Updated-SPH Website Content Guidelines

To convey and advance the SPH’s vision, mission, values and goals as outlined in the 2018-2022 Strategic Plan
To position SPH as a 21st century School of Public Health by demonstrating impact at local, state, regional and national levels
To attract prospective students: emphasize unique undergraduate opportunities and increase freshman applications; attract higher quality graduate students
To activate key audiences to support, apply to or connect with SPH
To distinguish programs and accommodate future expansion of programs
To better coordinate content between school level and department level (make content easy to find and keep updated)

Content Principles

Content creation goes beyond just having words, images, or videos on our site, every piece of content should serve a purpose in our communications and marketing strategy. As such, we need to ensure that the content on our website follows important content principles that will ensure what we are presenting the School of Public Health in the best light by focusing on readability.

With every piece of content we create, we aim to:

Educate: Demonstrate the breadth of expertise in the School of Public Health and how the school’s research and activities are making an impact. Don’t oversell, keep in mind what readers need and want to know, not just what we want to say. Give them the information they seek, along with opportunities to learn more.

Inspire: Show the power of public health to transform lives through stories and visuals that inspire readers to become part of our school community. Demonstrate what public health is and does and why it matters.

Guide: Think of yourself as a tour guide for readers. Provide helpful information that leads them through a process of discovery about the opportunities available to them without overwhelming them with too much info or dissuading them from continuing the journey because the experience is too laborious.

Translate: Turn complex information into plain language and break down multi-step processes into clear and digestible chunks.

Engage: Provide ways for readers to get involved, learn more and take the next steps to apply, donate, partner with us, etc.

To achieve our content goals, we need to make sure that our language is:

Clear and accurate: Understand the content you are writing about or consult with someone who does. Write using short and simple sentences whenever possible. Double check that your content is correct in all details.

Useful and informative: Does the content serve a clear purpose? Who is going to read it? Will they learn what they need to know?

Authentic and friendly: Write like a human. Use language that people can relate to and will help them to feel that there are real, likeable people behind the content.

Intelligent and Inclusive: Keep it simple, but don’t patronize or talk down to readers. Use academic or specialist language appropriately and define terms or use a more lay term if possible to keep readers without an expert background from checking out.

How to Write Good Content for the Web

Finalize Your Content Outside of the Website

Editing the website should be the final stage of your content development.

shou. Pages that say “content will be added soon” or that include unfinished, unreviewed or nonpublic content will not be approved for publishing.

Write in Our Voice and Tone

Our Voice

As a School of Public Health, we are known for our diverse student body and our commitment to equity and social justice. We embrace and celebrate the experiences of our students (many of whom are first-generation and/or from immigrant families and/or are from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups). We want to educate and mentor the next generation of public health leaders who will reflect the shifting demographic makeup of our state and nation. Ours feels like a small, intimate and supportive community within a large and scholarly university. We are passionate about promoting health and optimistic about the power of public health tools and scholarship to break down the barriers that keep individuals, families, communities and populations from attaining optimum health and well-being.

Characteristics (how people describe us):

Scholarly yet accessible
Committed
Socially active and aware
Inclusive
Young, scrappy and hungry (nod to Hamilton)
Interdisciplinary
Dynamic
Innovative
Mission-driven
Supportive community
Dedicated to diversity, inclusion, equity
Service-oriented and community-engaged

Our Tone

Our tone is direct and personal - communication is most effective when the reader feels that she or he is being addressed directly - but also should reflect the authority and reputation of a leading academic institution. Aim to be upbeat and positive. Not stuffy, but not too casual. Our tone will need to be tailored to the form of communication as well - news releases and research stories require a more direct and impartial tone, while social media posts and alumni profiles can be more friendly, enthusiastic and engaging.

Follow the UMD/SPH Editorial Style Guides

Our style guides establish and enforce style rules to improve communication and foster consistency throughout our website. This consistency elevates our status as a credible scholarly source of information.

The School of Public Health follows a modified version of the Associated Press (AP) style guide and supplements the UMD Editorial Style Guide.

Familiarize yourself with both the SPH and UMD style guides and write all content using this style.

Access the UMD Editorial Style Guide

Access the SPH Editorial Style Guide

A few key points from the UMD/SPH Editorial Style Guides

Do not use a serial/oxford comma, which is placed before the and, or or nor in a list of three or more items.
Headlines for pages, news stories and headings should be capitalized using headline case: capitalize all words except articles, prepositions or conjunctions that have fewer than four letters.
Job titles are lowercase unless the title directly precedes someone’s name. Example: Stephen Roth, director of the Public Health Science program AND Public Health Science Director Stephen Roth.
Do not use periods for any degree abbreviations. Example: BA, MS, MPH, MA, PhD, DrPH
Refer to our alumni with their graduation year, e.g., Andre Blackman ’05 (note: use a closing single quote in front of the graduation year and for undergraduate alumni, simply include the grad year and omit the degree abbreviation) or Naheed Ahmed PhD ’20 (do include the degree abbreviation for graduate alumni)
Using the school’s acronym: Write “in the SPH,” not “in SPH” (use "the" where you would use it if you were saying the name in full)

Follow the SPH Web Writing and Web Accessibility Rules (Checklist)

In addition to writing in our voice and tone and abiding by the UMD and SPH Style Guides, this checklists lists out concrete rules for the principles of style, structure, images/multimedia and PDFs/forms that will ensure that your content furthers the School’s goals. Accessibility principles are also woven into the checklist.

