{"id":7784,"date":"2018-09-04T13:51:56","date_gmt":"2018-09-04T17:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/?page_id=7784"},"modified":"2026-03-18T14:11:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T18:11:41","slug":"best-practices","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/technology-marketing-communications\/web\/tips-for-web-managers\/best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"12 best practices for UMaine Extension web managers"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kb-row-layout-id7784_848aa8-9a > .kt-row-column-wrap{align-content:start;}:where(.kb-row-layout-id7784_848aa8-9a > .kt-row-column-wrap) > .wp-block-kadence-column{justify-content:start;}.kb-row-layout-id7784_848aa8-9a > .kt-row-column-wrap{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);row-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);max-width:1100px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;padding-top:30px;padding-right:30px;padding-bottom:30px;padding-left:30px;grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 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class=\"kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top\">\n<style>.kadence-column7784_b0b0e2-aa > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column7784_b0b0e2-aa > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column7784_b0b0e2-aa > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column7784_b0b0e2-aa > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column7784_b0b0e2-aa > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column7784_b0b0e2-aa > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column7784_b0b0e2-aa{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column7784_b0b0e2-aa > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kadence-column7784_b0b0e2-aa > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7784_b0b0e2-aa\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>12 best practices for UMaine Extension web managers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3>Following a few best practices will help make your web pages polished and professional.<\/h3>\n<p><strong>1. Get the name right<\/strong> \u2014 ours as well as other institutions, partners, sponsors, etc. We are \u201cUniversity of Maine Cooperative Extension\u201d in the first mention on a page. We are \u201cUMaine Extension\u201d in subsequent mentions. Our county offices are \u201cUniversity of Maine Cooperative Extension X County Office\u201d (or \u201cUMaine Extension X County Office\u201d). Our 4-H camps are \u201cUniversity of Maine 4-H Camp and Learning Center at X.\u201d Consistency is important; it helps clients and stakeholders remember who we are. Also, avoid referring to our offices as simply the &#8220;county office&#8221; since it could be confused with county government locations. Remember, our online audiences could be visiting from anywhere.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Proofread your pages<\/strong> or ask someone else to proofread them, since it&#8217;s often hard to spot your own mistakes. Typos and grammatical errors erode our credibility as an educational institution. It&#8217;s pretty embarrassing that the most commonly misspelled word on our web pages is &#8220;university&#8221;!<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"footer-inner-phone\"><strong>3.<\/strong> <\/span><strong>Use underlining <em>only<\/em> for hyperlinks.<\/strong> Underlines are a cue to users that a word or phrase is an active link. Users become frustrated when they scroll over underlined words or phrases and find there\u2019s no link. Use bold and\/or italics for emphasis.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Use meaningful words and phrases in your links.<\/strong> To help users and search engines, avoid \u201cclick here\u201d type links or linking URLs. Be clear about where links are taking users. For example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong>DON\u2019T:<\/strong><\/span> \u201cTo learn more, <a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/harvest-for-hunger\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">click here<\/a>.\u201d<br \/><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong>DON\u2019T:<\/strong><\/span> \u201cTo learn more, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/harvest-for-hunger\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/harvest-for-hunger\/<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong>DO:<\/strong><\/span> \u201cTo learn more, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/harvest-for-hunger\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maine Harvest for Hunger<\/a>.\u201d<br \/><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong>DO:<\/strong><\/span> Make email addresses active links.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When linking to a PDF, Word, Excel or Google document<\/strong>, let the user know by including (PDF) or (Word) or (Excel) or (Google Doc) or (Google Form) in parentheses as part of the link, like this: <a title=\"General Release Form\" href=\"http:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2011\/06\/UMreleaseform.doc\">Release Form (Word)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Use the first name and ONLY a last initial when referring to youth<\/strong> who are participating in our programs, to help protect their identities online.