Best Practices for Content Managers

When it comes to creating webpages and websites, adhering to best practices is essential. This checklist of essential elements for your website or webpage provides invaluable guidance to enhance your online presence, ensuring it's engaging, accessible, and compliant.

The key to successful content updates lies in strategic planning. Here's some guidelines:

1. Identification: Identify immediate needs and future opportunities for content refinement or addition. Create reminders for future updates.
2. Audience-Focused: Tailor every update to the needs and preferences of your target audience, ensuring content remains highly relevant and engaging.
3. Incorporate Accessibility: Apply accessibility standards to all content from the beginning, facilitating a more inclusive and user-friendly experience.
4. Continuous Evaluation: Regularly assess the impact of content updates, using insights to guide future content strategies and adjustments. It is a great practice to have a colleague review your updates to be certain they convey the information, as intended.

It's important to understand the importance of content maintenance. Here are some key practices to keep in mind:

1. Update Content Regularly: Periodically review content for accuracy, updating any outdated information to maintain relevance and trustworthiness. It is a great practice to create an annual and/or monthly update calendar.
2. Review and Refresh Links: Regularly check and update broken or outdated links to ensure a seamless user experience.
3. Update Resources: Regularly update video links and downloadable resources, like PDFs, to ensure they remain engaging and accurate for users.
4. Refresh Visual Elements: Regularly refresh graphics and photos to maintain a modern and engaging appearance for the website.

Howard University has a legal and ethical obligation to be inclusive, which means making our website accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities. Here are some basic practices to get started: ethical obligation to be inclusive.

1. Provide Transcripts/Captions: Ensure videos and audios have text transcripts or captions for the deaf or hard of hearing.
2. Descriptive Link Text: Use clear, descriptive text for links instead of vague terms like "click here."
3. Use Alt Text for Images: Always include descriptive alt text for images to aid users who rely on screen readers.
4. Correct HTML Heading Order: Organize HTML heading tags properly to improve navigation for screen reader users.
5. Simplify Language: Aim for clear and straightforward language to enhance comprehension for users with cognitive disabilities.

When incorporating images on a website, it's important to balance visual appeal with functionality. Here are some basic guidelines:

1. Optimize Image Size: Compress images to reduce file size for quicker load times without sacrificing quality, using tools like TinyPNG.
2. Text on images:Avoiding text-heavy images is crucial because they overwhelm viewers, distract from the main message, and create accessibility issues. Clear visuals without text improve engagement, accessibility, and search engine visibility for your website or webpage.
3. Use Appropriate File Types: Choose the right file type (e.g., JPEG for photographs, PNG for graphics with transparency) for quality and efficiency.
4. Provide Alt Text: Add descriptive alt text to all images for screen reader accessibility and to help ensure search engines can find your image. 5. Ensure Relevance: Use images that enhance or clarify your content, ensuring they are directly relevant to the accompanying text.

it's crucial to use the right widgets to enhance display and engagement. Here's a few guidelines to help you select the most suitable widgets:

1. Identify Content Type: Determine the type of content you will be displaying (e.g., text, image, video).
2. Consider Content Purpose: Assess the goal of each piece of content (informative, interactive, transactional) to match with the most suitable widget.
3. Content Hierarchy and Layout: Utilize widgets that help organize information in a logical order, making it easier for users to navigate and understand the content's structure.