Editing Guidelines and Governance

Site Purpose

This site is the home for quick two-page or less publicly accessible support articles that walk college users through a workflow, step, or task.  This application is not meant to replace existing college web resources, but to be a supplement to them.  It is an enhanced knowledge base intended to be searchable and to provide self-help for a broad range of college tasks that is easy to maintain and reference.

Style Guide (and instructions)

From E.B White: 

Although there is no substitute for merit in writing, clarity comes closest to being one.

Use the smallest word that does the job.

The creation and maintenance of the articles hosted on the site should follow these guidelines:

  • Title  -- (labeled "How do I..." on the edit form) should be a short phrase ending the question "How do I ...?". It should start with an active verb.  The article will appear with that lead-in to the users.
  • Audience -- Select all the target audiences that the article addresses. (minimum one).
  • Categories --These are used to group articles for easy browsing.  The field is an autocomplete, so as you type, it will offer matching categories.  If you want more than one category, separate them with a comma.  While the field will allow you to create new categories, think hard before doing so.  Avoid creating categories that are synonyms or alternate spellings for existing categories. Try to balance the ratio of articles to categories. i.e. avoid adding everything, it's brother, and the horse it rode in on to the ctcLink category.
  • Summary -- (optional) This is a short sentence describing the article. It will appear as a "subtitle" on lists of articles, but is not shown when viewing the article itself.  It is better to leave it blank than to just duplicate the title. If you wish to remove an existing Summary, make sure that there is a single space in the field. a completely empty summary will cause the first sentences of the article body to appear on the listings.
  • Body -- This is the actual core of the article. It should contain how-to directions accompanied by steps and images to walk people through how to do a task.
  • Need More Help -- pick from the list of contact points to add a block to the bottom of the body that directs readers on the site to a support contact if they require more help or follow-up with the workflow.
  • References -- Add any number of references from the list of predefined references.  This field is an autocomplete field based on the titles of the predefined references. You can add to or edit the references list from the "References" menu item on the Editors menu.

​​​​​​​Governance

  • Site Oversight -- High level decisions regarding the form/function of the site is a collaboration between Public Relations and Information Technology Services (ITS). 
  • Content Owner -- The content manager responsible for ensuring the site follows college Web Content Governance Policy 109 is the Executive Technology Officer. Minor changes to the structure, form or style of the site will be made by ITS and as such the site will adhere to all college web standards and style guides. 
  • Contributors and Editors -- ITS will provide add/edit access to any individuals for building content as requested and approved by Departmental Dean or Director.