CSU Home > CSU Webs > Styles & Standards > Policies

Web Site Design Standards and Hierarchy Levels

The quality of the information and presentation of that information on CSU’s Web sites is of importance and concern to the Web Development Team. Consequently, we are providing this document containing design rules and standards for CSU Web sites. We require that official university Web pages include the following items. Using the CSU Web templates will ensure compliance.

1. The Web Template Header
   

   1. Clock Tower Logo
   • The clock tower logo is the official logo of Columbus State University.
   • The logo must be located in the top left corner of the page and link back to the CSU home page.
   • For more information about CSU logos see Appendix A.
      
   2. “Columbus State University”
      You must reference affiliation with the university by including the words “Columbus State University” prominently at the top of your pages.
       
   3. Department Name
      The full department name must be in the upper right portion of the header. Do not abbreviate; however, “Department of” may be dropped. For example, The Department of Nursing may be shortened to Nursing.
       

2. Footer Information
   Each page must include the following standard footer information:

   1. Link for comments and questions.
   2. Text-only link.
   3. CSU contact info or college, school, department or office contact information. This contact information is to include the building name, room number or floor, and telephone number if applicable.
   4. The date the page was last updated: (e.g. Last Updated: January 4, 2007).
       

3. An Explicit Link to the CSU Home Page
   You must include somewhere on each page an explicit link to the CSU home page. The link should read either “Columbus State University Home” or “CSU Home.”
    

4. Link to School, College or Department Home Page
   Departments and offices must provide clear links to the home page of the school, college or division within which they reside.
    

5. Page Title
   The Page title is the title that you see at the top of a browser window. This title is also the title used when you bookmark a page.
   Page titles must include:
   “Columbus State University” or “CSU”
   -and-
   The department or office’s name or descriptive title (relative to the page content)
   example: Columbus State University: Office of Web Development
    

6. Web Page Keywords, and Description
   Each Web page must have keyword and description metadata in the heading section of the HTML code.
   

   • Keywords are a list of words and phrases that users may use to locate your site from a search engine.
   • The description is a short explanation of your page. A search engine uses the description to provide information about the link to your site.
   • For more information on keywords, metadata and how to include them in HTML code see Appendix B.
      

7. Accessible Design
   All CSU Web pages must be accessible to users with disabilities.
   

   1. All pages must link to a text-only version. The templates include code to automatically generate links to text-only versions of web pages.
   2. Use www.cast.org/bobby/ to check your site’s accessibility
      For more accessibility information see Appendix C.
       

8. Search Link
   The header of the CSU Web template provides a search link. If you remove that link, your site’s homepage must have:
   A link titled “Search CSU” that links to the CSU Google search engine
   - or –
   A form with a link to the CSU Google search.
    

9. Site Index
   Sites of 10 pages or more must have a site index page that lists information alphabetically or categorically within the site.
   
   See Appendix D for an example of a site index.

CSU Web Hierarchy Levels

CSU Web sites have been placed into a hierarchy to assist in the development of Design Requirements. The CSU Web Hierarchy levels mirror the CSU organizational chart.


Level 1 – Initial pages off of the CSU Web home page; Colleges and Administrative Department Web sites.

Level 2 – Academic Departments, Centers, and office Web sites.

Level 3 – Academic course and class- related Web sites.

Level 4 – Faculty, Staff, and Student personal Web space and Clubs and Organizations

< previous   next >