Content standards

All content on the University website must meet the content standards to maintain the quality of the website, meet industry standards and provide a good user experience.   

All content coordinators receive training from the Digital Communications team on expected content standards. The digital visa courses also provide training to help staff feel competent and confident working on the University website.  

All website content should also follow these standards: 

• filename standards
• image standards
• PDF standards 
• video standards.

House style  

The University’s house style should be used for all University communications (both web and print). The house style includes style rules on topics such as dates and times, addresses and job titles.

For questions about the house style, please contact itservicedesk@st-andrews.ac.uk. 

Duplicate content 

Where possible, the University website avoids duplicating content. This helps to improve the user experience by reducing the risk of a user finding out-of-date or incorrect information.  

Before creating any new piece of content, check to see if the information is published elsewhere on the University website. If so, then this content should either be mirrored from the existing page or linked to from the page you are working on.

Consumer protection legislation 

It is important that all information on the University website is accurate to ensure that users are not being misguided or misinformed.  

To comply with consumer protection legislation, all content must be kept up-to-date. In instances where content is referring to an award or accolade, you must provide evidence. This can be done by linking to a news article or to a third-party site of the awarding body (for example, the Guardian University Guide).  

Failure to meet content standards 

The Digital Communications team may remove content coordinators' access if they repeatedly publish content on the University website which does not meet the content standards.