Web Coding Standards

The template HTML validates using XHTML 1.0 transitional. For more information about XHTML, see:

• New York Public Library Online Style Guide XHTML benefits
• W3C recommendation

The XHTML and CSS coding included with the Web template pages follows standards developed by the W3C and University policies such as the Publishing Information on the World Wide Web and Accessibility of Information Technology.

Units should code their pages based on these standards, policies, and best practices.

XHTML tools

The transformation from HTML to XHTML can be made easier by using conversion tools available in many software packages. Software that will help you convert to XHTML includes:

• Dreamweaver—an XHTML conversion extension can be downloaded for use with Dreamweaver.
• BBEdit
• TextMate

Page titles

Page titles are used for naming the browser window and also display as the link to your pages in search results. Page titles should be clear and consistent and include reference to the specific material on the page. The templates use the following convention (with appropriate modifications based on unit structure): "Page Name : Unit Name : University of Minnesota." The period is included to indicate to a screen reader that it is the end of a phrase.

Accessibility note: The page title is the first thing a screen reader user hears when they come to your site. Make sure your pages have unique titles.

Metadata

Metadata is used to describe the information on your site. It should capture the who, what, when, where, why, and how of your data to enable search engines and preserve the usefulness of your data over time. Proper use of metadata should also facilitate any future move into UMContent (the University's supported content management system).

Below are the current metadata attributes included in the template coding. Information about standardized metadata is available from the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, with specific metadata descriptions available at Dublin Core Metadata Terms.

• "author"—used to designate the author; typically the University unit publishing the site.
• "content-type"—indicates the type of data sent to the browser. It is used by browsers to know what to do with the data that they receive.
• "description"—used to describe the contents of the page. Sometimes used as a summary for the page in search engines.
• "keywords"—used for keywords that are in the page or related to the page content. Occasionally used by search engines to rank pages in search results.

Note: Developers should not use the same "description" and "keywords" tags on all pages of a site. These are unique identifiers that help search engines to properly catalog individual pages.

For more information, see Metadata in Coding Comments.

Page body

The HTML examples of the templates use various coding techniques to achieve different layouts. To aid in accessibility, University Web designers are encouraged to use heading tags appropriately [see Accessibility].

Many best practices for Web sites can be attributed to accessibility. The Web Accessibility Standards page on the University's AIT Web site is a good place to begin. Other best practices include:

• Label links clearly. For example, a link that goes to a page titled Resources should use the word "resources" as all or part of the link name instead of something like "click here for more information."
• Label downloads appropriately. Specify the type of file and the file size for any download. For example: Download the Driven to Discover Brand Guidelines (960 K PDF).

Template coding

For descriptions of the coding standards used throughout the Web templates, see the <-- Coding Comments --> links on the Template Elements page.