Getting Started - Required Elements

Texas state codes and university policies break web sites down into three basic groups: university home pages, Key Public Entry Points (generally, division-, college-, and department-level sites) and all others. University home pages and Key Public Entry Points have several mandated required links and META tags. Note that "all other" pages includes subpages of sites designated as university home pages or Key Public Entry Points; only the index pages of these sites are subject to the special requirements.

Required Links

University home pages must include the following links on their home page:

  • State of Texas homepage
  • Texas Homeland Security web site
  • Statewide Search web site
  • State or university link policy
  • University contact information

University home pages must include links to either each of the following items or a link to a "Site Policies" page that contains the links:

  • University accessibility policy
  • Site validation standard (i.e., §508)
  • Contact information for the University's web accessibility coordinator (ITRM)
  • Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities web site
  • University privacy and security policy
  • Open Records/Public Information Act policy/procedures
  • Compact with Texans

Key Public Entry Points must include the following links on their home page:

  • University home page

Key Public Entry Points must include links to either each of the following items or a link to a "Site Policies" page that contains the links:

  • University contact information
  • University accessibility policy
  • Site validation standard (i.e., §508);
  • Contact information for the University's web accessibility coordinator (ITRM)
  • Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities web site

Required HTML Tags

University home pages and Key Public Entry Points must both contain the following HTML tags:

  • <title>
  • The following <meta> tags:
    • DC.Subject
    • DC.Subject.Keyword
    • DC.Description
    • DC.Type

Note that subject and key words should be detailed and specific to the information contained on the page, not generic content reused everywhere.

Recommended Links

While the following links are no longer explicitly required, we highly recommend that all pages on all sites incorporate them:

  • Link to departmental webmaster