Georgetown UniversityContentsDirectoriesSearch

GUide Recommendations for Web Development

The following GUide Committee Recommendations provide more detailed information to supplement the GUide general Web Development Guidelines. These recommendations are intended for individuals developing materials for all georgetown.edu Web domains (the Georgetown Web). The GUide Committee implements Web guidelines and generally coordinates and facilitates the organization and distribution of electronic information about Georgetown University on the Internet. Visit the GUide homepage for more information about the GUide Committee and its administration.

-----------------

Table of Contents

-----------------

I. Preliminary Information

Before developing materials for the Georgetown Web, take time to get familiar with the Georgetown site and the Web in general. The Georgetown Guide to the Web provides a general introduction both to the Web itself and to Web development. Use the GUide University-wide Search Engine to find other Georgetown pages related to your topic. You may discover documents to link to your own.

The GUide Technology Subcommittee maintains a Technology Recommendations document for Web development. This information is useful for developers and especially helpful for those planning to establish new Web servers instead of using an existing University Service Provider.

-----------------

II. Procedures and University Service Providers

If you have not yet determined who your Service Provider will be, refer to our list of Service Providers and the groups they support. Each Service Provider should maintain a checklist of procedures for Web Development on their server(s). Be sure to follow the procedures established by your Service Provider.

Several University Service Providers have online Web development procedures:

-----------------

III. Style, Images, and Graphic Standards

Templates

HTML Templates are available for Georgetown Web developers who wish to use the graphic standards developed by the GUide Graphic Standards Subcommittee. Templates contribute to the overall continuity and graphic identity of the Georgetown Web structure, as well as making development easier and faster. If possible, start with a template and/or established Georgetown graphic elements. You can download template HTML files and modify them by inserting your own text in place of what's there. The Web page you are now reading includes most of the template design features.

The templates use the following markup to establish background color (cream), link color (blue), and visited link color (gold): <BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC" LINK="#3333CC" VLINK="#CC9900"> However, in some circumstances, especially on Macs, the gold visited link color is too light and blends in with the background color. An alternative for the visited link is a darker gold, #996633. The templates conform to the 3-column design of the Georgetown homepage and the second tier pages that link from the homepage. On a Web page that is primarily text (rather than primarily images), the space of the 2 left columns is used for text and the third (right) column is left open to make the page easier to read. The third column can also be used for an image or a small amount of text (such as an address or short list) that is set off from the rest of the text.

The background and link colors of the templates are coordinated with recommended graphic elements, such as gold dots and blue horizontal rules, to establish a uniform, easy-to-read, and aesthetically pleasing design. The blue top and bottom bars frame the page and provide easy navigation by linking to the Georgetown homepage, Contents, Directories, and Search.

The width of the template page is 603 pixels, the lowest common denominator for the viewing area of small monitors with low resolution. Each of the 3 columns is therefore 201 pixels wide. When using the first 2 columns for text, this text area is 402 pixels wide, and images that fit into one of the columns are 201 pixels wide. The top and bottom blue bars are 603 pixels wide, establishing the width of the entire page. The exact width of the columns is specified in the table markup of the templates. The table markup includes cellpadding of 10 pixels to provide a narrow margin of open space along the left edge of the text and to provide space between columns if there is additional text in the right column. If you have questions about the HTML markup of the templates, you should contact Deborah Everhart or Hande Yurttan. If you have questions about the template design and how you might modify it to fit your needs, contact Jennifer Scrivner in Design and Publications Services.

Style

There are many good Style Guides for developing HTML documents available on the Web. The following source lists a few:

Some general style recommendations:

  • Document Size - In general, the larger the size of your HTML file, the longer it takes to download to the client. Consider logically dividing up large documents into separate linked pages to reduce wait time. However, if you have a large section of material that is one logical entity, don't feel that you must arbitrarily divide it into smaller pieces. A visitor may find it worth the extra wait to be able to freely scroll up and down to follow a single subject rather than following arbitrary links. Also, if you feel visitors will want to print the information you are presenting, having the subject on a single page can be a big advantage, since users can easily print the entire file with one command in their Web client programs (for Netscape users, under the File menu, choose Print).

  • Layout - Lay out your material to create a strong visual impression when a page is loaded for viewing. Consider the size of the client's viewing area so that a complete image or thought is presented in the initial screen. Consider a table of contents page or menu as an effective way to present a clear, up front view of the material covered, plus a means of providing easy-to-use links to other pages.

