Digital publishing guidelines
The content we create and publish on websites and in documents is one of the most important and valuable assets the University has. So that everyone finds it easy to use and understand, it's important that we all create content in the same way.
To do this, we must follow three simple principles:
Publish as a web page wherever possible
We must publish our content in web pages (HTML), unless its format or context means it really isn't possible or practical to do so. We can publish alternative formats such as Adobe PDF or Microsoft Office documents as long as the same content, or a summary of it, is available as HTML.
Use alternative formats only where necessary
Where publishing our content as a web page (HTML) isn't possible or practical (such as with detailed academic papers), digital content must be published in 'accessible' formats such as Adobe PDF or Microsoft Word. Both must be made as accessible as possible.
- learn about accessibility
- creating accessible Word documents on PC
- creating accessible Word documents on Mac
- creating accessible PDFs.
Use alt-text for all visual elements
If using photos and graphs to illustrate our content, we must include an alternative text (alt-text) description, so that people with visual impairments can understand the content. Videos must include a transcript unless there is an equivalent alternative.
Support
If you've questions about implementing these guidelines and how they might affect your existing content, contact us and we'll get back to you.
Why are these guidelines important?
We have legal responsibilities, under the Equality Act 2010, to create digital content that everyone can use. The University is committed to equality and ensuring access to resources for all.
The University website contains hundreds of thousands of web pages and documents, files and videos. If the people creating these do it in different ways, our visitors will find the website hard to use and our content difficult to find and read.
Follow these guidelines and you'll keep us on the right side of the law and create great content for everyone.
