Skip to Content

Brand and Style Guide

Web Standards for LibGuides

LibApps Accounts

LibApps/LibGuides accounts are available to University Libraries’ staff only. Please contact the Libraries’ Web Manager to obtain an account.

Publishing Workflow

Publishing Workflow is an editorial review process for all new and existing guides. Guides will be reviewed for all of the standards in this section.

  • Editorial review needed only when changing a guide from Unpublished to Published.
  • A guide can be changed to Private and the URL shared with anyone without editorial review.
  • Private guides do not show up on the Research Guides homepage or the search results.
  • Guides will be reviewed within 48 hours of submission.

Published vs. Private Guides

Only guides that contain research information can be Published. These Published guides will show in the LibGuides search results. Any guides that pertain to internal information have to be set to Private and will not show in the LibGuides search results. PDPs are also set to Private.

Friendly URLs

All guides AND tabs need to have a friendly URL. These can be set by the owner in the guide editing area. Use the University Libraries file naming standard.

Example:

Accessibility

All University Libraries LibGuides must pass the WAVE tool test. WAVE is a web accessibility evaluation tool developed by WebAIM.org. It provides visual feedback about the accessibility of web content. Guides will also be reviewed by the Web Manager in Siteimprove for accessibility issues.

Provide alternative text for images

If an image is necessary for understanding the page content, equivalent information should be communicated as text using the alt attribute.

If an image is decorative and not necessary for understanding the page content, the alt attribute should be empty (alt="").

Remove old coding/outdated code

All <font> tags must be removed. Please make sure to use the paste from Word button when copying Word document text into a LibGuide.

Branding Guidelines

All LibGuides must follow brand guidelines. This includes fonts, colors and imagery. NO clip art or memes can be used in guides.

LibGuides external naming

Do not use the term LibGuides to an external audience. Use the term Research Guides.

Contact Information

All LibGuides must include the profile contact information.

Example:

Schedule Appointment

All LibGuides using the "Schedule Appointment" functionality must adhere to the look and feel of the example below.

Example:

Broken links are checked daily by Siteimprove. An email informing you of the dead link will be sent by the Libraries Web Manager. If the broken link is not remedied within 48 hours, it will be removed.

Database linking

All databases included in a guide should be added through the ADD/REORDER -> DATABASE. See example below.

Video Titles

All embedded videos on a LibGuide need to have a title tag.

Example:

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/###" title="TITLE OF YOUR VIDEO"></iframe>