Documents

Optimising documents for the web

All documents available on LTS websites should be optimised for the web. Documents are usually created to be printed out and read. However, when you are making a document available online there are a number of specific factors to consider such as file size, navigation and compatibility.

The main reasons in optimising documents for the web are to reduce the file size to an acceptable level for easy download and to allow the user to easily navigate the document on-screen.

Creating documents

It is important to make documents accessible so that people using devices such as screen readers, PDAs and mobile phones are able to access the information.

There are a number of simple steps you can take to make your Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe PDF files more accessible when published on a website.

Creating structured documents

A structured document will have a ‘structure tree’ that defines the reading order.

This affects how the information will be presented for screen readers, PDAs and other non-standard devices. The more information you provide about the structure of a document the more easily the document can be accessed.

To structure a document effectively you should:

use headings, font, paragraph and othe style options to create a structure
use the ‘columns’ command to create columns rather than using tabs to simulate double-column text
provide alternative text descriptions for all non-text elements – for example images and tables.

Naming convention

It is important that all documents and files are named in a meaningful and consistent way.

The file names should be as descriptive as possible as this is the file name the user will see on their own computer if they download the file.

The following naming conventions should be used:

The file name should be written in title case.
No spaces or underscores should be used between words.
Each file name should be 27 characters or fewer.

Example of meaningful file name:

HowGoodIsYourSchool.doc

URLs within files and documents

Where URLs are used within documents these should be created as live hyperlinks. This will allow a user to navigate directly from the document to the URL without having to type the URL into their browser.

Document properties

The properties of any document available on the LTS website can be viewed by anyone who has access to that document. These properties may also be displayed in search results.

It is therefore important that the Title, Author, Subject and Keywords fields of the document properties be completed at all times.

Title field

This should include the name of the document as you would like it to appear in search results.

Example: How Good Is Our School?

Author field

This should generally include the name of the individual or organisation that holds copyright for the document.

Example: Learning and Teaching Scotland

Subject field

This should include a short description of the document.

This description will often appear in the search results and should therefore be as meaningful as possible and be written as sentences.

The description should include an indication of the audience for the document and the main content.

Example: A set of quality indicators to guide teachers and headteachers in the self-evaluation of their school. The document outlines what the key quality indicators are and how they are used in the self-evaluation of schools.

Keywords field

This should include a maximum of four keywords or short phrases separated by semi-colons.

Example: anti-bullying; school policy; discipline; behaviour

Title attributes for documents

This appears when a user hovers their mouse over the link and should provide information on the format of the file and the file name.

The title attribute should be written as follows.

Title attributes should include the file format followed by the word ’file’.
The file format should be separated from the file name by a colon.
No punctuation is used after the colon.
A capital letter is only used after the colon when a title is being written.

Examples of title attributes for documents

PDF file: A Curriculum Framework for Children 3 to 5
Word file: a pupil activity on Roman leisure activities suitable for Level B

Presenting files on the page

The standard way to present a link to a downloadable document is to display in the following order: the format icon; the written format indicator; a colon; the title; a space; and the file size.

For example:

PDF file: A Curriculum Framework for Children 3 to 5 (12 KB)

Word file: Roman leisure activities (13 KB)