Follow this checklist as you write and check your content against this checklist when you are done.

Principle 1: Writing Guidelines

1.1 — Follow the UMD/SPH Editorial Style Guides
1.2 — Use descriptive and clear titles/headlines for pages, headers and news stories
Write headlines or page titles that are descriptive yet concise. Emphasize the “so what” of the news (i.e., why it matters) over generic facts or congratulatory statements.

Strategically include keywords in your title so that your page is more likely to appear in search engines.

Say: Public Health Science Advising Resources

Don’t Say: Advising Resources

Say: Anna Posbergh to Study Transgender Eligibility in Sports Competition

Don’t Say: Anna Posbergh is awarded a Whitlark

Say: Sandra Quinn Awarded $5 Million to Study Vaccine Misinformation on Social Media Don’t Say: Dr. Quinn Receives $5 Million Grant

1.3 — Text does not use any off brand colors or fonts
1.4 — Ensure that the text is error free
Check your content for spelling and grammar corrections.
1.5 — Use active rather than passive voice and a positive tone

Say: We offer eight Master of Public Health concentrations.

Don’t Say: Eight Master of Public Health concentrations are offered at the School of Public Health.

1.6 — Use the first and second person when possible.

Say: Our MPH program is ranked number one by College Factual!

Don’t Say: College Factual has ranked our MPH number one.

1.7 — Use direct and plain language whenever possible
Avoid jargon, terms only familiar to UMD insiders and overly academic writing approaches.
Always spell out abbreviations on the first instance.

Say: The School of Public Health offers the following courses for undergraduate students.

Don’t Say: This is a list of the descriptions of the courses that are being offered for undergraduate students in the School of Public Health.

1.8 — Use specific, factual details and avoid vague statements

Say: Our faculty members bring diverse expertise, including in the areas of health communication, adolescent health, cancer prevention, substance abuse and mental health. We are proud of our leadership in research on LGBTQ mental health, which is supported by a $3.75 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Don’t Say: The Department’s faculty is extremely experienced and is comprised of individuals from diverse disciplines with varied subject interests. The faculty’s productivity is prodigious, as evidenced by over 325 published journal articles since 1996, and research funds of over $2.5 million a year since 1997.

1.9 — Create content that will be (more) evergreen and not quickly dated

Avoid noting time frames that will be outdated within a year and require updating that is unlikely to happen.

Say: Jan-Michael Archer, a PhD student in the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health (CEEJH) laboratory, joined the School of Public Health in 2017.

Don’t Say: Jan-Michael Archer is a third-year PhD student in the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health (CEEJH) laboratory.

1.10 — Ensure contextual consistency
Limit duplication on the website and ensure consistency when presenting similar types of content.

For example, every instance of our Name, Address and Phone number should be the same. The structure should be:

Official Department Name

4200 Valley Drive, College Park, Maryland 20742-2611

Suite #

Contact Person’s Name and Email (if available)
Phone Number: (AreaCode) 123-4567

1.11 — Use descriptive hyperlinks and if using URLs on their own, use short links

Ensure that any linked text indicates the nature of the link. Do not rely on visual or auditory cues for links. All links must be underlined.

Say: Refer to the Undergraduate Program Handbook for degree requirements and policies.

Don’t Say: Click here to access degree requirements in the Undergraduate Program Handbook

If using a URL on its own, use a shortened version via go.umd.edu. For example. Read stories quoting SPH experts on Covid-19 at: go.umd.edu/covid19news

1.12 — Do not use buttons as links
Buttons are not an accessible way to display links. Instead, descriptive hyperlinks should be used.

Principle 2: Structure

2.1 — Ensure that the navigation order of headers, links and other elements is logical and intuitive.
For example, heading 1 goes before heading 2 and so forth.
2.2 — Always left align text
Although it may seem attractive to center or justify text, all text should be left-aligned.
2.3 — Avoid walls of text
Text blocks should be no more than 80 characters wide.
Craft content for how people read on the web—content needs to be scannable and easy to digest in chunks. Break up long pieces of text with subheadings and into separate paragraphs. This can make it easier for people to find the information they're looking for.
2.4 — Limit paragraphs to around 70 words.
2.5 — Ensure Adequate Page Length
Pages should be at least two 70-word paragraphs long. Pages that are adequate in length are more likely to be picked up by search engines. Other benefits include reducing the number of necessary pages, increasing the number of links in and to the page and making pages more engaging.
2.6 — Use bulleted (unordered) lists and numbered (orderd) lists appropriately to organize content
2.7 — Establish a good network of internal links and featured content.
Include links back to main content or related content on your pages.

