Web Guidelines & Templates

University Identification:

• Every official university web page should include clear identification of Mansfield University.  The preferred identification is to have the university logo &/or banner on each page.
  
  
• All logos and university symbols displayed should be the ones currently approved for use. Old logos should be replaced with current ones. Current approved logos and banners are available here.
  
  
• All top-level department pages must include contact information for the department, including address, phone, fax and email or a clearly visible link to that information.
  
  
• The main page of each departmental site should have an easily identifiable link back to the university's main page -www.mnsfld.edu. If using the MU banner, "HOME" provides the link back. If using the logo, create a hyperlink to www.mnsfld.edu. Subsequent dept. pages should always have a link back to the main department page.
  
  
• All sites must have a university employee designated as the person responsible for content, compliance with policies & laws, and maintenance (currency & accuracy of information).
  
  
• Each page must have an email address and/or link to the person or group responsible for the page and the date the page was last reviewed. The preferred method is a line below the logo at the bottom of the page which specifies the date the page was last reviewed as well as an email link to the person responsible for that review, i.e. Last Reviewed by Webteam on 02/14/2003 .
  
  
• All official sites must abide by copyright law and respect the intellectual property of others. For more information about copyright law, visit the Stanford U. site. Where appropriate official university pages should display the following: ©2001 Mansfield University of Pennsylvania. The html character code for the copyright symbol © is: ©
  
  

Page Specifics:

• Web pages should be free of spelling errors. We advise careful proofreading and the use of a spell-checker.
  
  
• For accuracy purposes, where official university information is present on the MU website, link to that information instead of recreating it on your page. (ie. link to the undergraduate catalog for course descriptions, etc. - the catalog is current and maintained by the Provost's office. If you are unsure about whether information is already available on the web, email the webteam.
  
  
• Pages must be free of non-working links. All links should be checked after the initial page upload and at regular intervals. Links can be checked manually or use a link checker (such as Netmechanic or Dr. Watson) to check the entire page.
  
  
• Pages should have a clear descriptive title within the <TITLE> tags. This title is what is displayed by search engines and user bookmarks. The use of keywords in <META> tags will facilitate search engines in finding your page. For more information on <META> tags, click here.
  
  
• Keep file size to a minimum to facilitate download time. The standard for acceptable download time is 30 seconds on a 28.8 modem. Netmechanic or Dr. Watson are two free online services that will measure and report download time, in addition to other useful information about your page.
  
  
• Always specify a font size and style. Don't use 'Default font' or 'Normal' - both are dependent on the user's browser settings. The first two layers of MU's site uses "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" as the font style. 
  
  
• Avoid using unusual font styles for text on your pages. If the font style is not on the user's computer, the browser will use a default font style and the user will not see the page as you created it. If you want to use an unusual font for a heading, etc, create the heading as a graphic. 
  
  
• The Hex value for the gold color used on these pages  is #FFCC33 and the RGB value is 255,204,51.
  
  
• The standard colors for links are blue for hyperlinks, purple for visited links, and red for active links. Adhering to the standard colors will facilitate the navigation of your site.
  
  
• All images should specify HEIGHT and WIDTH to facilitate efficient page download.
  
  

• The best way to insure accuracy and usability of a web page is to test it.  

  •  We recommend viewing each page with multiple browser types and versions as well as various platforms and monitor resolutions. A WebTV viewer is available at developer.msntv.net . 
  • The two free online services (Netmechanic and Dr. Watson) will report spelling errors, html errors, broken links and excessive download times.
  • Test each page with a text-only browser and an accessibility checker such as  Bobby.
    

Accessibility and Usability

Official pages should be viewable and usable by a broad
range of platforms, browsers, & equipment.  All pages 
should adhere to the Priority 1 requirements of the current
version of the W3C Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Some specifics issues:

Page width: Pages should be fully viewable on an 800x600 pixel
screen without horizontal scrolling. Therefore, defined table widths or
combined widths of images should not exceed 750 pixels. 

Browser compatibility: Essential information should be viewable in
browsers (Internet Explorer & Netscape) version 4 & higher.

Alternate text: To accommodate text-only browsers, all images should be accompanied by an ALT tag with descriptive text explaining the image. Spacing gifs, bullet, and other incidental images should use an empty ALT tag (ALT="").

Frames: If frames are used, add a <noframes> tag which links either
to the main content frame or to an alternative page.

Java and Javascript: Browsers used by the visually-impaired often
do not implement Java or Javascript. Be sure essential information is
not represented through Java or Javascript.