Web Governance & Style Guide

Accuracy

The website's information needs to be accurate and current. Web contributors should regularly schedule time to review pages to ensure accuracy.

Purpose

Each page should serve a specific goal that can be concisely communicated. Please do not add additional content to pages irrelevant to that goal.

Quality

Web page content (written copy, graphics, photography) should be of the highest quality. Please get in touch with the Marketing Office if you are unsure about images or content. The Marketing Office may remove images and other content that does not meet these standards.

Simplicity

The site should contain concise information written in student-friendly language. We cannot answer all questions. Rather, we should provide students with the basic information they need and include faculty/staff contact information for additional questions.

Accessibility

The website (including added content like PDFs, videos, and images) must meet all applicable state and federal expectations regarding user accessibility. All web contributors must pass the accessibility quiz that is part of the Drupal training in Canvas. Anyone unable to pass with 100% will need to take the accessibility training before they can access the website.

Consistency

DVC's website has a singular visual and writing style that meshes with the college’s identity in other media, as identified in our style guides.

Collaboration

Open, frequent communication between all parties will drive content decisions and future growth.

The Marketing Office is available to partner with you to develop strategies to help achieve your goals, but the accuracy of information is the responsibility of the subject matter experts and web contributors in any given department.

Web contributors must:

• be DVC employees with a dvc.edu email address
• review and agree to web governance policies each year
• complete Drupal training (Canvas modules, hands-on training and review)
• pass a quiz on web accessibility
• read all communication from the Marketing Office
• dedicate time to regularly monitor and update assigned pages to ensure alignment with our policies and branding
• attend flex sessions to update skills as needed

We reserve the right to remove users who are not complying with our policies or who have not been active contributors to the site.

Requirements for New Pages

Web Contributors work with the Marketing Office to ensure brand, messaging and information architecture standards are used and to provide the best user experience when proposing major changes, such as:

• adding, editing website components
• changing page titles or URL
• creating new pages or sections

Before Requesting New Pages

Is the information appropriate for the website, or would it be better provided by faculty/staff or some other method (e.g. event calendar, student newsletter, etc)? To keep the website usable and make it easy to find crucial information, we cannot answer every question that might ever come up on our website.

Is there another page where this content can live that would be more appropriate than a new page (without diluting that page's content)?

Who is your intended audience for the page?

What are your goals for the page? What action do you want visitors to take based on the information on the page?

Do you have a page description ready? This description appears on Google's search engine and clarifies the purpose.

Approvals depend on satisfactory answers. Use the web support request form to submit requests for new content or pages.

Quality Control

Our website is public-facing, so serious errors can damage our brand and/or violate laws. For quality assurance, DVC uses the process outlined below:

Web Contributors

As subject area experts, web contributors are vital to keeping content on our website accurate and relevant. To minimize issues when updating web content, every time web contributors make changes to existing pages they should:

• check for spelling errors and broken links
• review for accessibility
• ensure new content aligns with our web governance policies and style guides
• document the changes they've made using the provided field
• submit the page for approval

Important: Please don't submit shoddy content. It is up to you to ensure spelling, grammar, readability and accessibility are in order. We reserve the right to send pages back to you to fix, as we don't have time.

Web Approvers

The Marketing Office will be the final approver for all page updates. We will no longer ask managers to approve content. Under this governance agreement, we will assume that page updates have resulted from discussions between managers, subject matter experts, and/or the web contributor making the updates.

Noncompliance

When errors are identified, the Marketing Office will send pages back for correction. If recurring issues occur, the Marketing Office will communicate concerns with management and may suspend web privileges until further training is completed.

The Marketing Office has access to all areas of the DVC website and reserves the right to revise or delete content. Revisions may include those needed for clarity, grammar, spelling, usage, and style, as well as to conform to DVC’s branding conventions. 

Web contributors play a crucial role in communicating with students and our community. To maintain the accuracy and consistency of information on our website, all users need to regularly schedule time to:

• review assigned pages for accuracy and remove outdated or incorrect information
• review and align content to the DVC style guides and web governance policies
• review content to ensure accessibility standards are met
• update skills by reviewing training materials, and taking occasional flex training provided by the Marketing Office

The Marketing Office reserves the right to remove content that doesn't adhere to our policies.

To create a seamless user experience, it is important to maintain consistent branding with graphics, images, and files on our website. Please ensure that any graphics, images, and files adhere to our brand and style guidelines and align with the policies below:

Graphics

• The Marketing Office must approve use of icons.
• No clip art of any kind is allowed on our website.
• Graphics need appropriate alt-text.

Images

• The Marketing Office must approve all images, graphics, icons, etc.
• Please use images sparingly on the website.
• You must have documented permission forms when posting pictures with people in them.
• To avoid copyright infringement, only use original images or images you have permission to use.
• Images with embedded text are not allowed on our website without Marketing Office approval.
• Images not optimized for the web cause issues with page loading time, SEO, and accessibility. Please get in touch with the Marketing Office with questions about image sizing.
• Images must have appropriate alt-text, including any text on the image.

Files

PDFs should be used sparingly on the web. For example, use our calendar to promote events on the website instead of uploading event flyers that quickly become dated.

