CSUN Wordmark
Page Description

The following page is a three column layout with a header that contains a quicklinks jump menu and the search CSUN function. Page sections are identified with headers. The footer contains update, contact and emergency information.

University Web Management

Web Architecture

Web Site Architecture Best Practices

NOTE: The recommendations proposed here focus on content structure rather than on content display. They were used to construct a taxonomy for CSUN College Web Sites, but can be applied to departmental and administrative web sites as well.

  1. Structure and Organization of Content
    • 1.1. Include the minimum standard set of content elements and links in all College home pages.
    • 1.2. Adopt the use of the required and optional content labels for headings and links to ensure consistent presentation of information across College web pages.
    • 1.3. Organize and structure content within the recommended hierarchical structure.
    • 1.4. Encode content (headings, links, lists, text) following the recommended structural HTML markup (e.g., HEADING 1 used for top-level categories, HEADING 2 for the next level, etc.)
    • 1.5. Adopt ADA best practices to ensure accessibility and consistency of links and URLs across web pages (see CSUN Best Practices for Web Accessibility (.doc))
    • 1.6. Ensure that the content is semantically related to the category or label chosen to represent it.
    • 1.7. Ensure the appropriateness of new content to be added to the College home page by determining its “specificity” to the top-level home page or its subordinate pages.
    • 1.8. Adopt the use of a standard template-based header and footer to maintain CSUN “branding” and integrate all pages into the CSUN web presence. (See Appendix D for illustrations of the recommendations above as applied to a College home page archetype)
  2. Organization and Management of Web Pages & Naming Conventions for URLs

    SEE CSUN URL Recommendations for information regarding naming conventions for folders, files and URLs.
    • 2.1. Adopt a systematic approach to naming folders/directories, subdirectories, and content files. Choose filenames based on natural language and content-appropriateness.
    • 2.2. Ensure that the naming conventions of URLs follow best practices for consistent encoding of names and addresses (e.g., do not use “&” (ampersand), “~” (tilde), or spaces in URLs or filenames).