Lancashire County Council - specific look and feel standards

Any website that is part of the lancscc.gov.uk or lancashirepartnerships.gov.uk domains must comply with these standards

HTML template

  1. All web systems must make use of the corporate style. This must as a minimum reflect the header and footer elements for the context in which the pages are to be viewed.
  2. Lancashire County Council can provide the relevant images and style sheet guidance with respect to the expected corporate look and feel.

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Cascading style sheets

  1. Cascading style sheet (CSS) specification available from Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C).
  2. Use CSS to format and style all elements of a website.
  3. A copy of the corporate CSS stylesheet can be provided on request.
  4. Systems should not override corporate styles without permission from the Corporate Web Manager.
  5. All pages using CSS must be usable if CSS is disabled.
  6. The use of font tags among content is prohibited in favour of CSS formatting.
  7. H1 style is used for page titles.
  8. H2 style is used for headings.
  9. H3 style is used for sub-headings.
  10. Table background should be transparent. If it is necessary to differentiate information within the table, then it is acceptable to use grey colour (HEX: #CCCCCC).

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Text

  1. Text should be static at all times.
  2. Do not use underline, serif (e.g. Times New Roman), bevelled, drop shadowed, overstretched, lens flared or italicised text.
  3. Don't use large blocks of text in bold as they lack contrast and lose effectiveness.
  4. Don't underline text because underlining denotes a link on the web.
  5. Don't use dropped shadows as the text loses clarity.
  6. Use left aligned text because it is more legible for web pages.
  7. Keep all text (including headings) styled as per the corporate style sheet.
  8. Don't use graphics alone for commonly used terms such as telephone, fax, or email.

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Graphics

  1. All photographic images should be stored in .jpg format.
  2. The majority of graphic images (eg. diagrams) should be stored in .gif format.
  3. GIF and JPG are the only image types to be used. Do not use .bmp, .png, pict etc.
  4. Standard images should normally be 200x200 pixels (portrait) or NNNxNNN pixels (landscape).
  5. The maximum width for an image is NNN pixels with the 'See also' section (right column), or NNN pixels without the 'See also' section.
  6. Single images in a page should have a file size no larger than NN KB. This is an exceptional size, as many images can be reduced to a file size of roughly 10KB.
  7. Provide a thumbnail for larger images and hyperlink to the larger image, or a text description, as appropriate. For thumbnails, remember to make a smaller version of the image rather than just scale it down.
  8. Images should not be used to convey textual information.
  9. A descriptive 'alt' attribute must be added to all images and should be no longer than 50 characters.
  10. Any complex images conveying detailed information should be linked to a full text description.
  11. Decorative images (convey no content / meaning) should contain a null alt value eg. alt="".
  12. Text in maps must be clearly legible and be Arial or Verdana.
  13. Images can be used as links, but make sure the 'alt' attribute reflects the content of the link.
  14. Animated images should cycle no more than four times.
  15. Make sure that Lancashire County Council owns the copyright, or has permission to use all images. You need the permission of the legal guardian to publish pictures or video of children - Use our release form(www) (unless you are taking from a generic image library eg on the Microsoft website).
  16. Avoid using non-photographic clipart.

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Forms

  1. Forms should use legible labels that are correctly bound to 'input', 'textarea' and 'select' elements.
  2. Do not rely on the use of AJAX callbacks or JavaScript initiated postbacks. These features may be used but must always degrade gracefully to reveal a fully functional form that is accessible to devices the do not support scripting.
  3. A corporate CSS file for form styling is available on request
  4. Forms should validate user input on submission and identify any errors next to the relevant field. Forms should also place a notification at the top of the form to denote that one or more errors have occured. Click the thumbnail for a larger version.

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