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Best Practices for Creating Research Guides at NVU Libraries

This guide offers tips and a template for creating libguides for NVU Libraries, with the specific intent to make all libguides accessible to every student.

Color Restrictions

Use NVU colors. When you use Create Guide, these colors come up by default.

Text Formatting

Stick to Verdana font.
  • Don't mix different font types.
  • 16pt font is the best readable size.
  • Avoid changing the font size unless you have good reason.
  • If you need headers within a text box, use Heading 3 and Heading 4 in the rich text editor.
  • Don't underline text that is not a hyperlink, as it causes confusion.
  • Use bold or italics sparingly. 
  • Don't use ALL CAPS.

Copying & Pasting

Take caution when copying & pasting content from any source. Many times hidden style code will also be copied along. There are a few ways to avoid hidden style code from being placed into your guide. The rich text editor has a few useful tools to use. Screenshot of rich text editor toolbar. Focus on buttons used for removing hidden formatting from text

  • Button to use for removing hidden styles from copied text. This button will show a popup box that will strip out all text formatting and leave behind plain text. Best for simple text.
  • Button to use for leaving the original formatting as in the Word document. Don't use this button as it can cause weird errors.
  • Button to use for removing all formatting from selected text in the rich text editor. This button will remove all formatting from selected text inside the rich text editor. This will generally solve strange formatting issues you may find from copied text. 

Display Link Descriptions

  • Make sure link and database assets display their description below the link. Don't hide the description behind a hover-over. Screenshot showing the Description Display option to choose, which is Display beneath item title.
  • Break up long list of items into groups so that it can be skipped by screen readers.
  • Make sure linked text makes sense out of context. Ambiguous phrasing obscures what the link is about.

Images and Alt Tags

  • All Images that add to content need to have Alternate text (ALT tags) included. You can check this by double-clicking the image when in the rich text edit mode.
  • If the image links to a resource make sure the image ALT tag also describes the destination. Screenshot of how to add alternative text to an image within the rich-text editor.