Research Website Standards and Best Practices
The following Website Standards and Best Practices were developed by the Website Action Committee in FY24 as good practices to ensure consistency and overall usability of the Research Website Ecosystem. This applies to all sites, subsites and pages hosted in the research ecosystem (research.colostate.edu).
If you need assistance with any of these items, please put in a request for website support from our team.
- Standard Research (OVPR) Horizontal Navigation for all sites and pages hosted by Research/OVPR. This provides an anchor for users to return to main OVPR pages and accessing other pages in the research ecosystem.
- Vertical Navigations on left side of the screen allowed for individual unit’s sites and pages. As requests for content or site changes occur the Research IT (RIT) team will work with units to make the necessary navigation changes.
- Standard Footer for every site and page. No customizations allowed.
- Admin Access to Research websites will be limited to select staff within OVPR Division.
- When content updates are needed to subsites to an individual outside of OVPR, then security must be able to be available to make only the subsite available to the person. Otherwise, content updates must be made through the Research IT team.
- Branding, color, style and other elements will be consistent with CSU branding standards.
- For new pages or large page(s) updates an outline or site plan is needed that will be approved prior to content publishing.
- If backlog warrants it, then page updates and content refresh will be done quarterly, except in cases of priority requests.
- The website will be developed to follow WCAG standards for accessibility purposes.
- Changes will be submitted through the RIT Fresh Service ticket system.
- No new subsites will be created without a developed site plan and approval from Executive Committee & VPR.