Welcome to Corporate Marketing

Web and Digital Media

Guidelines for Other Web Pages

A high degree of consistency within the main public facing areas of the new UEL web site is anticipated and entry pages leading from it to its sub-sites will be in keeping with its general design principles. The desire and need for some design independence beyond this point on the part of some of the UEL Schools is recognised though and the set of guidelines that follow are intended to allow for this. These give significant scope to the accomplished designer, but strictly within boundaries determined by the nature of the site.

The proposed creative restraints are relatively modest. These are explained in more detail below, but they are essentially that:

• a predictable repetition of the approved logo and an alignment within the page design, are used to create a modest family resemblance between the main site and any subordinate site - and that
• any such independent web design equals the technical and visual design standards of the new version of the UEL web site. Compliance with any relevant legislation and external guidelines is obviously a part of this.

This option is simply a possibility. The UEL Web Team will continue to offer design services and technical support to all Schools and departments that require them. It will begin implementing a second phase of development once the first stage of the re-design is complete. That will include creating specific designs or tailored variations of the general design to replace the existing sub-sites of the present UEL web site.

Guidelines

In the case of a UEL School or department, or for any purpose, project or activity, belonging to or substantially supported by, the University of East London (this will apply to most circumstances); the following web design guidelines shall apply:

1. The page, sub-site or group of related web pages must either conform to the new design of the main UEL web site - where some variation is already allowed for by the configuration and content of the images and background, or be a suitable alternative design that satisfies all of the requirements that are set out below. Where the latter option is chosen, as good practice and to avoid unnecessary difficulties, the Web Team should be informed and consulted before publication. It would do so reluctantly, but The Web Team may be obliged in the best interests of the University, with due consideration to its public image and the legal issues that might arise, to remove, replace or alter any designs that do not meet the necessary standards.

2. All web pages must carry the university's logo in a position where it will be seen, without scrolling, at all of the commonly used screen resolutions. Unless specifically agreed otherwise, this should be at the top left of the design, inset from the left edge of the screen by 60 pixels and from the top by 0 pixels. This position must be used consistently throughout the sub-site or group of related web pages. (Any agreed variation is likely to require a very similar location.)

Note: This keeps the logo in a consistent position throughout the whole of the UEL web site. Its persistent presence in the same area of the page will reinforce the site's identity and heighten brand awareness as the user moves within it. It will contribute towards the user's sense of location and their navigation of the site as well, since it must also always link to the Home Page of the UEL web site (see next item). At the same time it is recognition of the site's ownership and of the fact that the sub-site represents a part of the university and its activity.

3. The logo should always link to the Home Page of the UEL web site. The space to the left of the logo should always contain an image link to the "Internal Pages" section of the UEL site.

4. Web page designs must use the approved UEL logo, made available for the purpose by the Web Team of Corporate Marketing. No other version of the logo should be used and the logo graphic should not be modified in any way.

The logo graphic will be offered for the web in two sizes, the two sizes will measure 100 pixels and 75 pixels in height, but include a margin area around the logo, so the actual heights of the logos will be 80 pixels and 60 pixels respectively. The larger one is the only choice for School and departmental sub-sites. The smaller one may sometimes be appropriate where there is a less close relationship between the sub-site's subject matter and the university.

Please request logos with transparent backgrounds from the UEL Web Team giving details of their intended surroundings, so that optical effects can be minimised.

5. There should be an alignment between the text/image content of the page and the logo on it, placing the logo to the left and the text/image content to the right, of a vertical sight line. This must be used as a recurrent family feature of all independent sub-site designs. The positioning of the site line should be consistent within the sub-site or collection of pages. Substantial variations can be introduced by the surrounding elements of the design. The degree of flexibility that this offers will depend on the imagination and ingenuity of the designer.

6. The design must match the technical standards of the new version of the main UEL web site and must satisfy the requirements of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Act 2001 and any other relevant legislation or external guidelines. Page designs should generally pass HTML or XHTML validation at the World Wide Web Consortium's web site (www.w3.org) and should pass "Bobby" accessibility validation at least at Priority 1 (www.cast.org/bobby/). Note though that a higher level is desirable and may be an essential requirement in future. The onus is on the designer concerned to determine exactly what this entails and how best to design accordingly. The work done by the Web Team on the current UEL web site will obviously be there to refer to. The Web Accessibility Initiative Guidelines should be taken as a benchmark. The Guidelines for UK Government Web Sites offer further insights into the necessary design standards. The following details are only an indication of what is required:

