Best Practices: Page Style Guidelines

The page title should only be used 1 time on a page. Its purpose is to provide a useful title for the content on the page.  Following the page title you can use the Intro Text style.  This should only be used at the top of the page to provide a brief introduction to the content on the page.

Page Outline Approach

To make it easy for the site visitor to find information, use headings to outline the content on the page.  Proper user of Headers will allow the visitor to quickly review the content that is on the page to determine if they have found the information they are looking for.

Scanability - Left Justify Content

To make the page easy to scan - always left justify text and headers.  This keeps the eye from jumping back and forth on the page, making it much easier for the reader to absorb the information on the page.

Align Graphics / Photos

If you are adding  any visual graphics or photos and there will be more than one, left or right justify all the graphics/photos.  If you left justify some, and right justify others, you are breaking the scanability rule making the eye jump back and forth.

Document Lists

When adding a list of documents to your page, use the document type icon to identify to the reader the type of document. This should be placed to the left of the link for two reasons:

• Scanability
• Visually impaired visitors will hear PDF or WORD document and then the name of the document.

Here is an example of enumerated (numbered) list:

1. Scanability
2. Visually impaired visitors will hear PDF or WORD document and then the name of the document.

Font Colors and Sizes

Your website has been designed with specific font sizes and colors to promote uniform content across the website. These colors and sizes are proportional and should be used at all times. All content should be formatted using the styles specific to your website that are available in the format drop list.  This will promote a very professional looking website.

Bolding Text

Use bold text if you want something to stand out.  Please use it sparingly so it does not lose its affect. If everything is "bold" on the page, nothing will stand out.

ALL CAPS

DO NOT USE ALL CAPS IN PARAGRAPH CONTENT. ALL CAPS IS TAKEN AS A FORM OF "SHOUTING" AT THE READER. ALWAYS USE MIXED CASE FOR ALL CONTENT AND THEN APPLY THE FORMAT STYLE. SOME OF THE HEADING STYLES MAY AUTOMATICALLY BE IN ALL CAPS.

All Caps

Do not use all caps in paragraph content. All Caps is taken as a form of "shouting" at the reader. Always use mixed case for all content and then apply the format style. Some of the heading styles may automatically be in all caps..

Italics Text

Italics text is hard to read on a web page and should be avoided.

Italics text is hard to read on a web page and should be avoided.

Underlining Text

The reader has been conditioned to think that underlined text is a hyperlink. It is important to consider this when wanting to emphasize text in a paragraph.

It is recommended to bold the text instead of  underlining it.  Readers will sometimes be confused or think a link is broken.