Web Content Standards

File Naming

File names are important because they are used when linking to other documents (such as web pages, images, Word documents and pdfs).

File Naming Guidelines

File names for all files within University Libraries websites, whether they are webpages, documents, pdfs or images, should be made up of only:

lowercase letters
numbers
hyphens (dashes)

Spaces and Special Characters

Spaces should be avoided in filenames as a space is not a valid character in a URL. Special characters should be avoided unless needed for a search query. Special characters such as ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) ` ; < > ? , [ ] { } ' " and | should be avoided.

Webpage filenames

All HTML webpages should use the ".html" extension. PHP (our default scripting language) has been set to run on all HTML webpages.

External Links

All URLs that don't reside on a University at Buffalo supported site, should open in a new window. Links to PDF documents should also open in a new window.

Example:

<a href="#" target="_blank">Link</a>

Linking to Databases

When linking to a database that the University Libraries subscribe to, always link to the Product Description Page (PDP). EZProxy or gate.lib.buffalo.edu URLs should not be used on webpages as these links tend to change frequently. You can link directly to database using a LibApps widget. Please contact the Web Manager for more details.