Standards & Best Practices for LibGuides at YU

• Place the most important content at the top—where users are more likely to read it.
• Guides should be constructed with responsive design in mind.
  • Be sure to view your guide on multiple screens (or resize your browser window to activate LibGuide's responsive design scripts).
• Pages should be in a one-column layout per side-navigation.
  • If the guide is a single page, then side-navigation is not required and you can have have up to three columns (as long as you are keeping responsive design in mind).
• Limit scrolling.
  • If possible, consider if some content can be broken up to another page.

For both cohesion and efficacy, all guides need to have their layout design be set to side navigation (Guide Layout menu → Guide Navigation Layout → YU - Side-Nav Layout).

• It's typically easier for users to understand and navigate without being overwhelmed.
• It's more accessible for users who use screen readers.
• It provides a more consistent experience across devices with LibGuide's intrinsic responsive design.
• Side navigation allows for our users to more easily distinguish between the top navigation of the library website and the (side) navigation of your guide (instead of having two top navigations).

If your already constructed guide is set to top navigation—be mindful that when you switch to side navigation, columns can become invisible (as multiple columns attempt to consolidate into one) and you will have to reorder your boxes (Page menu → Reorder / Move → Boxes) to make sure all content is viewable to users.

• Only leave in your profile box if you are the subject specialist, de facto liaison, or any other scenario where users should be reaching out to specifically you and not just any other librarian. Otherwise, delete it.
• Profile boxes are automatically titled with your job title—change it to be titled to subject specialist (e.g., Social Work Subject Specialist), or whatever most concisely indicates why people should contact you for further help or questions.
• With side navigation, don't have your profile box take up the entire width of column 1.
  • Move your profile box to column 0 underneath the side navigation (Page menu → Reorder / Move → Boxes).

• Avoid library jargon—use words users will understand.
• Avoid vagueness (e.g., "Other" or "Additional Resources")—be specific in naming.
• Keep titles short—they should clearly and concisely convey the content.
• Use title case per capitalization (everything gets capitalized—except articles, conjunctions, and prepositions, unless they start the title).
• Use "&" instead of "and" in titles.