General Content Organization Guidelines

The following content outlines the best practices for using the CMS page editor. We do not advise that you copy and paste content from a word processor or existing internet page directly to the Pages WYSIWYG (“What You See Is What You Get”) editor. When content is directly pasted from word processors or an internet page, the copy may retain its existing styling which will make it look different than the rest of the website. To paste content from a word processor or internet page click the clipboard icon () in the WYSIWYG editor and follow the onscreen instructions.

Sample Content Outlines

Let’s go over a simple way to organize your content on the page:

• Page header (Header 1)
  • Intro blurb
• Section header (Header 2)
  • Description paragraph, images, list, table, or block quote
    • Subsection (Header 3)
      • Description paragraph, images, list, table, or block quote
• Section header (Header 2)
  • Description paragraph, images, list, table, or block quote

The page header is the title to your page. This is also referred to as Header 1. Because it is used as the title, there can only be one Header 1 per page.

The page is then broken down into sections, with titles for each of those sections. The titles to these sections are called headings. Headings start with the most general and overarching title, Heading 1 (h1), and go down to the most specific, Heading 4 (h4). Again, there can only be one h1, but you can have as many of the others as you like. When writing titles and subtitles, keep in mind that they should be a clear and concise summation of the content that follows.

Headings should always follow a clear order. Say, for example, you have a page called “Facts & Figures” that is broken into three sections called “The Academic Program,” “The People,” and “The Place.” And “The People” is broken into three subsections called “Students,” “Student Honors Earned,” and “Faculty.” Your page should be organized like this:

• h1: Facts & Figures
  • h2: The Academic Program
  • h2: The People
    • h3: Students
    • h3: Student Honors Earned
    • h3: Faculty
  • h2: The Place

As you’ll notice, any subsection that sits under a Heading 2 is a Heading 3. Let’s say we add two subsections to each Heading 3 item. The page would then look like this:

• h1: Facts & Figures
  • h2: The Academic Program
  • h2: The People
    • h3: Students
      • h4: Subsection
      • h4: Subsection
    • h3: Student Honors Earned
      • h4: Subsection
      • h4: Subsection
    • h3: Faculty
      • h4: Subsection
      • h4: Subsection
  • h2: The Place