Use skip links (anchor links) back to main content on longer pages.
Ensure that there are multiple ways to find other related web pages.

Principle 3: Images and Multimedia

3.1 — Include visuals or multimedia when possible (and as appropriate).
In addition to breaking up large chunks of text, an accompanying visual can make people much more likely to interact with a page.
3.2 — Select appropriate images and size them appropriately
Just like content, images can become outdated. Make sure that the images you include on your site are current, clear and appropriate. Email sph-comm@umd edu to request help with images.

If the same visual presentation can be made using text alone, an image should not be used to present that text (excluding logos).
Example: A banner instead of a page title
Images that are in line with text should be no more than 300px wide and no smaller than 150px wide
Header Images should be 600px wide and 200px tall
Take care not to distort the aspect ratio of images

3.3 — Always add alternative (alt) text to your images

Describe the image and be specific. Use the image's subject and the context of the page where the image is used as a guide
Keep your alt text fewer than 125 characters. Screen-reading tools typically stop reading alternative text at this point
Jump right into the image's description. Screen-reading tools (and Google) will identify it as an image from the article's HTML source code
Make sure that alternative text for images and buttons include text that is included in the image/button
If an image is purely decorative include the alt text “”
If the image is complicated like a pie chart, include an additional description of the image as a caption or body paragraph within the page

Bad Alt Text: Picture of a woman in a graduation cap and gown.

Good Alt Text: A woman celebrates graduating with a master’s degree in public health

for the University of Maryland.

3.4 — Display multimedia as embedded content instead of links
Where possible and appropriate, embed multimedia like videos using the option in the content editor.
3.5 — Always Include a title tag for multimedia (for new site)
When copying and pasting embed code for videos or Flickr albums, title tags are sometimes excluded. Check to see if a title tag is included and if not, add one yourself. Adding the title tag involves editing the code to include the title tag by inserting (title="title of video or album") after the section titled “href”.

Example: <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/umdpublichealth/albums/72157713357354613" title="2020 Public Health Without Borders Celebration"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49617401493_07f57d34a8_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="2020 Public Health Without Borders Celebration"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

3.6 — Make sure the embedded multimedia is accessible
Ensure that your multimedia contains captions or provide a PDF of the transcript as an accompanying link.
3.7 — Compress Large Images
Compressing media ensures that your images do not negatively affect your page’s load time. If your image is larger than 100Kb use a program like https://squoosh.app/ to compress the image before using it on the website.
3.8 — Make sure to host images on the SPH website
Never copy and paste a picture from a different source. Always upload the image to our file browser before using it on our website.
1.16 — Follow our naming conventions for images and PDFs
Sections and separate words should be separated by dashes (-).

Headshots: FirstName-LastName
Example: John-Doe.jpg
Stock Images: Stock-ImageSource-ImageNumber-ImageContent
Example: Stock-iStock-178509045-Irrigation.jpg

Images that from SPH Flickr: FLK-FlickrNumber-Dept-ImageContent
Example: FLK-49588460697-PHACE-Members-

Note: the Flickr number can be found when the image is downloaded from Flickr. It is the first 11-digit number.
News Images: DeptName-News-NewsDate-ImageContent
Example:FMSC-News-10.20.2020-iStock-1183105237-Black-Family
General Images: DeptName-ImageContent
Example: MCHE-MOM-2019-Group
SPH Logo: DeptName-LogoType
Other Logos: OrgName-Logo

Principle 4: PDFs and Forms

4.1 — Do not use Word Documents
Word documents exhibit a slew of issues related to accessibility that make them unideal for the website. Convert word documents into PDFs for use on the SPH website.
4.2 — Consider whether you need a PDF or whether a webpage will work better
Webpages are the ideal method of displaying content on our website.
4.3 — If you do create a PDF, first create it as word document and then export as PDFs
Just like web page content, we suggest drafting, collaborating on and reviewing PDF content in Google Documents or Word first.
4.4 — All PDFs should be branded with the appropriate SPH logos
Use the Word for PDF templates from the SPH intranet to create branded PDFs (coming soon).
4.5 — PDFs must follow the same rules for style, structure and images as web pages
PDFs will also be evaluated against the UMD/SPH Style Guides and this Checklist.
4.6 — All PDFs should be made accessible through the accessibility tool
Just as Google and other search engines read your website pages to see if your content is appropriate to suggest in search results, they also read your PDFs. Ensure that PDFs are accessible using the accessibility wizard tool and adhere to the same standards listed above for your content. Follow the instructions available on the Adobe Acrobat Create and Verify PDF Accessibility page to make your PDF accessible.
4.7 — Google and Qualtrics forms should be used when possible instead of PDF fillable forms
PDF fillable forms are difficult to make accessible and difficult to create and share virtually. Determine if a PDF fillable form can instead be replaced by a Google or Qualtrics form. If the form does not need to be printed out at any point, consider Google or Qualtrics forms.