The following standards were retired on May 20, 2012. This page will serve to document this Web standards change. Return to the Web Standards Change Log for May 2012, or visit the current Titles Section of the Web Design Standards.
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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.
A page title is required on all Web pages (including Web application pages) and Web documents. It is also a part of the metadata in Web pages and part of the properties area for Web documents. Being in the metadata or properties, it allows it to also appear in a user’s Web browser title bar. The metadata or properties also contain the description/subject and keywords, which along with the page title provide information that is displayed in search engine results, including those of the CDE search engine. The page title is one of the most important parts of any Web page or document.
For CDE Web pages and documents, the page title:
- Must be unique or different from other Web pages and documents of the same file type, which are stored within the same physical folder (e.g., the "ef" folder on http://www.cde.ca.gov/ab/cd/ef/) on any CDE Web site.
- Should match the name of the link that brought the visitor to it.
- Must use title case (uppercase/lowercase).*
- May be italicized in whole or in part only where a particular word or phrase is required to be italicized by the CDE Style Manual or the CDE Correspondence Guide (e.g. Education Code).
- Must follow the Funding Standards or the Clearinghouse for Multilingual Documents (CMD) Parental Notification Documents section of these Design Standards if the page or document is contained within either the Funding section or is a parental notification within the CMD.
* All uppercase may be used for page titles in management bulletins, correspondence or similar documents that are required to look exactly like a document mailed from the department.
For the Intranet
The standard format for metadata page titles on the CDE Intranet Web site is the unique page title followed by a space, followed by a hyphen, followed by a space, followed by the name of the sub-topic (or sub-sub-topic), followed by a space, followed by "(CDE Intranet)". The sub-topic should be appended unless the sub-sub-topic provides a more descriptive indicator of the content in that section of the site. However, within a given sub-sub-topic, usage of either the sub- or sub-sub-topic must be consistent. A page title for the Intranet would look like this (using the sub-topic option):
Web Application Review Team (WebART) - Web Services (CDE Intranet)
Contribute Users
Contribute must be used to enter page titles into Web pages for the Intranet. When a new page is created, the page title may be entered in the Insert New Page dialog form. Subsequently, the page title may be edited when the Web page is in "edit" mode by choosing Format and then Page Properties from the main menu in Contribute.
For the Internet
The standard format for metadata page titles on the CDE Internet Web site is the unique page title followed by a space, followed by a hyphen, followed by a space, followed by the name of the sub-sub-topic (sub-topic, or topic in some circumstances), followed by a space, followed by "(CA Dept of Education)". A page title for the Internet would look like this:
Correspondence - Accounting (CA Dept of Education)
Custom Metadata Page Titles
There are two alternate formats available in addition to the standard format for metadata page titles. These alternate formats, custom string and null string, can be used for both index pages and non-index pages, but must be requested by a Division Web Coordinator via e-mail to tsdweb@cde.ca.gov and approved by the Web Services Office.
If the custom string or null string alternate format is requested and approved, all of the Internet Web pages within the sub-sub-topic or sub-topic will incorporate the format of the chosen option. Web documents that reside in sub-sub-topics or sub-topics where these options have been employed, must have metadata page titles that match the chosen format.
One advantage to modifying the standard format for metadata page titles is to create a more descriptive page title, which might lead to more useful search results. A disadvantage occurs if these options are used to create page titles that become too long.
Standard
For fourth-level index pages, the default is to append the sub-topic name and "(CA Dept of Education)" to the page title. For fourth-level non-index pages, the default is the same except to append the "sub-sub-topic name instead of the sub-topic. Examples:
Index: Curriculum Frameworks - Foreign Language (CA Dept of Education)
Non-index: School Attendance Improvement Strategies - Child Welfare & Attendance (CA Dept of Education)
Custom String
A custom string can be appended to the page title (instead of the default sub-topic or sub-sub-topic name). The custom string must then be appended to all pages within that sub-topic or sub-sub-topic. Examples:
Index: Current & Past Agendas - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education)
Non-index: What's New - CSR K-3 (CA Dept of Education)
[The preceding link, which is the What's New - CSR K-3 (CA Dept of Education), is no longer valid.]
Null String
A null string (nothing) can be "appended" to the page title (instead of the default sub-topic or sub-sub-topic name). The null string must then be "appended" to all pages within the sub-topic or sub-sub-topic. Examples:
Index: Milken Family Foundation National Educator Awards (CA Dept of Education)
Non-index: CBEDS Instructional Materials (CA Dept of Education)
Titles Used in the Core Information Structure
The core information structure of the CDE Internet Web site is comprised of the CDE Home page, topic pages, sub-topic pages, sub-sub-topic pages, and their descriptions.
Titles for any of the index pages that are part of the core information structure must use the ampersand (&) instead of the word "and".
When the ampersand is used and there are three or more items, use of the serial comma (Outside Source) is required.
WebNETS Users
Because Contribute users do not have direct access to HTML code, WebNETS is used to allow Contribute users to enter the metadata, including page titles into Web pages. Once entered into WebNETS, the page title will appear in the browser's title bar at the top of the Web page.
When italics are required in a page title because of usage rules in the CDE Style Manual, HTML tags for italics " <i>" and " </i>" must surround the text that is to be italicized. For example, in the Page Title field in WebNETS, you might enter the title “Key Elements of the <i>Education Code</i>”. This would display the title as follows:
Key Elements of the Education Code - Character Education (CA Dept of Education)
Adding any other HTML tag to WebNETS titles will cause the tags o be displayed as text in the title.
Web Applications
Metadata titles in Web applications must have the following format:
For the Internet
Page name/function - Application name (CA Dept of Education)
Alternatively, applications that are posted to the WWW server only, may optionally adopt the metadata title format that is typical for pages on the CDE Web site:
Application name/function - Sub-sub-topic (CA Dept of Education)
For the Intranet
Page name/function - Application name (CDE Intranet)