Avoid Common Mistakes

This is a quick list of the most common errors that people make when working on Enterprise Websites.

Learn more in these guides:

Structure your pages correctly.

Facility Name – Use the full name of the facility. Avoid acronyms that people won’t understand.
Hours of Operation go at the top of the page. Don’t add the name of the facility in the Hours of Operation title. Leave it, “Hours of Operation.”
Contact – Format the phone numbers correctly. There’s a pop-up example you can view when you add phone numbers in the site. Always add DSN numbers.
Email Us – You can add a person’s email address as a contact in this space. The system masks that person’s name and hides it from customers. This complies with Army regulations about Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

Do not include personal emails, names or phone numbers anywhere
Personal emails can only be used inside the Contact/Email Us block. The system automatically transforms the address into a generic version. If you need to post an email outside these areas, it must be a generic, non-personal email account. This rule complies with Army regulations about Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Your IT can help you create generic email accounts if needed.

Phone Numbers

Format the phone numbers correctly so they can be tap-dialed using a smart phone.
Include DSN numbers.

Writing

Write using complete sentences. Use proper grammar and punctuation. Keep content short and to the point. No run-on sentences, please.
Use bullets to list services and equipment. Lists keep paragraphs short and help readers scan your content easily.
Don’t mindlessly copy/paste content from publications or what program managers send you verbatim. All content must be edited.
Don’t use all-caps in any content, anywhere. It looks like shouting on a web page.
Do not go overboard on exclamation points! One is enough.
Stop writing “free” in all caps.
Don’t use “&” in body copy. Spell out the word – and. It’s only appropriate to use “&” for lists in tables and when space is limited. Do not use “ + “ in place of “and”.
Proofread all content and test all links.

Be consistent about how you add links.
Choose whether you want links to open in the same page or in a new window. Try to stick to the same method throughout your site.

Use number-digits in text, not the word.
Right: Our campground has 10 RV sites, 5 rustic shelters and 20 tent sites.
Wrong: We have ten (10) RV sites, five (5) rustic shelters...

Don't waste space
Don’t add extra, empty spaces (carriage returns/enter) at the end of content blocks or between tables. This will keep page lengths short and minimize the user’s need to scroll endlessly.

Times
In Hours of Operation blocks, the system automatically formats times for you.

In all text content, use p.m. and a.m. designators with a space after the number. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes.
Right: 1 p.m. or 6:30 a.m.
Wrong: 10 pm or 11:45am

Time on the hour should not include minutes
Right: 1 p.m.
Wrong: 1:00 p.m.

Use "to" for time spans
Right: 7 to 11 a.m. | 10:30 a.m. to 3 pm.
Wrong: 7-11 a.m. | 10:30 a.m. - 3 pm.

Avoid redundancies when writing times and days
Right:: 7 to 9 a.m.
Wrong: 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

a.m. and p.m. indicate day parts. Don’t repeat that information by writing the day part into the sentence.
Right:  10 a.m. (the "a.m." already indicates morning)
Wrong:  10 a.m. in the morning, 10 p.m. Monday night.

Use figures except for noon and midnight.
12 p.m. is noon and 12 a.m. is midnight.
• The New Year's Eve Party is from 8 p.m. to midnight.
• Lunch will be served at noon and the meeting follows at 1:30 p.m.

Dates
Dates are written Weekday/Month/Day/Year. Write the entire word for the day. Abbreviate months.
• Saturday, Jan. 1, 2016

Prices in lists, tables and everywhere
Streamline prices by eliminating unnecessary decimals and figures.
Right: $25, 50¢
Wrong: $25.00

Use glyphs to add symbols like ¢ € ¥ — ñ é etc.
Here's a List of glyphs to copy/paste what you need.

EW offers 5 font size choices

Heading 1 (largest) – This is used for main headings on pages; for facility names and major titles. There should only be one instance of H1 on a page.

Heading 2 (mid-size) – Use this to lead new paragraphs as section titles.

Heading 3 & 4 (small) – Best for sub heads and to start new topics.
Heading 5 (Smallest) – So small that that you might as well use Normal/bold

Normal – is the choice for body text. You can use bold as titles, in the first part of a sentence on a new paragraph or, to draw attention to words and phrases

Tables

If you need a heading for a table, such as "Outdoor Equipment Price List", add it in normal text above/before you start the table.
When setting up tables, write the title of each column, in bold, on the top row only. This ensures that your table will reformat properly to mobile devices.

You must include meta data when adding events and images.

Don’t repeat event names or information in graphics or overlays.
• It’s better to add information as text underneath the image. Plain text is searchable by web browsers. Information that is inside a graphic is not searchable.

• Overlays (appearing in the top right of an image tile) are intended for when you need a quick note like, "Space is limited!"

Photos, illustrations and images — The standard sizes for images is 750 x 421, 72 dpi. 80KB maximum file size.

Do not use flyers as substitutions for event images. Think of images as decoration and as eye-catchers. Information should be added as regular text. Avoid duplicating any information.
Images that don't fit the horizontal proportion can be used as long as they are at least 600 pixels in width.

PDFs and linked documents

Price lists and menus should be added in tables, not as linked documents. PDFs and Word docs are more appropriate for multi-page, lengthy documents and may be included as links. PDFs are difficult to view on a mobile device. Tables adapt to small screens and are easy to read.
The maximum file size for any image or downloadable linked file is 5 megabytes (MB). If your linked document is more than 3 megabytes, consider breaking it into sections. Learn more. Contact a member of the Web Team if you have questions.

2-hour site cache
It can take up to 2 hours for your newly-loaded content to appear because the website refreshes itself every 2 hours.

You will see content changes appear as “live” immediately while logged in.
If logged out, it may take up to 2 hours to see the content reflected on the live (public facing) site.

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Avoid Common Mistakes