If you are publishing pages for use at Edinburgh University or beyond, you have no control over the browser the end-user will be using to read your pages. This means that you need to design and author your pages so that the information you wish to convey works on a simple text-mode browser as well as the most sophisticated graphical browser.
You also need to consider users who are visually impaired and who may be using an audio browser or a braille reader to access your pages.
If you follow the rules below you make it more likely that your pages will work with the majority of web browsers.
Contents:
People use computers in different ways and have different skills and abilities both physical and mental. For example:
Before you embark on creating a web site we suggest that you read and abide by the accessibility guidelines at: http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/
Once you have created your web pages you can check for inaccessible content using the LIFT online checking service.
Avoid over use of tables and graphics as you may end up creating a site which is busy and difficult to use and to maintain.
Decide on a layout for your pages and keep the layout consistent throughout your web site.
Use HTML elements to give your pages structure rather than to force a particular design. For example use, heading 1, heading 2, paragraphs and lists as appropriate.
The Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) is defined by SGML the Standard General Markup Language. The HTML language follows an SGML rules file known as a Document Type Definition (DTD). This DTD contains details about the valid HTML elements and how they must be ordered in an HTML file.
The definition of the HTML language is continuously being improved and new elements are being added and redundant ones removed.
We recommend that new web pages should use the XHTML 1.0 Transitional document type as it is intended to bridge the gap between HTML and XHTML and will work on old versions of web browsers that may still be in use within the university and beyond. We also recommend that you convert existing web pages to xhtml 1.0 transitional.
We also recommend that you check that your pages are valid. You can do this over the web by using the University HTML validation service at http://validator.w3.org/ .
For more information on HTML and validation see:
Create accessible and valid templates, put them in the templates directory of your HTML Editing Tool and use these as the basis for building your web site.
When designing your pages remember that they will be read on many different types and sizes of monitors.
Try and design pages which work on a 800 by 600 monitor but which expand when the browser window is resized.
Don't use fixed width tables as these will not resize properly to fit smaller or larger displays.
If you are publishing on behalf of a University department or a unit within a department it is important that you follow the University guidelines for the "Corporate and Visual Identity" (C&VI) for web pages.
If you follow these guidelines and implement the C&VI in your pages you will:
For more details, see: The Edinburgh University Web Publishing Guidelines.
Computing Services regularly review support for tools used to create and manage web content. For help on deciding which tool to choose, see the page on Choosing an HTML Editing Tool.
We provide courses on web publishing that use the currently recommended web editing tools and include details on good practice, accessibility and W3C HTML code validation. See the EUCS Course Details for more information.