All institutional webpages must adhere to requirements within the UTA Web Standards Policy (IT-PO4) and Web Standards Procedure (IT-PR4).

Institutional websites are classified into 3 categories:

1. Group 1 – editorial voice is the University. Includes main landing pages and programs.
2. Group 2 – editorial voice is an official unit. Includes college/school websites, administrative office websites, and unit-specific programs/initiatives.
3. Group 3 – editorial voice is a lab/center, faculty group, or individual person. Includes research centers/labs, grants and special projects, and faculty personal pages.

All new Group 1 and 2 websites must be reviewed and approved by University Communications before publishing.

The website theme (logos, colors, fonts, and layout) must be approved by University Communications in advance of being published.

IDENTITY

A subsite is a cohesive set of webpages that are subordinate to a website like UTA.edu, but have their own unique header and navigation. Subsites must clearly indicate their identity in the page header (department name, program name, or other title for the subsite). The University logo by itself is NOT sufficient.

LOGOS

An approved UTA logo must be included at the top of all institutional webpages. The logo may be used with the wordmark (institutional signature), or by itself. If the logo is used alone, the words "The University of Texas at Arlington" must appear on the page.

The UTA logo must link to the University's home page, www.uta.edu; the unit's name in the banner should link to the unit's home page.

The appropriate university logo/signature must be presented in a visible, undistorted manner whenever it appears on the Web. The logo must be used in one of the approved colors and should have the appropriate clear space surrounding it. Secondary logos are not permitted unless they have been approved.

When a project, event, or conference is co-sponsored by additional entities, additional sponsor logos can be included.

The standard bookmark icon (favicon) should be used for all institutional webpages. Exceptions may be permitted for web applications and specialty websites.

The University seal MAY NOT be used on websites.

The website must contain relevant contact information for the page’s responsible party or unit on every page, or link to a page that contains contact information.

All webpages must contain a copyright notice: © [year] The University of Texas at Arlington (linked to University home page).

All webpages must contain links to UTA’s Legal and Privacy Notice, Site Policies page, and Accessibility page.

Institutional websites must not promote commercial activity outside of official university business.

Avoid duplicating web content that already exists – instead, link to the existing webpage.

MAINTENANCE

Check for spelling errors, accessibility issues, and broken links using Siteimprove.

Review and update web content regularly (minimum once per year).

MOBILE

Institutional websites must use accepted best practices such as responsive design to provide a mobile-friendly layout.

Web content and functionality that is made available on large screens should generally be made available on smaller screens as well.

The ability to zoom should not be inhibited on mobile devices.

ACCESSIBILITY

All webpages must comply with UTA’s Accessibility policies. Specifically, pages should at a minimum meet WCAG 2.0 A and AA standards. Any documents or multimedia included on institutional webpages should also meet relevant accessibility standards.

See UTA’s Accessibility policy and resources for more information.

ANALYTICS

All webpages should include the University web analytics tag. The analytics tag is automatically added to all Sitecore pages. For other platforms, contact Online Communications for a tag.

WEB ADDRESSES

Any new top-level web address must be approved by University Communications, to ensure appropriate branding and consistent naming, and to avoid or resolve any potential naming conflicts.

Top-level web addresses include:

• Hostnames: .uta.edu
• Top-level folders or pages: uta.edu/