Your guide to publishing on the University website
Principles of good web design
There are many useful principles to help make your web pages more engaging, improve their usability and overall look and feel. This guide is designed to explain what our design principles are, and how you can use them in your website updates.
Align your content with the University strategy
Website updates, regardless of whether it's new or existing content, should support the University's strategic direction. Good results are not accidental or haphazard, and our website has been given a lot of thought and our approach to web publishing and development plays a key role in representing the reputation and success of the University.
At UON we strive for excellence and our website should reflect that. Everything from well written content, accessibility, search engine optimisation (SEO), design, and functionality, need to be implemented correctly every step of the way.
Know your audience
The UON website now provides an intuitive user experience, which means the content is where users expect to find it. Often material will be relevant to one or more audience. Content can be shared across the site in a number of ways, but it should always live in the most relevant audience area. If you have multiple audiences, help them find what they are after by creating links that direct them to the right content.
Our key audiences are: Future students, Research partners and opinion leaders, International, Community and alumni, Industry, Library, Current students and Current staff.
Write for your audience
A stunning message is less effective if written for the wrong audience. Knowing who you are writing for is vital to getting the message right – if your content is for staff, write for staff. If it’s for our alumni, a researcher or a student, write for them. If you have more than one audience, help them find what they are after by creating links between different audience sections.
Understanding your audience also helps you decide whether you should publish a PDF or a video, a long or short page, detailed or a summary.
Clear and current content
Current and clear content will help to deliver your intended message to your audience. Here are 10 tips to help you write easy to understand content.
- Keep it current. Out-dated information is useless information, so be sure to review and update it regularly.
- Less is more. Use short paragraphs (1-3 sentences), short sentences (15-20 words max) and short words (where you have the choice).
- Use plain english. Write clearly and concisely, using plain language (avoid complex jargon).
- Only include what is necessary. Try not to duplicate or create unnecessary content, instead, link to existing relevant content.
- Layout matters. Organise your content in a logical and intuitive way and make sure you use logical heading structures for accessibility.
- Summarise. Use your first paragraph to summarise what’s on your page and then give details in the content below.
- Use headings and sub-headings. Organise content under appropriate and descriptive headings and subheadings.
- Make the most of lists. Use bullet points where appropriate to make information ‘scannable’, and minimise formatting sparingly (don’t unnecessarily bold, italicise or capitalise your copy).
- Check your work. Read, review and spell check!
- Don’t forget SEO. Metadata needs to be clear as well.
Consistent design
Good page design makes web content more appealing and easier to read.
Our Web Team has created components that you can use, which will automatically style and layout your content. This not only creates a consistent look across the website, but allows you to concentrate on what goes in, not how it comes out.
Accessibility
Accessibility in design is a crucial component to all aspects of web publishing, as the ultimate goal is to make your content usable by as many people as possible. This includes those with disablities, on slow internet connections, are new to the digital space and learning or on a mobile device.
It's a lot to consider, and so the following guides are a place to get started:
- Optimising images for website use
- Structuring your web pages
- When to use tables
- Running an accessibility check
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
SEO is the process of getting the highest possible rank for a web page on search engines. The higher your page’s rank, the higher the number of potential visitors. To help get you started, we have a few guides on what SEO is, and how to achieve it.
Mobile first design
The University website has been designed to respond and adapt its design for mobile devices and desktops. Mobile-first design considers how content will look on a small screen, and how to optimise content and layouts for a good user experience.
Here are a few key considerations for mobile-first design
- Optimise your images for the web
- Content vs sidebar placement. All your sidebar content – news, events, features, call to actions, social widgets and so on – will adapt automatically for display on mobile devices. They will display at the bottom of the page and are not highly visible, so we recommend you place important imformation in the main content on your page.
- Avoid using tables where possible
- Test everything!
Single source of truth
'Single source of truth' is a content management concept that avoids repeating information. Having repeated content across the website can create disoranisation, misinformation and make it more difficult to keep your pages up to date and relevant.
Here's a few tips to help you out:
- Check for existing content before you create new content
- Use hyperlinks and redirects to point to existing content. You can link the same asset across multiple locations!
- Consider nesting content in accordions or tabs
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.