Web Standards - Figuring it all out

WEB STANDARDS Figuring it all out…

WHAT DO WE MEAN?
“ These standards or guidelines are intended to help organizations establish or maintain their presence on the web. An organization web presence includes not only their web site but also the use of such services as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, etc.”

STANDARD #1: ORGANIZATION HAS A WEB PRESENCE
Basic
Information about the organization including name, location, directions,
Contact info (email, phone, fax, mailing address)
Organization is identified on every web page with the name of organization and at least one of the following: phone number, email address, mailing address.
Page titles for home page appropriately identifies the organization.

PAGE TITLES
Browser Header
Browser Tabs
Bookmarks/Favorites
Screen Readers

MORE ABOUT PAGE TITLES
Identity
Page Titles identify your site
Watch for generic, “Home” – it doesn’t mean anything!
No untitled pages
Screenreaders

STANDARD #1: WEB PRESENCE
Good
Staff info, mission statement, board of directors, program information (museum, library, events), public hours, membership
Staff responsible for responding to incoming email from website
Home page and major section pages are ADA (Sec. 508) compliant
Style guide exists and is followed for home page and major section pages.
Page titles for home page and major section pages appropriately identify the content and organization.

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION
Program Info: public hours, museum and library info, events, membership
Staff and governance info
Contact info
Phone
Address
Email
Have a contact email and someone responsible for monitoring

ADA / SEC. 508
Federal requirement
Simple ways to comply:
Alt text for images
Use text, not images
Dark text on light background
Link text is understandable, no “Click Here”
Capitoning and transcriptions for audio and video
Use CSS: e.g. headers, styles

ALT TEXT

STYLE GUIDE
Style Guides keep your web site consistent and look professional.
Phone number style 651-xxx-xxx or (651)xxx-xxxx
Word choice (e.g. Native American or American Indian)
Time style (10 a.m. or 10:00 am)
Design: color, look and feel
More?

STANDARD #1: WEB PRESENCE
Better
Collections available online, online exhibits, educational material, retail
Includes photos of programs, locations, etc.
Written privacy policy available on website
Maintains a consistent look/feel and message.
Majority of website is ADA (Sec. 508) compliant
Style guide exists and is followed for all pages.
Page titles for all pages appropriately identify the content and organization

STANDARD #2: MAINTENANCE
Basic
Web content is checked for accuracy at least quarterly on a regularly scheduled basis
Best practice: quarterly checks of contact and removal of outdated information
Back up: make sure hosting service does back-ups

Good
Check for accuracy: scheduled
Staff responsible for maintaining information on domain name, hosting service, etc.
Back-ups are done on a regular basis
Frequency – how often backups are done, i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, etc.
Number kept – amount of backups from which information can be gotten, i.e. 7 daily backups enables the retrieval of information changed within 7 days.
Tested recovery process – a document or data has been gotten back and used from the back up medium.
Best Practice: TBD

Better
Check for accuracy: has a position in charge of this on a frequent basis
Emergency recovery plan in place
Best Practice: TBD

STANDARD #3: COLLECTIONS INFO ONLINE
Basic
Narrative of collections holdings
Good
Samples of collections holdings, including narrative and images
Better
Searchable database of holdings
Online copy requests
Standard in development. Please give us your suggestions.

STANDARD #4: ONLINE EXHIBITIONS
Basic
Narrative of current exhibits on display
Good
Narrative supplements physical exhibit with additional media and content
Better
Stand alone exhibitions online; may or may not have physical exhibit component
Standard in development. Suggestions, please!

STANDARD #5: DOCUMENTATION
Basic
Know URL, domain name, account/user name, password and renewal date.
Know the host of your website: company/url, account name, password
Email accounts: maintain a list of your email accounts
All information is kept in a secure format
Location of all documentation is known by at least 2 people at all times

Good
Documentation on back-ups
Documentation on how to update/maintain pages
Documentation on image and video standards

Better
Documentation on emergency recovery plans
Documentation on website roles for staff, volunteers, consultants

THANK YOU! Digital Imaging Best Practices

Web Standards - Figuring it all out

by Minnesota Historical Society on Mar 26, 2009

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