IEEE Computer Society

Web Page Guidelines
DRAFT 4.1, 16 September 1999 (DHL)

Consistency and application of certain engineering principles to Computer Society web pages have significant benefit for all Computer Society groups. As an international organization using a global medium, it is important we recognize the need to communicate in regionally indpendent terms. As a professional organization, our materials need to be accessible to all of our members. As the World's Computing Society we need to present an example of good engineering to all who may encounter our site.

With the introduction of more effective search engines inside the Society site and on the Internet the probability that individuals encounter a Computer Society web page in the middle of a logical tree or site increases, as does our need to help them reach the right information and to navigate from their point of initial entry.

For all of these reasons, we strongly encourage all CS group sites to implement the following guidelines. This is a base level of consistency. We also encourage the use of the CS defined templates and Style Sheets. Feedback and suggestions are encouraged.

Computer Society entity web pages shall follow these guidelines:

  1. Web pages shall have support/response for webmaster@domain.com [1] (to permit notice when site is not accessible or intact.) and [1] either every page, or on a common page linked to by every page: - mailto for person(s) responsible for site content.
  2. Web pages shall facilitate access by all users, including individuals with disabilities. [2]
    1. Pages should be compatible with all major web browsers.
    2. Images & animations: Use the alt attribute to describe the function of all visuals.[2]   Declare for each graphic element 'height" and "width" values. [1]
    3. Image maps: Use client-side MAP and text for hotspots. [2]
    4. Multimedia: Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, descriptions of video, and accessible versions in case inaccessible formats are used. [2]
    5. Hypertext links: Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For instance, do not use "click here." [2]
    6. Page organization: Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for layout and style where possible.[2]
    7. Graphs & charts: Summarize or use the longdesc attribute. [2]
    8. Scripts, applets, & plug-ins: Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported. [2] i) Frames: Label with the title or name attribute. [2]
    9. Tables: Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize. Avoid using tables for column layout [2].
    10. Check your work: Validate the HTML. Validate using several screen sizes including 640x480 and 1024x768. Use evaluation tools and text-only browsers to verify accessibility [2] HTML validation using http://validator.w3.org/ [1] and - http://www.cast.org/bobby for accessibility evaluation [1]
  3. Dates in pages shall use 4 digit year designations [1] (the IEEE standard is dd mmm yyyy, for example: 10 Oct 1999)
  4. International considerations: [1]
    1. indicate phone numbers with full area code and indicate city and country <phone>(+ (country code) - (city code) - (number) and country by name)</phone> (e.g. +81-3-3408-3118 (Tokyo Japan), or +32-2-770-2198 (Brussels Belgium))
    2. include country information in addresses and locations
    3. when indicating currency, specify applicable currency (US$, CA$..)
  5. At least the 'top level' (home) pages shall point to the IEEE Computer Society home page, as well as relevant intermediate organizations (TC page, SC page, ...) [1]
  6. Pages collecting personal information, or applying individual password access shall have an on-web privacy policy consistent with the Computer Society Policy and shall not make personal contact information available for commercial use (appropriate use by IEEE entities is permitted.) [1]
  7. Pages for registration and/or other financial obligations shall provide phone and physical address for followup contact. [1]
  8. All web pages using the Computer Society Logo(s), trademarks and copyright material shall be subject to CS review via the CS web editor-in-chief and web editorial board.
  9. Society group pages shall not contain banners or other commercial advertising with the exception of IEEE specific products & announcements (conferences, publications, TC activities, etc.), or advertising arranged though the Computer Society Advertising department. At the bottom of a web page, the statement "This site is hosted by xxx" may be used to acknowledge support of a hosting organization.

Computer Society entity sites should have:

  1. <div class="expirationdate">yyyy-mm-dd</div> [1] indicating the date after which the page can be deleted (archival pages should have "archival" instead of the date)
  2. Use of the 216 "Web safe" colors is recommended. [1]
  3. Web page grey value contrast shall exceed 33% (better than 67% recommended) [1r]
  4. Web pages should avoid color combinations that cause problems for individuals with color blindness in its various forms. [1] (also see: http://www.labs.bt.com/people/rigdence/colours/
  5. Use of "span class" is encouraged:
    1. Inclusion of <span class="pagedate">yyyy-mm-dd</span> is encouraged to indicate the date of last content change of value to CS members. [1]
    2. Inclusion of <span class="nextupdate">yyyy-mm-dd</span> is encouraged to indicate when the next content review is expected (this indicates to members how rapidly this information is changing) [1]
    3. Inclusion of <span class="contentdate">yyyy-mm-dd</span> is encouraged to indicate when the content was last confirmed (may not have resulted in a pagedate change). [1]
  6. Pages should include the LANG attribute indicting the language of the page. For example, <meta name="lang" content="en-us"> for english language page head section. [1]
  7. Measurements in pages should be presented in metric (SI) units. [1]
  8. Links leaving the CS managed portion of the site should incorporate 'disclamers' about currency and content (proposed wording?)
  9. All pages should carry "Copyright yyyy, IEEE" unless specific arangments have been made with other copyright holder for use of their content.

Reference documents

[1] IEEE Std. 2001- Web Page Engineering [1r] refers to the revision in process, currently being balloted.

[2] W3C WAI (Web Accessiblity initiaitves) - particularly priority 1 http://www.w3.org/WAI

This page last changed 2008-02-07.
Content last confirmed 2000-02-28.

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