Guidelines for Monash sites not using the Monash brand

The following is a list of guidelines for Monash sites that have approval not to use the Monash brand.

Designing for our users

• Understand who the users of your site are, their needs and make sure your site is designed for your users.

Quality, usability, and accessibility

• Ensure the accuracy and quality your site through performing quality assurance checks.
• Ensure relevant accessibility standards are met.

Legal requirements

• Include relevant copyright, privacy and caution information as required.
• Include relevant Australian Business Number.
• Investigate whether CRICOS provider number should be displayed.

Branding and visual identity

• On the Branding and visual identity page make sure the guidelines under following headings are followed:
  • Commercial entities
  • Other entities associated with Monash University
  • Dual branded sites
  • Use of other logos/brands
• Ensure that images meet guidelines and are approved.
  See Use of images section on Branding and visual identity page.

Navigation and site structure

• Follow guidelines on designing home pages, section home pages and content pages.
• When designing website navigation follow guidelines on designing global, section and contextual navigation the designing a breadcrumb bar.
• Accessible navigation:
  • Provide a skip to content link.
  • Provide a site map and/or site index and search functionality.
  • If keyboard shortcuts are implemented consider
  • Use of frames is not recommended.
    If used ensure the title attribute provided for each frame set is meaningful and the noframes element is used.
  • Using image maps for navigation isn't recommended.
    If used give the image map and its hot spots meaningful alt attributes.
  • Do not use Java applets and JavaScript for navigation on Monash websites.
• Text links:
  • Clearly identify the target of the link.
  • Show the format and size of the linked resource.
  • Show whether access controls are in place.
  • Use the email address for email link text.

Creating web pages

• Follow guidelines on designing the page layout.
• Follow guidelines on creating pages titles.
• Follow guidelines on creating file and directory names.

Content

Text and images

• When writing content for the web:
  • Use plain English.
  • Know what you are trying to say.
  • Do not publish until content is complete.
  • Write content that is concise, easy to scan and objective.
  • Lay out pages well.
• Follow guidelines on the use of images and multimedia.
  Make sure the images/multimedia are accessible.
• Follow guidelines when publishing in formats other than HTML (eg PDF, Word, PowerPoint).
• Ensure that HTML tags are properly used.

Tables and forms

• Follow guidelines on creating data tables.
• Follow guidelines on creating forms.

Use of colour and styles

• Ensure colour is used properly with sufficient contrast.
• The use of commonly installed fonts (eg Times New Roman, Arial, or Helvetica) is preferable.

Metadata

• Maintain accurate and up-to-date metadata which describes the content.
  If unable to do so just provide a page title.
• Use Monash-specific metadata where appropriate.

Technical standards and implementation

• HTML markup standards:
  • Use an appropriate DTD, create pages which validate to chosen DTD.
  • Avoid using deprecated markup.
  • In the markup:
    • Markup all elements and attributes in lowercase.
    • Enclose attributes in quotation marks.
    • Use comments to document page structure and highlight key elements.
    • Encode special characters (eg ©) correctly.
• Use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to define presentation.
  • Do not use the font element or the color attribute.
• Implement error messages for the site.