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Glossary

Accessibility
An approach to web design that aims to ensure the widest access to the content and features of a website. The term is often used to refer to accessibility for people with disabilities, particularly blindness. However, accessibility is best considered as a way of producing websites accessible to the broadest range of people. This includes people with limited bandwidth, with older computers and browsers, and people with a range of disabilities including poor eyesight, blindness, deafness, motor impairments, seizure disorders and cognitive impairments. It also includes people using a wide range of user agents such as graphical browser, text-only browsers, screen readers and handheld devices.
Apache
Apache is the Monash University web server software platform.
Brand architecture
'Brand architecture' is a marketing term that refers to a model showing how various entities of an organisation, in this case the university, are connected in relation to the organisation's Masterbrand. One way of thinking about brand architecture is to see it as a family tree that indicates relationships between the various members of a family. Just as there are different degrees of closeness in relationship to a parent - such as daughter, sister and cousin - so too are there different degrees of relationship to the 'parent' brand, 'Monash University'.
Some entities are closely related to the 'parent' brand (e.g. Monash University Clayton campus, Monash University Art and Design), while for other entities the relationship is more distant (e.g. Monash International), and for commercial entities in particular, still more distant (e.g. Monash Sport). At each level in the brand architecture or hierarchy, a different level of branding is required.
For more detailed information on the Monash University brand architecture, see the Monash Brand Guidelines (staff only).
Breadcrumb bar
A text string containing hyperlinks that appears above the main page heading and displays the location of the current page within the navigation hierarchy of a website.
Screenshot showing a breadcrumb bar used on the Monash website
Cognitive disability, impairment
A disability that impacts and individual's ability to access, process, or remember information.
Content management system (CMS)
A system comprising hardware and software that allows an organisation to manage its content--usually web content--by automating business and other processes and providing an authoring environment for web publishers.
Customised web templates
See templates
DTD, Document type definition
DTD stands for "document type definition". A DTD specifies the allowable set and structure of markup elements within a HTML/XHTML document. All web pages should included a DTD declaration at the beginning of the document.
This is the XHTML DTD being used on official Monash web pages:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
Generic web templates
See templates.
Global navigation
A set of navigation links that remain constant across a website.
Screenshot showing the global navigation bar on the Monash website
Home page
The main entry point into a website.
Hexadecimal
Hexadecimal describes a base-16 number system: a system containing 16 sequential numbers as base units (including 0) before adding a new position for the next number. Hexadecimal is a convenient way to express binary numbers in modern computers in which a byte is almost always defined as containing eight binary digits.
Hex value
Colour values can be expressed in a number of ways. For print, colours are usually expressed in CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, blacK) values. For use on computer screens or the web, colours can be expressed in RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values or, more commonly, Hexadecimal (Hex, for short) values.
RGB and Hex values can express the same colour, for example the RGB value for white is 255,255,255. This is equivalent to the Hex value FFFFFF.
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is a set of markup symbols embedded in web pages. These are used to tell user agents (web browsers, etc.) how to display the page.
Information architecture
Information architecture refers to way in which an information space (such as a website) is organised. It refers to the structure, content, labelling and categorisation of information, including the design of navigation and search systems. The aim of information architecture is to help users find information and complete their tasks.
Local navigation
See "section navigation".
Logo

The Monash University logo is comprised of the following elements:

  • the shield
  • the words "Monash University" (or in the case of sub-brands, the words used to denote the sub-brand)
  • the typography
  • the colours used for the shield and the text

Screenshot showing the Monash University logo

The logo used on Monash websites differs from other versions of the logo:

