Site Approval Recommendations

Although not required, the following are included as part of the standard CMS site review and strongly recommended for all sites.

In addition to the recommendations below, please also see Site Approval Requirements

Issue:Recommendation:Explanation of Issue:
Accordions – Contain Too Much Information
  • Accordions should contain one topic per accordion.
  • The accordion title should describe the content inside.
CMS Guide: Accordions — Best Practices
Consistency – Header Case Not Consistent Across Site
  • We strongly recommend using title case for all headers. It increases scannability and ease of use.
  • All caps, underlines and italics should not be used for headers.
    • NOTE: All caps and italics are part of the design in some KU Sunflower sections.
CMS Guide: Headers — Case Consistency
Consistency – Links in Menus, Buttons and Sections
  • We strongly recommend using title case in menus, buttons and sections that contain links.
CMS Guide: Consistency — Links in Menus, Buttons and Sections
Consistency – Headers Styles Not Consistent Across Site
  • Consistency helps determine how quickly your users understand how your site works.
  • Identify a select group of header sections that best meet your design needs and deploy them similarly across the site - especially on like pages.
CMS Guide: Consistency — Headers
Consistency – Button Styles Not Consistent Across Site
  • Consistency helps determine how quickly your users understand how your site works.
  • Identify a select group of buttons that best meet your design needs and deploy them similarly across the site.
CMS Guide: Consistency — Buttons
Consistency — Link and Page Titles, URL and H1 Headers
  • Users should be able to select a link title and then find a page title, URL, and H1 header that all tell them they have arrived at the intended destination.
CMS Guide: Consistency — Link and Page Titles, URL and H1 Headers
Headers – Written Following Guidelines/Best Practices
  • Headers should be simple and concise. Use as few words as possible.
  • Headers should be written for optimized search results
  • Full sentences (e.g., taglines) should not be used as headers in most cases.
Hosting Content Site Owner/Dept. Does Not Control
  • Avoid hosting content (e.g., documents/pdfs, web copy) on your website that you do not own and control.
  • Instead, point to an external destination controlled by the content owner.
CMS Guide: Hosting — Content You Do Not Control
Hosting Archival/Historical Content (i.e., more than ~2 years old)
  • Avoid hosting documents and historical web content that is/are more than ~2 years old.
  • Exceptions include special news articles and websites with a primary purpose of providing archival and/or historical information.
CMS Guide: Hosting — Archival/Historical Content
Main Menu – Important Pages Included in Main Site Menu
  • Most pages should be in the site menu system - especially pages that contain important information for your primary audiences.
Main Menu – Uses Standard Level 1 Link Titles
  • If the pages are on the site, the menu contains: About, Academics, Admissions, People, Research
CMS Guide: Menu — Contents
PDF Form(s) – Convert to Accessible Webform(s)
  • Convert PDF forms to accessible and user-friendly webforms.
  • PDF-based forms are difficult to remediate for accessibility.
CMS Guide: PDF Forms
Person Profile Images – Placeholder Image Used When No Profile Image Provided
  • The Person Profile and Profile Directory section are intended to be used with a profile image.
  • The displays appear broken when no image is present.
  • Use the Jayhawk Placeholder Image when an image is not available.
CMS Guide: Person Profile — Use Jayhawk Placeholder if No Profile Image Available
Tables – Use KU Sunflower Table Styles
  • We strongly recommend using one of the KU Sunflower table styles on all tables.
CMS Guide: Tables — Use Sunflower Table Styles