| Page Layout for Subject / Topic / Course Guides | |
|---|---|
| Guide landing page (Get Started) adheres to a side navigation, two-column layout with core boxes listing requisite number of recommended resources and relevant guides | |
| Guide consists of 10 or fewer pages total | |
| Subsequent guide pages use one-column or two-column layout | |
| Subsequent page titles consistent with recommended conventions |
Subject guides must have a guide name. The name should just be your subject -- e.g. Chemistry, History, Communication in Digital Media, etc. -- succinct, yet meaningful. They must also have a guide description, detailing what aspects of the subject area the guide may cover.
Provide a brief introduction to the subject guide. Consider inserting an image that represents your subject area. If using an image, the image must be aligned to the left of the introductory text.
Sample introductory text:
This guide is for [subject / topic / course]. Use the resources and information on this guide to help with research on [something about course / assignment / etc]. For help with research, please contact your librarian or schedule an appointment. [Add any additional welcome text]
This box should contain a list of 2-5 discipline-specific resources that you recommend users start with. If linking to your appointment scheduler from here, you should use the link from the subject liaisons page. Your appointment scheduler button belongs in the profile box.
Rationale: According to the University of Washington Libraries, “usability testing have shown that users would like to see ‘top resources’ on the first page of the guide.” (source: University of Washington Libraries’ LibGuides Guidelines and Best Practices 2).
Optional box:
This box must be located in the right-hand-side column and only exist on the landing page (Get Started) of your subject guide -- i.e. it should not appear on subsequent pages. See profile box requirements.
To add additional profile boxes to a page if you have more than one guide author:
After the new profile box appears click the gear and select the profile you would like to display
This box, titled Related Guides, is optional and may be placed below the Top Resources / Starting Points Box. It should highlight 1-3 additional subject, topic, and/or course guides of relevance. If other guides/guide pages are relevant to other distinct sections or pages of the guide, you may link to those there. The related guides box is for guides that may be broadly relevant.
Use the Research Guides and Class Guides tabs to list related guides. To add links, click Add/Reorder>Guide List. Select either Guides in a Subject (if the subject has a small number of guides) or Manually Selected Guides.
Rationale: This provides a consistent structure for LibGuides home page, and helps researchers find relevant guides that they hadn’t yet discovered (source: University of Washington Libraries’ LibGuides Guidelines and Best Practices 2).
Subsequent Pages Subject guides should
Acceptable page titles include:
Course guides must adhere to the same conventions as subject guides in respect to:
Refer to Subject Guides section for details about these standards. The following are additional requirements and recommendations specific to course guides.
