Web Standards

Web standards

Use the inverted pyramid style
Include calls to action
Organise content according to your audiences' needs
Keep pages short
Don't create a page of frequently asked questions - embed the answers to these questions in the context of the relevant topic

Use simple headings and page titles that describe what's coming next
Use sentence case - only capitalise the first word of a title, unless it contains the name of an application, or a proper noun
Your headings should reflect your document structure
Use the heading styles provided, as these assist with readability and accessibility
- Heading 1 – page heading at the top of the page, used once only
- Heading 2 – section heading
- Heading 3 – subheading
- Heading 4 – paragraph heading or sub-subheading
You cannot skip a level (e.g. a heading 1 must be followed by a heading 2, not a heading 3)
You can have more than one heading 2, 3, or 4 following each other

Bulleted lists should be used to focus attention on key points or break-up content
Use bulleted lists for lists of items
Use numbered lists for an ordered sequence of items or steps

Keep tables simple
Tables may be used to organise information, but should not be used for the layout of an entire page
Tables should be correctly linearised (the data in them should be capable of being read from left to right and still make sense)

All file and folder names should be lower-case
Only use the lower-case characters [a-z], the numbers [0-9] and the hyphen character [-] in folder and file names
Never use spaces in file or folder names
File and folder names should be consistent and predictable
Don't include version information in your file or folder names

Standalone documents should only be uploaded if they are to be downloaded, read offline or printed
They should follow the Visual Identity for printed documents, where appropriate
They should generally be formatted as PDF (Portable Document Format)
Their filenames should be all lower case with no spaces and no version information
Version information may be added in the footer of the document

You can use Google Forms and embed them in your web pages
You can use Bristol Online Surveys
You can use SurveyMonkey
Please do not create Microsoft Word versions of forms for people to download; if a signature is required, use a PDF (Portable Document Format)

Videos should have a splash image
Videos should be short (less than 3 minutes)
Videos should be accessible (well-lit, without distracting background sound)
If videos include flashing or strobing lights, a warning should be displayed