We have had a very productive summer and hope that the school year will be just as productive.
Web Resources
With the implementation of the new website design and features, we are expanding the current Standards and Policies section (http://collegemarketing.cofc.edu/web-strategies/standards-and-policies/index.php) of our website to assist you with information we have shared over the past summer, web tips, and future web group meetings.
Web Group Meeting
As mentioned in our earlier emails, we are in the planning stages of conducting regular web group meetings for the web maintainers to cover some of the most frequently asked questions and common formatting issues.
We will also begin a series on how to write content specifically for the web. Many times, we believe we should flood the website with as much information as possible, when actually the opposite is true. Research shows the web user reads on the web differently than a publication – a user will skim content for what they are searching for and then will read the details based on their search. Therefore, we should provide our content in a more “skim–friendly” way making it easier for the user to find information. Additionally, the more content placed on the website means more to maintain, making our jobs more difficult and more time consuming.
More details to come on dates, times and location.
Web Tips
Proper use of headers
With focusing on our content, I wanted to share important information regarding the use of headers on webpages, as the incorrect use of headers seem to be a common issue.
Heading tags (<h1>, <h2>, <h3>,etc.) are used to define HTML headings. On the College website, there are 6 levels of heading tags. <h1> defines the most important heading. <h6> defines the least important heading. Several reasons for using headings include:
- Heading tags are used by search engines to identify words that are more important than the other content on the page. Headings are used to sum up the topics of the page and are counted as important keywords. Keywords are used by search engines to assist in ranking the importance of a particular page and/or a website.
- Screen readers and magnifiers used by the visually impaired rely on headings to assist in navigating the page content.
- Heading tags assist the web user in locating the information they are seeking within the page content.
How to apply heading tags
There are five levels of headings, each using a slightly smaller font size and or style. To view the differences in header tags on the College website, visit:
http://collegemarketing.cofc.edu/web-strategies/standards-and-policies/demopage/index.php
To apply heading tags within Cascade, the College’s content management system:
- Highlight the text to serve as a heading
- Select the heading size from the “Format” drop down box located within the Content Editor toolbar of each page.
Header Guidelines
- Do not use headings as hyperlinks or hyperlinks as headings. Using hyperlinks as headers makes it difficult for the user to decipher between the two thus making the hyperlink less effective and harder to locate. Use HTML headings for headings only.
- Don’t use headings to make text BIG or bold.
- Remember – search engines use your headings to index the structure and content of your web pages.
- Since users may skim your pages by its headings, it is important to use headings to show the document structure.
- On the College website, H1 headings are used as page titles and H2 headings are used as page subtitles. The H1 headings and H2 headings should NOT be used within the editable main content area of the page. The H3 through H6 headings should be the ONLY heading tags used within the main content area.
Hopefully, the above information will assist in clarifying the proper use of headers.