Link Notations. Retired 2012-May-20

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This page is part of the California Department of Education (CDE) Web Design Standards, which only apply to specific CDE Web sites. Visit the CDE Web Standards to determine if these standards apply to a specific Web product (Web site, Web page, Web document, or Web application) that has been developed by or for the CDE.

Most Web pages (not including Web applications) on all CDE Web sites are created using Adobe's Contribute software templates. WebNETS, which is a custom software application that was created by CDE staff, is also necessary in order to create and process most Web pages on the CDE's public Internet site. Portions of these standards, where noted, apply only to CDE users of Contribute or WebNETS software; or to Web application developers.

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Background

In order to assist site visitors as they navigate the CDE Web site, we provide additional information (link notations) about some hyperlinks in parenthesis immediately after the hyperlink.

Link notations are used following certain hyperlinks in Web pages.

There are three elements of link notations that we include for hyperlinks. The location of the hyperlink, the hyperlink destination, and the circumstances will dictate which link notations are required or are optional.

The three elements and the order that they appear are:

• Date Information
• Document information
• Location information

There is also a "Coming Soon" notation that is not actually a link notation because it is used next to descriptive text that will be a link in the future.

Date Information

Date information is optional as part of any link notation. When used, it is always the first item within a link notation. Date information consists of a calendar date preceded by a modifying term.

The calendar date is always formatted dd-Mmm-yyyy (01-Jan-2007). If a single day is not known, the Mmm-yyy format (Jan-2007) may be used.

A modifying term must precede the calendar date. Modifying terms always have their first letter capitalized with their remaining letters in lowercase. The following modifying terms are allowed:

• Certified
• Corrected
• Dated
• Modified
• New
• Notice Published
• Posted
• Published
• Recertified
• Revised
• Updated
• Suspended

One and only one of the above modifying terms must be used if date information is to be included as part of a link notation. The modifying term and only the modifying term may be changed to the color red, bolded, or both.

The modifying term "New" may only be used for 60 days. If the 60-day limitation presents problems, consider adding content that explains the recentness of the link in the link description instead of using "New" as a modifying term in the link notation. Contribute users must set the WebNETS review date for any Web document or Web page that includes "New" to be no more than 60 days from the action date.

Example:

See the seasonal newsletter for the elementary school community and educators, Elementary Education (Updated 05-May-2006).
[The preceding link, which is the Elementary Education, is no longer valid.]

Document Information

When hyperlinks point to Web documents (any non-Web page), we provide additional information about the type of the document to which we are linking.

Examples of the abbreviation for some document types:

Hyperlinks in Web pages to any Web document must always indicate the document type. Additionally, they must also include the document size and the number of pages (or slides, running time, etc.) Document information is always presented in the following order: type, size, pages.

Only document type is required in the link notation to Web documents or files that are posted to non-CDE Web sites.

Document size is presented in the number of kilobytes (KB) or if the number of kilobytes is over 999, in megabytes (MB). The document size must be rounded to the nearest whole KB or MB. Document size is not included for audio or video files (because they usually stream), but is included for PowerPoint or Captivate presentations.

The number of pages is followed by the abbreviation for page or pages ("p." or "pp."). PowerPoint presentations must instead include the number of slides (7 slides) and for multimedia, running time is simply expressed as hh:mm:ss (1:15:10). Note that the placeholder for hours is not used if the running time is less than an hour (15:10) and minutes (zero minutes) must used if the running time is less than a minute (0:15).

Examples:

Please visit the Winter 2008 Edition of the Elementary Newsletter (PDF; 270KB; 14pp.)
[The preceding link, which is the Winter 2008 Edition of the Elementary Newsletter, is no longer valid.]

2008 STAR Program Summary of Results (DOC; 372KB; 16pp.)
[The preceding link, which is the 2008 STAR Program Summary of Results, is no longer valid.]

Jack O'Connell Urges Students to Learn About Constitution and Become Informed Voters (MP3; 1:45)

Location Information

Whenever a hyperlink points to a destination location that is on a different Web site, the location must be included in the link notation. The required location terms to be used are: Outside Source, CDE Internet, and CDE Intranet.

For the purposes of link notations, all externally available CDE Web sites (e.g., http://www.cde.ca.gov/, http://star.cde.ca.gov/, etc.) are considered the same site, the CDE Internet. The CDE Intranet is considered to include both http://intranet.cde.ca.gov as well as http://iapro.cde.ca.gov/.

On the CDE Internet Web site, hyperlinks to non-CDE Web sites must include the "Outside Source" notation and those to the CDE Intranet2, must include the "CDE Intranet" notation.

CDE Intranet Web site hyperlinks to non-CDE Web sites must also include the "Outside Source" notation while those to the CDE Internet must have the "CDE Internet" notation.

Example:

OMB Circular A-133 (Outside Source)

Coming Soon

While not actually a link notation, "Coming Soon" is a very similar notation that is used with descriptive link text to indicate that a link will be added in the near future.

The "Coming Soon" notation must be included in parenthesis immediately following descriptive link text and it can only be used for a maximum of 60 days.

If a link is not expected to be added within 60 days, unlinked descriptive link text is not appropriate. A solution for these cases is to write a sentence or two that explains the type of content that will soon be added to the site without formatting this information as a link. Contribute users must set the page review date for any Web document or Web page that includes "Coming Soon" to be no more than 60 days from the action date.

The "Coming Soon" notation may not be added as a notation to URLs because they must be active hyperlinks. Bold, red, or both may not be added to this notation.

Example:

OMB Circular A-133 (Coming Soon)

Putting it All Together

According to the rules outlined above, link notations will include date, document, and location information. In some cases, both document and location information may be required. While date information is always optional, it may be included with either document or location information, or both.

Whenever multiple classes of link notations are used, they are separated by a semicolon (;) and they are always noted in the following order: date information, document information, and location information. Instances where all three classes can be used will be rare and because the date information is always optional, use of all three classes together is never required.

Here are multiple examples of link notations:

Hyperlinks on a CDE Internet Web Page

Hyperlinks on a CDE Intranet Web Page

1 Links to Web pages or Web documents on a different Web site must be set to open in a new window. See the Hyperlinks Section of these Design Standards for more information.

2 There are rare cases where a link to the private CDE Intranet site may be placed on a publicly available CDE Web page. Prior approval of any link on a public page to the private CDE Intranet must be obtained from the Web Services Office at tsdweb@cde.ca.gov. When publicly available links are allowed, they must be set to open in a new window and "intranet" in the link destination must be replaced with "igate". The link destination would begin with "http://igate.cde.ca.gov/" (followed by the remainder of the destination) instead of beginning with "http://intranet.cde.ca.gov".

3 Links on a CDE Intranet page to a page on the CDE Internet Web site must be set to open in a new window.