3. Page Creation & Site Structure Guidelines

We’re going to define when it’s okay to make a new page and when content should be added to already existing pages. We will also provide some guidelines to follow around keeping the site structured appropriately.

 

Planning to add a new page?

Before creating a page, answer these questions, thinking about your content and the section in which you would be adding this content:

Is it marketing content?

If yes, it should be incorporated as a new section on an already existing page. If the section begins to get too long when all information is added to it, then a new page can be added instead.

Is it task-focused content?

If yes, a new page can be created to house this information. Consider adding a section to the parent page that links to this new page.

Is it featuring a specific news story or event?

If yes, feature this content on an already existing page using news/events display types.

Do you know who will be maintaining this content?

If no, a new page should not be created if no one will be maintaining & updating this content.

Is there a landing page that can “house” this content?

If yes, think about whether this landing page could fit another pattern to feature this content. If no, consider if this new page should serve as a landing page for related content in the future.

 

Dos and don’ts of accordions

Sometimes, you may have a lot of information to add to a page. Rather than making the page extra long, you decide to put all of this content into an accordion. This is not always the best practice when it comes to the user’s experience of reading this page. Before adding an accordion to a page, answer these questions:

Is there any content that is imperative for your audience to know?

If yes, it is important to not hide any important content into an accordion. This can easily be missed or skimmed over by a user who doesn’t know what they should be looking for.

Is the content explaining a service, opportunity, or resource for students?

If yes, it should probably get its own page, especially if it has enough content to fill up more than 2 accordion tabs.

Is the content linking off to resources from other organizations?

If yes, this content could comfortably fit into an accordion.

If you’re not sure whether or not your content should live in an accordion, try writing out all your content outside of the accordion first. If the page gets to be too long, then consider using an accordion. Remember, if there’s any content that is imperative for your audience to know, leave that out and above the accordion to ensure that users see it.

 

Site structure guidelines

When thinking about adding a new page, consider these guidelines:

• Keep interior navigation lean. When a page lives in a web of sibling pages & child pages, the navigation experience can get confusing for users.
• Group related pages together. Use parent pages to structurally group multiple pages with related content.
• Combine identical information from different pages together onto one page. This will make it easier to update content in only one place when things change.
• Avoid creating one-off pages that will only be relevant once. These pages are often forgotten and left outdated on the site.
• No dedicated FAQ pages. Instead, incorporate answers to common questions as content on relevant pages.
• No dedicated news & events pages. Instead, use news or events content types to feature this content on already existing pages.

No dedicated “About Us” pages. Instead, incorporate this content throughout already existing pages.