Preliminary WWW Style Guide

Go to start of WWW project page

Status:Tentative, just some ideas. The following information is not intended to be better than other information available on the WWW. It should show how guidelines can help make multi-person WWW development more collaborative.

If we determine specific guidelines for WWW project development, it will make it easier to gather together files that different people have prepared.

Some points to consider in project guidelines are -

  1. Use of standard controls or icons (for example, next, previous, back, up, top, home)
  2. Appearance of icons, including size
  3. General list appearance (for example, authors should typically use definition lists or unordered lists)
  4. Header size and meaning
  5. Guidelines for hypertext link words (for example, phrases should provide information about the destination)
  6. What general attributes are added to what types of statements with what meaning (for example, use <strong> for cautionary statements, <em> for all other standard emphasis)
  7. Starting general page design (for example, small library logo, last edited, name of editor, home icon, up one level icon, use of <hr> line)
  8. All graphics should be 1989 version gifs with transparent medium gray backgrounds.
  9. All final documents should be approved by designated unit WWW supervisors.
  10. Typical desired page limits
  11. Typical desired graphic content
  12. Desired limits for explanatory information that is not a general document itself (for example, items in lists of hypertext links should have some explanatory statement of approximately one sentence describing the link)
  13. All graphic images should have the text browser alternate statement.
  14. Multiple modes of access should be provided to the same information, in almost every case (for example, graphics intensive, text only, expert mode versions).
  15. General guidelines for how much free space should appear in a page.
  16. Guideline for general maximum graphic size.
  17. What type of resources should have more than one means of access? Extensive lists, general purpose documents, anything significant that might be overlooked.
  18. Some means of access are: subject lists, tables of contents, hypertexted documentation, indexes, bibliographies, source of information, Quick Menus or expert mode presentation.
  19. Design should take into account that some systems have text-only readers.

JPF