Digital Guidelines

Website Guidelines

Consistent guidelines are necessary in order to build widespread public awareness of Indiana State University's high-quality academic programs and services and to ensure those visiting its website can easily find the appropriate resources. Standards are necessary not only to reinforce the Indiana State brand but to ensure a consistent and high-quality user experience.

The following guidelines are intended to support institutional policies 860 University-Related Websites and 870 Web Publications.

Domain guidelines for institutional websites:

• Websites must be secured via HTTPS protocol

Design guidelines for institutional websites:

• All www.indstate.edu websites must use the existent University theme(s) and features
• Page banners must be free of text, with the exception of University Marketing brand verbiage
• All web videos, graphics, photos, and text must be designed or approved by University Marketing
• Embedded videos, graphics, photos, and text must be optimized for mobile
• Adherence to approved logos, fonts, and colors
• Avoid using iframes for PDF, PowerPoint, and Word document types
• Avoid using collapsible navigation menus
• Avoid using links sourced from Outlook/Microsoft 365

Accessibility guidelines

There are legal implications for websites that do not comply with accessibility requirements, so your attention to your website’s accessibility is required to meet WCAG 2.1 AA compliance

• Images should not contain text
• Alternative text (alt attributes) must be added to all images
• Use descriptive links (e.g., ‘View Degree Requirements’) rather than generic links (‘Click Here’)
• Tables should not be used for layout purposes or non-tabular data
  • Always select row one as the header row
  • Give the table a caption
• Avoid using PDF, PowerPoint, or Word files for text that could easily appear as part of a web page
  • PDF documents should only be used for forms or documents that are meant to be printed
• Transcripts or closed captioning should be provided for videos
• Use section headings (Heading 2, Heading 3, etc.) as architecture elements to separate sections and not as aesthetic design elements to outline sections of text pages
• Visually impaired visitors can use Heading elements to jump to specific sections

Best practices

• Avoid tabbed layouts
• Avoid blinking/flashing text, as well as tickers and scrolling text
• Use high-quality images
• Avoid red text

Please contact Web Services with new feature requests or any further inquiries.

Social Media

Social Media focuses on building brand awareness and relationships with audiences such as current and prospective students, University faculty and staff, alumni, and the community. University official accounts can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok.

As part of the University’s Social Media Guidelines and Expectations, departments and units are asked to complete the Social Media Account Registration Form prior to starting a social media account.

If your department or unit already maintains a social media account, please fill out the form and provide the most recent information about your account(s).

Before creating a new social media account for your unit, please review the Social Media Guidelines and Expectations. You should only create a social media account in the name of a recognized ISU entity if you are authorized to do so by your Vice President or Cabinet Member.

Icons have been created specifically for social media. Their sizes and spacing fit the profile dimensions and will appear clearly across mobile and desktop devices. The only Indiana State University icons that have been approved for social media profiles are on this page.