Before you put your content into the ECU WebCMS, check the formatting of your page and consider how you’ll use headings, downloads and other content types to structure your pages.
Page titles
Page titles use the style Heading 2. This style is automatically formatted within the ECU WebCMS.
- Always use sentence (lower) case. Title Case is only acceptable for the first word and proper nouns (e.g. New research promises major breakthrough. Not: New Research Promises Major Breakthrough)
- Page titles shouldn’t be asking a question or using acronyms (no question marks or exclamation marks)
- Keep page titles short and relevant to the content
- Avoid using the word ‘ECU’ in a page title; your reader is already in the ECU website
- Avoid using school/centre names in page titles, e.g. Alumni News, Alumni Events.
Meaningful headings and sub-headings
All subsequent sub-headings should use either style Heading 3 or style Heading 4. Using style headings rather than bolding text ensures accessibility requirements are met and helps with readability.
To help your readers find the information they’re looking for, you should do two things:
- think about what they’re searching for on this web page, e.g. an answer, a procedure, or a contact
- use meaningful headings and sub-headings to help them find this information
For example, one of the web pages on Brand and Marketing's intranet is about ‘Sourcing images’ (headline). The sub-headings simply describe typical tasks people undertake relating to ECU corporate images:
- To request an image
- Review our gallery
- Add to our gallery
- Taking your own photos
Left hand navigation bar
- The left hand navigation bar will replicate the page title and shouldn’t use acronyms.
- The menu must only include web pages that are housed within that section and sub-sections; it won’t take the reader to an external website or an ECU sub-site.
- The menu applies the same naming convention rules as headings and page titles.
- Avoid ampersands (&) in page titles/URLs - use 'and' instead.
Using bulleted lists
Bulleted lists help readers scan web pages. Lists should begin with an introductory sentence, then a colon:
- don’t start each line with a capital
- don’t put a semi colon at the end
- don't end the list with a full stop
Each of the points above should seamlessly follow the introduction.
For lists with complete sentences, use a full stop and begin the sentence with a capital.
Incomplete web pages
Unless your content is ready to publish, don’t go live with your web page. Never publish pages with ‘under construction’ or ‘more information coming soon’ messages.