• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
UT Shield
College of Fine Arts Web instruction
  • Welcome
  • About Us
    • WordPress & Drupal
    • Websites & Content Owners
  • Getting Started
    • Learn Best Practices for Web
    • Vocabulary Terms
    • Do you need a website?
    • Ways to Get a Website
      • Website Options Comparison
      • Initiate a Project with the Web Team
      • Outsource or DIY
    • Know Your Audience
    • Navigation & Menu Items
  • Requirements
    • Americans with Disabilities Legal Obligations
      • Alternate Text
      • Use of Color & Contrast
      • Link Text & Appearance
        • Non-Visible Link Context
      • PDF Files
      • Software Plug-in Link
      • Captions, Audio Description & Transcripts
        • webVTT Caption File
        • Caption Using Amara
        • Writing Captions & Audio Description
        • Video & Remote Communications
      • Additional ADA Issues
        • Accessible Social Media
        • Video & Remote Communications
    • UT Web Accessibility Policy
    • UT Web Privacy Policy
    • Records Retention – Backups, Archives and Revisions
    • College of Fine Arts Brand
    • UT Brand Guidelines
    • Information Security Office Policies
  • Best Practices
    • College of Fine Arts Communications Written Style Guide
    • Using a Rich Text Editor
      • Using an External HTML Editor
    • Links & URLs
      • Link Text & Appearance
        • Non-Visible Link Context
      • Absolute vs. Relative Paths
      • HTTP vs HTTPS
      • Anchor Links
      • Changing URLs
      • Shorten a URL for Marketing
    • Images
      • JPG vs PNG
      • Image Editing and Troubleshooting
    • Web Forms & Surveys
      • Create a Link to Pre-Filter a Web Form Page
    • Standards & Structure
      • Hierarchical Headers
      • Computer File Names
      • URL address names
        • UT Short Links Service
      • HTML
        • Common HTML Errors
        • Multiple Rows with Floated Images
        • Responsive Word Wrapping
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Test & Evaluate
    • Wikipedia
    • Social Media & Networking
      • Accessible Social Media
    • RSS & Feeds
    • UT Austin Web Publishing Guidelines
  • Site Performance
    • Page Load Time
      • Fonts
    • Respond to a Variety of Devices
      • Telephone Numbers on Smart Phones
    • Analytics & Visitor Data
      • Outreach Campaign Link Tracking
        • Campaign URL Builder
        • Campaign Link Tracking Worksheet
    • Page Not Found Traffic
    • Tips to Increase Traffic
    • Optimize for AI Chat and Search
  • Site Specific Instructions
    • Instructions for COFA sites on University Blog Services WordPress
    • Instructions for COFA Drupal Kit sites
    • Instructions for COFA sites on UT Drupal Kit Managed

Learn Best Practices for Web

Last Updated July 2024

Web Best Practices Module

The Web Best Practices module is assigned to all new College of Fine Arts web content editors to help increase confidence and understanding of the requirements necessary to build visitor friendly, high quality, secure, compliant and accessible web content: https://utexas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5hv7lzZdeEAWz77

What You’ll Learn

Most of what you will learn is included with additional detail in this instruction website under the headings of Getting Started, Requirements, Best Practices, and Site Performance. Highlights in the module, include:

  • Tips for making search engines, like Google, including generative search and AI Chat bots, rank your content higher and improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
  • Tips to optimize web content for responding to different types of web browsers and data connection speeds, including image optimization.
  • HTML coding basics for semantic structured content and the importance of heading structure.
  • How to make a website accessible to adhere with the Americans with Disabilities laws, including alternate text, use of color and contrast, importance of link text and the appearance of interactive elements, etc.
  • Other Requirements for UT branding, copyright, privacy, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), information security, etc.
  • How and when to use the lang attribute, including a list of language codes.
  • Considerations to better understand your website’s audience.
  • Plus, a lot more!

Learn More

You can email us at cofawebmaster@austin.utexas.edu if you have questions about your website, or attend one of our monthly Open Office Hours (information in sidebar). We’re also happy to meet any time to help with any college website needs.

Primary Sidebar

Open Office / Co-Working Sessions

Second Monday of the month:
11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Fourth Thursday of the month:
2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Email us for the Zoom link.

College of Fine Arts WordPress Instruction
College of Fine Arts Drupal Instruction
Subscribe to our email list to receive periodic tips and resources for generating great digital content

Contact Us

The COFA Web team can be reached by emailing us at cofawebmaster@austin.utexas.edu


To view some links on this page you may need to download Acrobat Reader.

UT Home | Emergency Information | Site Policies | Web Accessibility | Web Privacy | Adobe Reader

© The University of Texas at Austin 2025