<\/p>\n<p><strong>6. Be consistent with the way dates and times are displayed.<\/strong> You can choose a.m. or AM, Oct or October, Mon or Monday, it doesn&#8217;t matter as long as they&#8217;re the same throughout a document.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don&#8217;t use tables to organize calendars and agendas.<\/strong> Tables should be used for tabular data only.<\/p>\n<p>When listing calendar events, keep the formatting simple and consistent so they display well on all devices. Something like:<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><b>September 5, 2019: <\/b>Event, Time, Location, Description, Presenter<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><b>September 6, 2019:\u00a0<\/b>Event, Time, Location, Description, Presenter<br \/><b>September 7, 2019:\u00a0<\/b>Event, Time, Location, Description, Presenter<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>When adding an agenda, keep the formatting simple and consistent so they display well on all devices. Something like:<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><em>8:00 AM:<\/em> <strong>Title of Session<\/strong>, Description, Presenter<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><em>9:00 AM:<\/em> <strong>Title of Session<\/strong>, Description, Presenter<br \/><em>10:00 AM:<\/em> <strong>Title of Session<\/strong>, Description, Presenter<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>7. Include ALT text on all images<\/strong> to make them ADA compliant. For more info, see <a title=\"How to add alternative descriptions to photos and graphics\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/policies-guidelines\/ada-compliance-checklist\/how-to-add-alternative-descriptions-to-photos-and-graphics\/\">How to add alternative descriptions to photos and graphics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>8. Optimize your images for the web<\/strong> before uploading them to your Media Library to improve download times for clients and save server space. UMaine requires all images to be 1M or less before uploading. For more info, see <a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/technology-marketing-communications\/web\/prepare-images-for-web\/\">How to prepare images for the web, using Preview on Mac<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>9. Let images be images, and text be text. <\/strong>If you have taken the time to create a flyer for a communication, it is tempting to use an image of the flyer on web pages or in social media; we are all busy, and that certainly can save time. Unfortunately, it gives a poor experience for many users, especially mobile users or users who use assistive technologies like screen readers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>10. Most online users prefer regular web pages over PDFs<\/strong> and, given the choice, will choose to download a web page. This is especially true of users on mobile devices or with limited data plans. Use PDFs sparingly. <em><strong>PDFs must be made ADA compliant before being uploaded to our website or you must provide a compliant text alternative in addition to the non-compliant PDF.<\/strong><\/em> For more information, see <a title=\"How to check if a PDF is accessible and what to do if it's not\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/policies-guidelines\/ada-compliance-checklist\/how-to-check-if-a-pdf-is-accessible-and-what-to-do-if-its-not\/\">How to check if a PDF is accessible and what to do if it\u2019s not<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>11. Use the Paste As Text tool on your toolbar when copy\/pasting from an email.<\/strong> Copy\/pasting directly from a Word document works quite well, however, copy\/pasting from an email can bring in a bunch of junk code with it, making formatting more difficult.<\/p>\n<p><strong>12. Use tables only for tabular data<\/strong>, not for formatting the layout of the page. <strong>Avoid trying to force text to align by adding extra spaces.<\/strong> When you allow text to flow naturally, it will display well on all devices: computer screens, tablets, mini-tablets, and smartphones. <strong><em>TIP:<\/em> <\/strong>To single space between paragraphs, hold down your shift key while hitting Return (or Enter). Avoid multiple spaces between paragraphs to minimize users&#8217; need to scroll.<span id=\"footer-inner-phone\"><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>12 best practices for UMaine Extension web managers Following a few best practices will help make your web pages polished and professional. 1. Get the name right \u2014 ours as well as other institutions, partners, sponsors, etc. We are \u201cUniversity of Maine Cooperative Extension\u201d in the first mention on a page. We are \u201cUMaine Extension\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":7741,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/page-withsidebar.php","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7784","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/author\/"},"comment_info":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7784"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21965,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7784\/revisions\/21965"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/plugged-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}