Web Style Guide

Web Style Guide

The Jacobs School of Music website uses the IU Web Framework. For more information on how the site is built, see the IU Styleguide website.

Departmental Wordpress Pages

The purpose of this guide is to provide resources relating to the new website and the blog platforms, also referred to as WordPress pages, for the departments of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Questions pertaining to the WordPress pages or the Jacobs website should be sent to musicpub@indiana.edu. 

If your department has not yet requested a WordPress page, one can be requested using the “Departmental WordPress Site” form at go.iu.edu/31et.

Resources for Learning the Wordpress Platform

• General explanation of the admin panel interface
• Media and the media library
• Overview of content types
• Posts vs. pages
• Managing content
• Adding a featured image

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility guidelines

Indiana University is required to be compliant with ADA guidelines under penalty of fines and lawsuits. The particular concern with websites and blogs is that the content must be compatible with screen readers to aid those with visual impairments. More information about the university’s accessibility requirements can be found at https://accessibility.iu.edu/.

• PDFs
  • Most PDFs are not considered to be accessible. PDFs cannot be on the Wordpress blog pages unless they are confirmed to be accessible.
  • Instructions for creating accessible PDFs can be found at https://accessibility.iu.edu/creating-content/documents/pdf/index.html 
  • Alternatively, content from a PDF can be laid out on a Wordpress blog page on its own tab for simpler access (see Mimi's String Academy Handbook page for reference: https://blogs.iu.edu/jsomstringacademy/string-academy-handbook/
  • Music scores are not considered to be accessible. Please email musicpub@indiana.edu to request a meeting to discuss options to make PDFs available on Wordpress pages.
• Images
  • Alternative text is required to be provided for each image on the WordPress blog pages. The title of the image is typically not suitable for alternative text. The provided text should be short (10-15 words) and descriptive of the image, so that if someone is unable to see the image, they can understand what is occurring.
  • Best practices for alternative text can be found at https://accessibility.iu.edu/creating-content/web-content/alt-text.html 
  • Alternative text for headshots can simply be the name of the individual in the photo.
• Video
  • Any videos posted to our Wordpress blog pages are required to have transcripts submitted for captioning purposes to aid those who are hearing impaired. Instrumental music is exempt from transcription, but any speech or vocalization should be documented.
  • Guidelines for creating accessible videos can be found at https://accessibility.iu.edu/creating-content/multimedia/videos.html 
  • Guidelines for providing transcripts and captions can be found at https://accessibility.iu.edu/creating-content/multimedia/transcripts-captions.html 
• Tables
  • While tables can be helpful in laying out information, they are not always accessible.
  • The JSoM Communications office is currently exploring alternative options to provide content in the same organized format while meeting accessibility standards. For any questions, please contact musicpub@indiana.edu