Tips on Web Publishing

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Web publishers at UT Arlington are responsible for the content of the pages they publish and are expected to abide by the highest standards of quality and responsibility. Additionally, all publishers should comply with established publishing policies. Help Desk does not directly assist students and faculty/staff members in making their pages. The FAQ documents were created under each section (student and official) so users could help themselves.

Concentrate on original work

Readers are looking for information on your college, department, or organization. The most valuable contribution you can make to your readers is to publish original work. Collections of pointers to the work of others, while a service that can be valuable, is not a substitute for publishing your own documents and materials.

Review your pages

Publishing in the Web is just that - publishing. And just like paper publishing, your Web pages should follow the normal procedures of proper review and approval before you publish them.

Preview your pages

Before you put your pages up for the world to see, take a look at them locally with at least two different browsers. This way you can make sure your pages look as you expect them to independent of the browser used to view them.

Design pages for ADA Compliance

Pages must be usable by those using screen readers. Therefore, do not create pages with graphic-only content or graphic-only navigation. All graphics must have alt tags. All graphic navigation bars and buttons must have text alternatives on the page. Avoid creating a second set of text-based pages. Instead, integrate graphics and text on the same page.

Make the best use of your home page

Your home page is the most valuable portion of your Web collection. Do not waste home page space on introductory paragraphs of information that users will read only one time and subsequently ignore. History and introductory text are important and should be a part of every home page, but shrink it to a link labeled "Introduction" or "About."