  • the shield uses a websafe blue colour
  • the shield is slightly larger than in print versions of the logo
  • the text is on a single line; never use a two-line version except when including faculty information.
Markup
A generic term that refers to the sequence of characters or other symbols that are inserted in a text or word processing file to indicate how the file should look when it is printed or displayed. Markup can also describe the document's logical structure. Markup elements are often called "tags". HTML is an example of a markup language.
Named anchor
A named anchor is a link within a page, rather than a link to a separate page. Named anchors allow users to jump to points within a document. On all Monash web pages, named anchors are used together with skip links to allow disabled users to jump over repeated navigation elements.
Persistent navigation
See "global navigation".
Screen reader
Software that lets blind users access computer screens and web pages. Screen readers read out the text, or text equivalent, on computer screens and web pages. Popular screen readers are JAWS and Window Eyes.
Section home page
A page that acts as an index or table of contents to information within a section of a website. Sometimes called a "landing page" since they are not a destination page, but provide navigation into the pages with a section of a website.
Section navigation
A set of links that provides users with the ability to navigate around the content within a section of a website. Section navigation is always presented on the left of the screen, with a light-coloured background based on the approved web colour for the particular site.
Screenshot showing a page with section navigation on the left
Server-side include (SSI)
A server-side include is information that a web server can include in a web page when it is sent to the user. Commonly-used SSIs on the Monash website include the date on which the page was last updated, common navigation elements (headers and section navigation) and common page content (footers).
A server-side include instruction looks like this:
<!--#echo var="LAST_MODIFIED"-- >
Shield
An element of the Monash University logo. See logo.
Skip link
A link that allows disabled users who do not use a mouse to skip over repeated navigation items and access the page content directly. Without a skip link, blind users have to listen while screen readers read the repeated page header elements, and users with mobility impairment have to tab through these elements.
Sub-site
The top level Monash web pages are considered the main site, and all other sites--including faculty and divisional sites--are sub-sites. Sometimes the term "sub-site" may be used to refer to a content section within a website. For example, the news and events pages might be considered a sub-site of the main Monash website.
Supplementary navigation
See "utilities, utility navigation".
Templates
Content management system (CMS) templates are contained with the University's content management system, Teamsite. There are two main types of templates: data capture templates (DCTs) which are used to capture content entered into the system, and presentation templates which are reworked versions of the Monash web templates that control the presentation of content generated by the CMS.
Customised templates are a set of templates that have been tailored for use on a specific part of the Monash website. Templates can be customised by your faculty or divisional web team.
Generic templates are a set of templates that has not yet been customised for use on a particular website. A number of customisations needs to be made before templates are suitable for use on any site. Customisations should only be made by experienced web developers who are capable of understanding and giving effect to the instructions on template customisation.
Text browser, text-only browser
A browser that does not display images. Text browsers are used by people who have limited access to bandwidth (e.g. those who live in remote locations), by blind people who also use software that reads the text on the page, and by people who prefer to see only the text on the page.
Top level pages
The set of 100+ pages that comprise the main Monash website. These pages are authorised and maintained by Marketing and Public Affairs, with assistance from the Web Resources and Development group (within the IT Services Division). They bring together a range of resources from around the Monash website in an attempt to provide a cohesive set of entry pages for all target audience groups.
Typography
Fonts or typefaces used to format and display textual content.
Usability
Usability is a property of websites (and other systems and products) that relates to ease of use. Usability is commonly defined as having three core components: effectiveness (how well a task can be completed), efficiency (how easy or quick it is to complete the task), and satisfaction (the user's perception or opinion of the system).
User agent
Any device used to access a web page. A user agent might be a graphical browser, such as Internet Explorer, a WAP-enabled mobile phone, or a screenreader used by blind people.
Utilities, utility navigation
A set of supplementary navigation links including the site map, site index (A-Z index), search and staff directory.
Screenshot showing the Monash utility navigation bar
Web server
The hardware and software that enables a website to be made accessible to users.
XHTML
Extensible HyperText Markup Language is a reformulation of HTML in the style of XML. XHTML can be thought of as the next version of HTML. For more information see the Whatis.com entry on XHTML.
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a flexible way to create common information formats and share both the format and the data on the web, intranets, and elsewhere. For more information see the Whatis.com entry on XML.