Authoring guidelines

iSolutions has made it possible for account holders to contribute to the University world wide web service. While we believe WWW is an important medium for the exchange of information, we are aware that the technology can be abused.

If such abuse occurs iSolutions will take appropriate action. We have a legal responsibility for the manner in which our resources are used, and will take whatever measures are necessary to ensure usage conforms to University regulations and the law. Please note that the manner in which our WWW service has been set up allows us to monitor any pages on our systems whether we are told about them or not.

In practice, we are confident that common sense will ensure things will run smoothly. To help you stay out of trouble, here are a few tips.:

  • Read our Rules & Guidelines pages - these cover relevant University regulations and some aspects of UK law.
  • When writing WWW pages, be particularly careful not to infringe anyone's copyright.
  • Do not include personal information concerning people other than yourself without first checking with that person, or in certain situations, the person responsible for that individual's work (e.g. a Head of Department).
  • Be careful making "links" to other sites - do not assume that all material on the Internet is acceptable for use at Southampton. If you have any doubts as to the suitability of a link, you can email webmaster@soton.ac.uk.
  • There is still some question about the legality of WWW links in certain circumstances. To protect yourself from possible problems:
    • Ask the page owner's permission to create a link
    • Avoid "deep links" (ie. link to the Home Page of the remote site, not specific pages within the site)
    • If you use "frames" never display another person's page within your frame-set unless you have specific permission to do so
  • Do nothing which might lead other users into making improper use of our facilities - a few examples:
    • links to gif archives which may contain pornographic material
    • links to ftp sites which distribute illegal software
    • links to Bulletin Boards which contain dubious material
  • Keep your pages clean. Avoid:
    • Sexist and/or racist material
    • Offensive language
    • Defamatory material
  • Personal pages (i.e. any pages which are not maintained on behalf of an official University body or department) must not give the impression that the content is sanctioned by the University. Personal pages should include a disclaimer stating that the views and opinions expressed are those of the individual and not necessarily those of the University.
  • Always provide the name and contact details for the person responsible for a page.
  • Always provide the date on which the page was last updated.