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CMS 5 Resource Guide

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Although not required, the following recommendations will help ensure your site is approved and increase your user's experience. 

In addition to the recommendations below, please confirm that your site follows the Site Approval Requirements before requesting to push live.

Issue:

Requirement:

Additional Resources:

Accordions – Contain Too Much Information
  • Accordions should contain one topic per accordion.
  • The accordion title should describe the content inside
  • CMS Resource Site: Module Overview

Consistency - Links, Buttons, Menus
  • Links, Buttons, Menus, should be uniform in how they are formatted across your site.
  • Identify a select group of buttons that best meet your design needs and deploy them similarly across the site.
  • CMS Resource Site: Chunks Overview

Consistency - Headers
  • To make your site easy to navigate, headers should be uniform across all pages.
  • Identify a select group of header sections that best meet your design needs and deploy them similarly across the site - especially on like pages.
  • CMS Resource Site: Chunks Overview

Headers 
  • Headers should be simple and concise. Use as few words as possible.
  • Headers should be written for optimized search results.
  • Full sentences (e.g., taglines) should not be used as headers in most cases.
  • CMS Resource Site: Chunks Overview

Hosting Content Site Owner/Dept. Does Not Control
  • Avoid hosting content (e.g., documents/pdfs, web copy) on your website that you do not own and control.
    • Instead, point to an external destination controlled by the content owner.
  • CMS Resource Site: Site Settings

PDF Accessibility
  • Convert PDFs to accessible and user-friendly webpages.
  • Uploaded PDFs are difficult to remediate for accessibility.
  • Accessibility Site: PDF Documents

Person Profile Images – Placeholder Image Used When No Profile Image Provided
  • When creating staff pages, use the GVSU logo when no headshot is available. 
  • CMS Resource Site: Chunks Overview

Site Navigation – Important Pages Included in Site Navigation
  • Most pages should be in the site menu system - especially pages that contain important information for your primary audiences.
  • CMS Resource Site: Organizing Your Website

Writing for the Web
  • Put your most important information first.
  • Write concisely, users often want to find information fast.
  • Expect users to enter your site from any page, not only the homepage.
  • CMS Resource Site: Writing for the Web Recommendations
Page last modified April 16, 2025