• Pages must be created in HTML 4.00/4.01 or XHTML 1.0/1.1 and must use structural mark-up correctly (that is the correct use of heading levels, paragraphs and lists with no presentational mark up). The coding must take advantage of the accessibility features of these languages.
• CSS should be used to design and display the page and separate presentation from content. Font sizes must be expressed in "ems" and be scalable.
• All images must carry "alt" attributes.
• Deprecated tags such as "<font>" must not be used. Italic should be replaced with "<em>" and "<strong>" should be used instead of bold.
• All pages must link to an approved UEL style-sheet or a suitable alternative local style-sheet. They must also work satisfactorily with the accessibility style-sheet options being developed for use the new UEL web site.
• Unless there is a reasonable justification for using an alternative, the approved typeface for page content is Arial (specified as "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif") rendered in black on a white background. The legibility of the content should always be a consideration.
• Pages should occupy the full screen at all common screen resolutions. This means self-adjusting designs.
• Pages should degrade gracefully in older browsers and be accessible to assistive equipment.
• Page designs should be cross browser and cross platform compatible.
• No use of "Splash" pages.
• No use of frames - unless there are exceptional reasons.
• Tables should be used for data presentation only.
• Page download times should ideally not exceed 15 seconds with a 28k modem. Faster is good, but some flexibility according to the nature of the content is accepted.
• PDF format should be avoided as much as possible. Where it is used it must be made accessible.
• At least the index or other entry page to a School's sub-site should carry meta tags to help search engines to find it and identify its content. The use of meta tags more extensively to guide search robots is also encouraged.
• Rollovers, DHTML and Javascript: None of these are specifically excluded, but consideration should be given to what value they actually add and what access/accessibility issues they might create. A non-standard menu for example would require a complete alternative navigation system to be included that uses accessible HTML. None of these may be used for the provision of significant content unless an alternative is offered.
• Multimedia: Multimedia should only be used as worthwhile content or design embellishment forming a component part of, or accessed from within, standard web pages. It should not replace the use of web pages with user interfaces or "sites" that require plug-in technology. Accessible equivalent alternatives must always be offered. Site navigation and the ability to search content must not be interfered with by its use.
• For example a Flash interface or Flash site would be unacceptable, as are Flash introductions, but Flash may be used to create narrative content or illustrations that enrich the page or better illustrate a point. This remains essentially usable without the Flash - though an equivalent alternative would still have to be offered.
• The practical value of multimedia should also be given careful consideration. A large, slow to download, file that plays back poorly and requires a plug-in component to play it is more likely to be a liability than an asset. The benchmark here is not the fast connections and high specifications of the university's computers, but the reality of the web at large. The considerations may be slightly different where the material is strictly for internal viewing. Where it is essential content in distance learning it is usually best delivered on CD-ROM instead of via the web. (Web CT allows the two to co-ordinate.)
• In any context the use of multimedia must conform to accessibility requirements.
• Note: As an aside multimedia may even have a role to play in providing access since not all disabilities are overcome by the use of text.

7. Further considerations:

• The design of any sub-site created in accordance with these guidelines should be suitably consistent within itself.
• That the sub-site's relationship to the University of East London should be acknowledged in its text.

8. Showcasing student's work: The introduction to such content should make it clear that this is what it is and visiting that area of the sub-site should be optional - with an alternative navigation route available. Is seems unreasonable to expect the same standards to apply to student work, but for the time being it must be assumed that the UEL pages that offer it up for inspection must themselves comply. The answer is possibly to treat it in the same way as multimedia, with step-around links and alternative descriptions of the content.

It may also be relevant to consider the quality of what is being shown from other points of view. For example how favourable an impression is the visitor likely to form of the UEL students' abilities and the university's teaching of them - and whether the web is actually an appropriate medium for its delivery. The possibility of a negative effect suggests a selective approach.

9. Where the University of East London provides web pages or web sites as a service or as part of a product or programme, for an external customer or in connection with a partnership activity, but does not own or substantially support the outcome, then the following web design guidelines shall apply:

• The involvement of UEL must be suitably acknowledged.
• The approved UEL logo should appear discretely, but distinctly as part of that acknowledgement.
• A link to the UEL web site must be provided.
• The quality of design should be of a high standard, appropriate for the intended purpose and must satisfy any relevant legal requirements.

10. It is acknowledged that these guidelines may not cover everything or every situation, so the possibility of deviating from them is not excluded. Any alternative standards or specifications must though be the result of prior consultations with the Corporate Marketing Web Team and may only be proceeded with if agreed to.

---

© 2008