  • Images - Images contribute a great deal to the richness of the Georgetown Web. Images should be relevant to the content of the pages. Consider the use of ALT tags with images to support visitors who have older browsers or don't want to wait for the graphics, since ALT tags provide the user with alternative text if they don't see the image. See the Alternate Text section of "A Beginner's Guide to HTML" for more information. Consider the use of Recommended Images and Graphic Elements as they contribute to the coherence of the Georgetown site. The GUide Technology Subcommittee provides more detailed technical advice on creating Web graphics in their Technology Recommendations document.

  • Advanced Markup - While Netscape is the standard Web client program for most Georgetown University Web users, many visitors access our site using Lynx and other browsers, and the browser might limit the user's access to some features, such as frames. All Web browsers can handle HTML 2.0 tags, but not all will be able to handle Netscape Extensions or all the features of HTML 3.2. As a general rule of thumb, make files accessible to as many users as reasonably possible by using alternate tags, such as ALT tags for images and NOFRAMES tags for frames.

Recommended Images and Graphic Elements

The GUide Graphic Standards Subcommittee is gradually developing libraries of images and graphic elements that conform to the 3-column design and page layout of the recommended templates. These images and graphic elements will soon be mirrored on several of Georgetown's larger Web servers. Currently they are duplicated on guweb.georgetown.edu/graphics/ and www.georgetown.edu/graphics/. The Graphic Standards Subcommittee will be developing index pages that make it easier to use these graphics.

Note that the images subdirectory contains scanned images of places, people, and events from around the University. These images vary in size, but all comform to the 3-column layout in that they are 201 pixels wide (1 column), 402 pixels wide (2 columns), or 67 pixels wide (1/3 of a column). If you create new images, it is recommended that you use these widths. If your images might be useful for others in the Georgetown Web development community, please send your images to Jennifer Scrivner for possible inclusion in the image library.

The elements subdirectory contains graphic elements in colors that coordinate with the template design. These include the images that make up the top and bottom blue bars of the templates (bluegu3.gif, content3.gif, directo3.gif, search3.gif); blue, gold, and gray horizontal rules in various widths (1 column, 2 column, 3 column, 1/6 of a page, and 1/9 of a page); and blue and gold dots. The library of graphic elements will continue to grow.

-----------------

IV. Documentation

HTML File Header: Bibilographic Information

The Head of every HTML file on the Georgetown Web should have a Title and Meta tags containing bibliographic information. The GUide committee recommends the following structure:

<HEAD>
<TITLE>A Concise Document Title</TITLE>
<META NAME="author" CONTENT="the author's name">
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="a brief description of the web file">
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="keywords relevant to the document">
<META NAME="date" CONTENT="Month Date, Year">
<META NAME="revised" CONTENT="Month Date, Year">
<LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:author@node.georgetown.edu" TITLE="a brief subject line for the e-mail message">
</HEAD>

The "author" Meta tag, along with the Title tag, provide a bibliographic record of the HTML file (note that, if the person who created the content of the file is not the same person who did the HTML markup for the file, the former should be attributed as the author). The "description" Meta tag is optional, and should include a one sentence summary of the contents of the HTML file if the Title is insufficient. The "keywords" Meta tag is helpful to the search engines that will index your HTML file. The "date" tag is used to indicate the date on which the document was created, and the "revised" tag indicates the most recent revision date. Finally, the Link "made" tag will be used by future browsers to provide an e-mail link to the person responsible for handling comments related to the document. Here is an example:

<HEAD>
<TITLE>Georgetown University: Department of Government</TITLE>
<META NAME="author" CONTENT="Michael Toppa">
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="The home page of Georgetown University's Department of Government">
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="Georgetown, Government Department, political science, graduate, undergraduate">
<META NAME="date" CONTENT="December 15, 1996">
<META NAME="revised" CONTENT="January 10, 1997">
<LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:boyerd@gunet.georgetown.edu" TITLE="Government Dept feedback">
</HEAD>

Note that these tags, with the exception of the "made" tag, can be generated in Netscape Navigator Gold. To do so, go to the Properties menu amd select Document. Then, under the General tab, you can fill out the entries for "author," "description," and "keywords." The "date" and "revised" tags then can be created under the Advanced tab.

Other uses for the Meta tag

The Meta tag also may be used to meet certain web development needs:

<META NAME="language" CONTENT="FRE">

If the Body of the HTML file is in a language other than English, it can be indexed appropriately with the above Meta tag. Ideally, the Content attribute should contain the National Information Standards Organization's three-letter code for the language in question.

