University Webmaster
Appendix II.
Information Technology Guidelines for the Distribution of Online Documents
These guidelines are strongly recommended for those who use online documents as a primary means of communication.
Guidelines:
1. If documents such as policies, guidelines, or instructions are provided online
they must be provided in HTML Format.
1.1. This means that if the document is created by Georgia Southern University
and is posted to the web, it must be accessible in HTML format.
2. If the document is obtained from an outside source and is in compliance with
these guidelines in the area of commercial use, then it can be posted in the
format it was obtained in.
2.2 . Faculty, Staff, and Students that are obtaining documents from an outside
source are strongly encouraged to procure these documents in HTML Format.
NOTE: This does not mean that you cannot use alternate formats such as Microsoft Word, or PDF. It simply means that if you can please provide that same document in HTML format. Please provide a link to both and state that one is HTML and the other is the alternative document format.
There are several reasons for needing document on the web in HTML format.
- Loading Time. Even though Word Documents and PDF files are extremely nice and simple to author and upload to the server, they do take a considerable amount of time to download. When a user clicks on the link to that document they must wait for that entire file to download to there local machine before the can view it. On campus this is not a problem, but off campus on a dial up modem it is. HTML is a much faster loading language. HTML files on average are much smaller than PDF or Word Files.
- Compatibility. If a user does not have Microsoft Word, Acrobat Reader or other required software installed in their computer then they cannot access the file at all. Where Acrobat Reader is free, Word is not. HTML does not require any special software to view other than the normal web browser they are using to access the website. It is a much more portable document format.
- Web Searching. On the Georgia Southern Homepage there is a search engine
provided to those who visit the site. The current search engine cycles through
the entire web and indexes pages and links. When a document is in PDF or word
format it is basically locked off from the search engine making it difficult
for users to find that information. In HTML format it can be indexed and is
easily searchable.