Web Coding and Design Standards

Adopted August 25, 2005

Purpose

These standards outline the requirements and guidelines for web page coding and design at Creighton University.

Standards

  1. Valid HTML or XHTML. The web team standard DOCTYPE is XHTML1.0 strict.
  2. The University Graphic Standard is applicable to all web sites. This include typography, logo usage, color palette and any other standard outlined. Any questions on interpretation of standards to the web media should be addressed to the Office of the Webmaster.
  3. All departmental and official University websites must meet ADA 508 Priority 1. Every effort should be made to meet Priority 2. Please review the Accessibility Policy for information on accessibility on the University web.
    1. Use http://www.webaim.org for resources
    2. The Typo3 domain is viewable only to the internal network. If you have a validation tool that you regularly use that is not cleared for internal access, please contact the web team.
  4. Top “global branding” to the University is required and is restricted to global items.
    1. Large logo: upper left hand area of the screen (not required to be in exact corner of design, but should be in the upper left). Clickable to www.creighton.edu .. OR CUMC logo clickable to www2.creighton.edu/health/
    2. Type logo: upper left corner of the webpage clickable to www.creighton.edu OR for CUMC type logo www2.creighton.edu/health/
    3. Search: upper right corner, clickable to the University search. If an alternate search is desired, please clear it with the web team prior to launch. Existing search methods for large scale sites will be honored. Additional internal Typo3 search is also allowed for sites that reside within the CMS.
    4. Meta-menu: one of the two primary university meta-menu's should be on the site to allow ease of navigation to the public. Medical/Health Sciences websites may use the approved health sciences meta-menu.
  5. Use of Flash must conform to ADA standard (see WebAIM for “how to”) OR should not contain any critical information. IE: use it for accent and "wow", not content unless you provide alternative content delivery.
  6. The Creighton color palette is (screen backs and adjustments allowed):
    PMS 280 blue (#11297B) alternate web blue (#044990)
    PMS 370 green
    PMS 144 orange
    PMS 1805 red
    PMS 130 yellow
    Cool gray 10
    If using multiple shades within one color group, use a minimum of 4 screened back shades of each color. Each color is defined in the PR graphic standards.
  7. Use the typographic.css style sheet LINKED in the header of your template. It sets the baseline size and font-families as well as defines some basic classes and definitions that will reduce browser incompatibility. The web typographic standard is Arial for text. Franklin Gothic is not approved for the web as it has limited adoption and inconsistent cross-browser display. Every website should contain the following code:

    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" 
              href="http://www2.creighton.edu/fileadmin/styles/typography.css" />
  8. Footer must contain copyright, name of University, mailing address, telephone number of either the main switchboard or the main department switchboard and an email to contact the webmaster OR the site owner that is responsible for tracking content issues on the page. It should also have task based links back to the Search and the Index and any "Help" functionality required by the site.

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