Style Guidelines

We do not want to micromanage the content of your site -- the content is up to individual areas and departments. After surveying sites, however, the Web Committee would like to recommend these general content standards: 

Page length: Keep home pages brief, within one vertical scroll top to bottom. 
Opt for more vertically short pages, not fewer lengthy pages. 
When you need lengthy pages, put them deeper in a site. 

Page width: Make sure your pages fit in a screen that is 770 pixels wide. The template is set up for this, but if you put in a table that stretches the template, it can go outside of the viewable area.

Concision: Be brief. Aim for short sentences. 

Left-links: Be REALLY BRIEF with left-side links --  Aim to have all one-line links, a few two-liners max, and no three-liners. 

Image use: Photos should enhance rather than overwhelm text areas.  Photos should be optimized for web use by creating images with smaller download sizes.

Link word choice: Do not use the words "Click here" to denote a link.

Language consistency: Don't link to the "Business School" when the rest of the site says "McCombs School of Business." 
Likewise, don't create new names for programs. 
Correct use of school naming can be found on the Use of School and University Names site.

Visual consistency: Do not use fonts and colors that are not part of the McCombs template and CSS. For more information on styles, check out the Basics of CSS.

Don't underline text: Do not underline text for emphasis; As this is a convention for links, it is better to emphasize using a style class of "blue" or putting text in bold

Word choice: Out of respect for international students who aren't familiar with many American acronyms, do not use abbreviated terms like "FAQ"
Use plain English. The Web is not an academic journal. 

Linking to PDF, Word and other format docs: Always note after a link if that link will open in a different format
Example: Download brochure (PDF format)

Naming web pages: Make page names short and relevant to the content they contain. Do not include spaces in name, but instead separate words with dashes or underscores

Use Back to Top image at the end of and/or in the middle of long pages. Feel free to copy the one below.