Minimal Guidelines for Authors of Web Pages, online document = http://www.mla.org/resources/documents/rep_it/web_guidelines
Copied below, with modifications/ suggestions:
Minimal Guidelines for Authors of Web Pages
(Suggested title: Considerations/Recommendations for Authors of Web Sites)
These guidelines recommend the minimal reference information that should be provided on Web pages intended for use by students, teachers, and scholars in the modern languages. This information will help readers to use, evaluate, search for, and cite information found on the Web.
Information about responsible parties
Identify all individuals and groups responsible for the creation and maintenance of the site. Include individuals' institutional affiliations when relevant. Information to be given might include:
- Authors(s)
- Editors(s)
- Designers(s)
- Institution or organization sponsoring the site
- Contact information
Copyright declaration
- Include an explicit copyright declaration and clear permissions information.
- Original publication: Specify copyright, complete publication reference, and date of last modification. If first published elsewhere, include permission notice.
- Permissions: Indicate to whom applications should be made for reproduction.
- Citation. Provide guidelines for linking on web site and sample bibliographical citation (see Style) on each relevant web page.
LINKS (copyright)
Privacy statement
If you collect information from users of your Web site, you should include a statement of what information is collected and how it will be used. See the MLA privacy statement.
Security issues
Web pages containing sensitive or confidential information should be protected against unauthorized access.
Site information
When appropriate to your purpose, provide the following information:
- Purpose. Indicate the purpose(s) that informed the design of the site.
- Site-information tags. To aid Web searches, include adequate metadata using applicable standards.
- Site configuration. Indicate whether a table of contents, site map, index, bibliography, or other apparatus accompanies the site.
- Citations and permissions. (See Copyright and Style sections).
- Software considerations. Note browser features or plug-ins supported or required by the Web site. Note any provision for readers with special needs (text-only versions, audio supplements, and so on).
- Update and revision notices. Provide the date of the original posting and the last update, the author of the last update, and (optionally) a revision history. It is particularly important to provide revision histories for scholarly resources after they are mounted on a Web site to alert readers of changes that may have been made to a cited version of the Web site.
- Archive notices. If archives of earlier versions of Web texts are maintained by the author(s), directions for accessing or requesting those archives should be included in the site information.
Style
- Web sites should be viewable on standard compliant browsers.
- Web sites should envision various uses of the site and consider how best to support these uses (e.g., numbering parts, facilitating printing of pages, tagging for search engines, inclusion of complete bibliographical reference with persistent URL).
- Web sites should comply with appropriate institutional and statutory guidelines on accessibility. There are well-established guidlines for usability and acceptability.
LINKS (tools and samples?):
LINKS (open access):
These guidelines were approved by the MLA Executive Council at its 21-22 May 1999 meeting and were last reviewed by the Committee on Information Technology in November 2002.
