Style Guide
Web Site Evaluation Criteria
The following criteria should be used to determine how well each part of the KCC website complies with the guidelines and standards created by the KCC Website Committee.
Appropriate use of Web technologies
- Leading-edge technologies are not employed for their own sake, but in order to accomplish the mission and vision of KCC.
- Frames should not be used because they confuse the users' mental model of the site.
- Graphics should be kept to a minimum and used only for providing necessary information.
- When used, graphics file sizes should be minimized, and color depth should be reduced to the minimum needed to convey the information.
- Animated graphics should be used sparingly, if at all, because they distract users' attention from the information on the page.
- Sound and video should not be used unless they directly serve the KCC mission and vision such as providing teachings or meet an information need that cannot be addressed with simpler technology.
- Accommodation must be made for visitors who turn off graphic information displays in their browser: absence of graphics should not dilute the value of the information.
Non-confusing links and URLs
- Links and URLs should be unambiguous, clear, and specific, and they should be from 1 -6 words.
- URLs should contain human-readable directory and file names that reflect the nature of the information space.
- URLs should be all in lower case with no special characters so as to reduce the possibilities of typos or problems if the website is moved to a different type of web server.
- Visitors should know by reading the text of a link where they will go if they click on it.
Logical and appropriate site organization and navigation
- The site's first or home page should provide information of value to a large number of visitors. Do not use this page to announce the name of the site.
- The organization of the site should be easy for vistors to understand.
- Multiple navigation methods should be used, including hyperlinks, buttons, and search engines.
- Do not use graphic links unless the graphic meets a business, learning, or information need; if they are used, provide redundant text links.
- For pages of information consisting of several screens, provide intra-page links to subsections of the page from both top and bottom.
- Use page titles that indicate the web site to which they belong in order to provide clues for visitors who arrive there from other sites or leave there to go to other sites.
Appropriate chunking of information and level of detail
- Organize information in such a way that it occupies at least most of a screen.
- If a page requires several screens, provide intra-page links at top and bottom of the page to subsections of the page.
- Avoid horizontal scrolling of pages at all times, and vertical scrolling whenever possible in keeping with good information design.
Information kept up to date
- Remove pages whose information is out of date.
- For pages that have not changed in a significant amount of time (which varies according to the nature of the information), consider whether the page needs to be revised, replaced, or eliminated.
- At the top of each page, specify the last revision date for the page or other pertinent information (such as version number or publication date for paper documents) that will help visitors determine whether the information is current. Use Year 2000-compliant formats.
- In situations where the revision date of page components is more important that that of the page itself, the page revision date may be omitted, providing that each component of the page has a revision date displayed at its beginning.
Support of de facto standards
- Use de facto standard colors of links and visited links.
- Display pages in such a way that those who choose to change their default display to accommodate visual impairments or preferences may do so.
Appropriate download times
- Page download times for a 56kb modem should not exceed 10 seconds.
Wide-ranging platform support
- Displays should be viewable on screens with 800X600 resolution.
- All major site changes should be tested in a test area on the production server before being integrated with the production website. Testing should be conducted with Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers version 5 and above; and Macintosh and Windows 95, Windows 98 and XP operating systems. A list of sangha memebers using these configurations will be developed and added later to facilitate this testing.
Accurate and usable printing of pages
- Each page should be printable.
- When any page is printed, it must be completely legible and contain all information displayed on the screen, with the possible exception of graphics or other elements that do not convey important information.
Clean, professional visual appeal
- Screens should take advantage of white space to guide the viewer’s eye through the display of information on the page.
- Excessive graphics, a variety of font families, sizes, and styles, or overly bright colors are not to be used without a compelling reason.
- Each page should be identifiable as belonging to a specific area of the KCC site in order to assist visitors in their navigation of the site.
- Navigation mechanisms should be easy to find and use and positioned consistently across the site.
- Backgrounds should be white or pale pastel colors.
- Textured and patterned backgrounds should be used only if they do not interfere with the legibility and visual display of other information.
- Restrict fonts to two or, at most, three families per page.
- Fonts should be easy to read.
- Line length should not require left or right scrolling.