LibGuide Best Practices

Assign a friendly URL to the guide so that the guide is easier to find.

• NOTE: Must use lowercase letters
• Never use underscores
• Brief but relevant to content (e.g., http://libraryguides.missouri.edu/institutions)

To change the default URL from a number to a friendly URL, click on the pencil icon located to the right of the URL field.

If applicable, assign a friendly URL to individual pages.

• Click on the pencil icon located to the right of the PAGE URL.

Metadata ensures that the guide is discoverable when searching the site.

• Course Guides
  • Assign the tag "course guides"
  • Never assign course guides to subject categories
     
• Subject guides
  • Assign the tag "subject guides"
  • Assign the subject guide to a subject category
     
•  Integrating libguides into Canvas

Colors and fonts are standard across LibGuides to ensure a consistent look and feel.

Do not change unless such changes truly enhance the guide.

Colors

• Box header background color should remain white with limited exceptions.

Fonts

• Standard font size is 14 px.  Do not go lower than 12 px.
• Avoid customizing font size in an individual box.
• Bold and italicize sparingly.
• Don't underline text - users associate underlined text with links.
• Use additional font colors sparingly; otherwise the page will appear too busy.