All files must be fully accessible, with appropriate headings, reading order, formatting, and alt-text on images. To learn how to remediate files, review the accessibility training required for all contributors and approvers. If we find PDFs that are not accessible, your access may be paused until further training is completed.

Including text on your webpage is better than linking to a PDF.

If you MUST link to a PDF, use a descriptive text link, not a thumbnail image, to link to the file.

PDF forms should only be used if MS Forms and Dynamic Forms are insufficient to collect the necessary information on the form (this is rare, and must be approved by the Marketing Office). PDF forms are not exempt from the accessibility requirement.

Videos

• All videos embedded on our website need accurate captions.
• When possible, videos should be hosted on DVC's official YouTube channel. Please contact the Marketing Office to coordinate this.

As part of our commitment to providing access to higher education for all members of our diverse community, DVC is responsible for posting information in formats that reduce barriers to accessibility. DVC must also comply with policies and regulations governing taxpayer-funded institutions related to the provisions of Section 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

All contributors must take the Web Accessibility training provided by DSS and ensure all content on their assigned pages fully complies with the law. If you aren't sure how to make accessible content, ongoing drop-in support is available through the Digital Learning Lab.

Because inaccessible content is inequitable and poses a serious liability for the college, web contributors who post content that is not accessible may have their web access suspended until further training is completed.

Both initial and ongoing training are required for web contributors and approvers. Training resources include:

• Web Governance (reviewed/signed annually to maintain web privileges)
• Web Style Guide
• Drupal training on Canvas
• required accessibility training (provided by DSS)
• style guides
• communications from the Marketing Office
• one-on-one, hands-on training

We reserve the right to remove users who do not comply with the guidelines outlined by the above resources.

In order to present DVC in the best possible light, maintain professional standards of consistency and style, and maintain usability and accessibility, each web contributor must follow the DVC Web Governance Policy. Access to the CMS is dependent upon reading and submitting the form below, and following the guidelines in the policy.

Page titles are automatically set to Heading 1 (H1), so generally the first heading you use on a page should be Heading 2 (H2). Some components have one or more fields that automatically create headings. The accordion component, for example, has an optional title field, which produces an H2, and then a required title for each individual accordion, which is H3. Therefore, when entering content in the WYSIWYG field for that accordion, the first heading, if you use one, would be H4. So, always check individual component instructions in addition to this style guide.

A horizontal rule should follow all instances of H2 and H3.

Title Case for Headings

All headings should be title case. This means all major words are capitalized and minor words are not.

• Major words: Nouns, verbs (including linking verbs), adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and all words of four letters or more are considered major words.
• Minor words: Short (i.e., three letters or fewer) conjunctions, short prepositions, and all articles are considered minor words.

Example: Turning Setbacks into Strength: How Mariano Went from Academic Probation to Honors

Headings and Accessibility

Headings should be properly nested for accessibility. If you do not understand how this works, please refer to the Canvas training.

Other Rules for Headings

• Bold text is for emphasis in body copy only, never for headings.
• Never use ALL CAPS for headings.
• Do not use colons in headings.

Capitalization

• Proper names and places are capitalized. GIVE EXAMPLES
• DVC departments, programs, areas, and divisions are capitalized: Addiction Studies program
  • In most cases, the word "office" is part of the department name and is capitalized: Marketing Office

All Caps

Never use all caps except with acronyms and product names/trademarks.

All caps should never be used to emphasize or make something visually stand out.

Days and dates can be used differently depending on the context. Office hours should never be placed in the main page content. They belong in the "Siderail Contact" component only.

Days

• Abbreviate: MTWThF (when used in the Siderail Contact component)
• Spell out when used in a sentence (when used in WYSIWYG component)

Dates

Do not use ordinal suffixes such as -st, -nd, -rd and -th.

• Correct: December 4, 2022
• Incorrect: December 4th, 2022

Years

Indicate a series of years with the full first year and the last two numerals of the second year

• 2025-26 academic year

Months

• Only abbreviate months when used in a date
  • The party was in January
  • January 2025
  • Jan. 15, 2026
  • Jan. 10
• Abbreviations: Jan., Feb., March, April, May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.

Times

• Use a space before and after the dash.
• Always use periods in a.m. and p.m.
• Times should always include minutes.
• Example: 9:00 a.m. - 2:15 p.m.

Format for Office Hours

• Days are abbreviated: MTWThF

If more than one day has the same hours:

• MTTh 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
• M-W 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

In general, bold is the best way to emphasize text, if you must. Bold text should be used sparingly! Do not use italics for emphasis. Italics should be used for *footnotes, and where required for attribution, citing, etc. Never use ALL CAPS for emphasis.

Is this correct? Should we allow it to be used for emphasis? Should there be exceptions or a list of specific cases? AP Stylebook: “AP does not italicize words in news stories. Italics are used in Stylebook entries to highlight examples of correct and incorrect usage.”

Always use "Contact Us" for the Heading field in this component.

• If both campuses are represented, each campus gets its own component: First PHC, then SRC
  • Only the first component should have the Heading field populated
• Hours go in the hours field(s) only (see component-specific instructions in Canvas training)
  • Use one line per unique day/time. Use the "Add Another Item” button in the CMS component if you need more lines.

The WYSIWYG field in the Siderail Contact component should be avoided; use of this element is subject to Marketing review.

Use a generic department email when possible, unless requested by the department.