When producing content for your pages, make sure that you take the "inverted pyramid approach" to your content. Put the most important and relevant content at the top and less important content further down. To learn more, read the Nielsen Norman Group's excellent article: Inverted Pyramid - writing for comprehension.

Pages, tabs, and headings should be brief. 

Avoid redundant information. We should name things plainly and avoid long titles that are hard to scan.

Here are some examples:

• Bad: "Digital Images of Unicorns at the University of Richmond" 
• Good: "Unicorn Images"
• Bad: "Doing Research on Hand Puppetry"
• Good: "Hand Puppetry"

Don't repeat titles in headings on the same page. If your page is named Unicorn Images, don't put "Unicorn Images" in the title of every sub-box on the guide page. This is harder to scan, but is also redundant and time consuming for users with screen readers.

Use links often, but be sure to link to stable sources. When adding library databases to your guide, use the LibGuide Databases Asset tool. This will ensure that the link is stable. Similarly, when linking resources from our discovery layer, use OneSearch Permalinks. When selecting what text to use for linking, avoid vague words like "here,"  "link," or "this." Use descriptive and active phrases whenever possible.  

Linking to a new tab vs. same tab

In general, your links should open in the same window. It is possible set your links to open in a new tab, but this should only be done in scenarios where we would expect the user to need both tabs open (such as filling out a form and referring to a guide). Many assistive tools like screen readers do not announce to users when links open to a new tab and this experience can be jarring for them. Additionally, it should be noted that all links can be voluntarily opened in a new tab by CTRL+clicking or right-clicking>open in a new tab. However, if you force a link to open a new tab, you take that choice away from the user. That said, if you need to, you can link to a new tab by clicking clicking the "Target" tab and select the New Window "_blank" option. For more information about this, read Linking to a New Tab vs Same Tab.

Link Checker

LibGuides has a tool to check for broken links. It's a good practice to check your guides at least once a semester. Learn how to use the tool with Springshare's Link Checker Guide.

Use Gifs & Images! ...but avoid linking images from other websites. This practice often results in broken images over time and can become difficult to maintain. The best way to include images in your LibGuides is to upload a stable copy directly with the LibGuides Image Manager. 

The only exception to this rule is websites that are designed for distributing images with stable linking, like Giphy.

Avoid images that communicate information with text. Large infographics with lots of text are not accessible without a transcript.

You can insert images in LibGuides by insterting a Rich Text/Html box and using the insert image tool on the text editor.

Good sources for Public Domain & Creative Commons images:

• Unsplash
• Pexels
• Creative Commons Image Search

Please avoid repeating content in your guide. Not only does it create visual noise, this practice also raises accessibility issues for non-sighted users. When users navigate a website by listening, any repeated information is a bump in the road on the way to the content they're looking for.

The website stylesheets are configured to make all of our content look consistent and part of the "University of Richmond Identity." If you override the styling of any of your content, it will not be consistent and may erode trust in our users or be less accessible. 

Screenshots of user interfaces are problematic for a bunch of reasons.

• Images of text or user interfaces are not accessible.
• The appearance of buttons, tools, and links can fool users.
• It's often much easier to explain a process with text and use small screenshots of specific UI elements. full screenshots often provide too much information/clutter.

Sometimes, you need to include an image of an interface. If so, make sure your screenshot is cropped so that only the necessary elements are included. Be sure also to explain the process with text so that the image is not the only instructive element.

Watch out for inconsistent text formatting when you copy and paste from outside sources. This can sometimes create color contrast or accessibility issues. If content does not appear consistent with the Pratt Style, open the Rich Text Editor, highlight the content, and click the Remove Format button--it looks like this: