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/get-cfr.cgi?TITLE=28&PART=35&SECTION=160&YEAR=1999&TYPE=TEXT

References:

  • “Must Haves”, CIO Web Business Magazine, August 1998, http://www.cio.com/archive/webbusiness/080198_main_content.html
  • NASA World Wide Web Best Practices, http://nasa-wbp.larc.nasa.gov/
  • W3C: Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), http://www.w3.org/WAI/
  • The WWW Security FAQ, http://www.w3.org/Security/Faq/
  • Using Meta Data, http://www.state.oh.us/bestpr/metadata.htm

 

4 March 2003