<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="n; URL=http://some.web.site">

The above tag is useful for connecting people to an HTML file that has moved recently. If someone loads a file that contains this tag, he or she will be automatically connected to the address indicated for the URL after n seconds. For an example, see the old URL for the Georgetown School of Business.

<META HTTP-EQUIV="expires" CONTENT="Tue, 30 Aug 1996 13:24:30 GMT">

This tag indicates that the document expires on the indicated date. This is useful for HTML files that frequently change, as this tag instructs the web browser to load a new copy of the file from the server, instead of using the copy in the browser's cache. Note that you must indicate the date in the above format for this tag to function properly.

Additional Information

Please see the Web Design Group documentation for further information on the various uses of the Meta tag and the Link tag.

See the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set home page for detailed information on the proposed international standard for providing bibliographic records in networked documents. Note that, for practical purposes, the above GUide recommendations do not entirely conform to the extensive Dublin Core recommendations.

-----------------

V. Organization

File Organization

All Georgetown Web files should have easy-to-understand names, and every server should have a directory structure that is logical and coherent.

Document Organization

  • Consider using intra- and internet links in your document instead of duplicating material.
  • Consider dividing very large documents into linked subdocuments.
  • Search the Georgetown Web for potential links to other departments and relevant materials.
  • Check with your Service Provider if you have questions about other departments creating Web resources in the near future.

-----------------

VI. Copyright

A creative work, be it an e-mail message or a doctoral dissertation, is copyrighted from the moment it is fixed in a tangible medium. No statement or registration is required. Nevertheless, in order to let others know a work is copyrighted and to deter possible infringements, the GUide Copyright Subcommittee recommends that the following general copyright statement be applied to top level pages of the Georgetown University Web structure:

Copyright 1996, Georgetown University

The entire University Web structure is covered by this statement, and therefore the statement does not need to be included on every Web page. However, if an author of a page feels it will be widely used by those outside the Georgetown community, we recommend that this or a similar copyright statement be attached.

Web developers may also wish to make their copyright statements link to the Copyright Information Page, which provides more detailed explanations of what may and may not be done with Georgetown University copyrighted materials.

-----------------

VII. Access Restrictions

Developers should tailor their pages to meet the needs of specific audiences. In some cases, it may be necessary to restrict content to certain locations or individuals. This can be accomplished in several ways:
  • Domain Name Restriction: Documents can be restricted based on a domain name (i.e. *.georgetown.edu or 141.161.* designation restricts access to only machines operated on Georgetown University campuses). An example of this type of restriction is the Human Resource Information System pages.

  • Subnet Restrictions: (i.e. *.dept.georgetown.edu or 141.161.xxx.* designation restricts access only to machines operating on a particular subnet). Examples of this type are internal documents IS's Operating System Software makes available for IS's Integrated Application Services division.

  • Username/Password Restriction: Documents can be restricted by username and password authentication. An example of this is the downloading of Georgetown site licensed software (such as the McGill TN3270 product) by network administrators who must first call IS's Information Center to receive the account name and password.

Determining the suitability of an audience for a department's files is the responsibility of the Web Developer, not the Web Service Provider. Web Service Providers can provide more information on the access restriction options available to developers. If a developer has questions pertaining to the appropriate audience for Web-based materials, the department should contact Financial Affairs, Risk Management and/or Internal Audit.

-----------------

VIII. Georgetown Maps

The GUide Maps Subcommittee is working to coordinate the various kinds of maps available for different purposes and make these maps available on the Web. They have a new University map that is very handsome and can be adapted to developers needs. Watch this space for more detailed information in the near future.

-----------------

IX. Technology Recommendations

The GUide Technology Subcommittee has been working on the many technological aspects of Web development to coordinate information and provide recommendations for the best tools and practices. Their work is included in appropriate sections throughout this document, and a great deal more information can be found in the subcommittee's Technology Recommendations document.

The Technology Subcommittee will also be working on a list of common scripts (Perl and Java) for making Georgetown Web materials interactive. See the ACS Web Interactivity page for documentation on a few of the scripts currently available.

-----------------

This document was developed and is maintained for the GUide Committee by Karen Dorschner, Information Services. To send feedback or suggestions to the GUide Committee, contact your representative, or use our feedback form.

© Copyright 1996, Georgetown University

Georgetown UniversityContentsDirectoriesSearch