Single Sources of Truth
Certain UNH websites have been designated as the single source of truth for university-wide information. When something is a single source of truth, its information cannot be copied onto any other web page. Websites must link to or embed information from those sources.
Embedded UNH Content
Information from these UNH sites can be embedded on any UNH website, filtered to display only relevant information:
- Academic calendar: Master calendar
- Events: Master calendar
- Program descriptions, course inventories and graduation requirements: catalog.unh.edu
- Faculty Information: Banner and myElements
- College and School sites: Faculty profile pages should use the User ID functionality to pull in faculty information from Banner and myElements. Faculty that are not in Banner should not be added to the website. Faculty are added to Banner during semesters when they teach and will be pulled in automatically at that time. Adding faculty profiles manually can cause duplicate, inaccurate or outdated content.
- Other sites: Whenever possible, link to the faculty member's profile page rather than duplicating information. In the case where the faculty member needs a listing, try to include only information pertinent to the site and then link to the profile page for the full bio and CV.
- News stories: UNH Today
For help embedding information from these sources on your site, please contact Web and Mobile Development (WMD).
UNH Websites
While not all website content is available for embedding, each school/college/ department/service/organization website is generally considered the single source of truth for that information. If you want to provide information about a topic, link to these sites rather than copying the information.
Internships
- Individual sites should link to Handshake rather than listing external internships on their own sites
- Internal internships specific to a department or college can have web pages in the college site
- Otherwise, college sites can have one page about internship opportunities with a link to Handshake
Other sites
Always look to see if information is already provided somewhere else on the website by the “owner” of that information and link to it rather than copying it, if it makes sense.
Linking to UNH Websites
Internal links make information from other webpages easily accessible to the reader without having to copy the information onto multiple pages. These types of links:
- Improve accuracy, since the information only exists and is updated in one place
- Aid in the usability of the site and improves search engine optimization (SEO) by having information on only one page that can be found through search
- Help SEO for the page with the link, as the hyperlinked words themselves are read by search engines to help them understand what's considered important on the page.
Guidelines for building links:
- When linking to information on the same website (for example, the same college or service site), the link should open in the same window. If the link points to a different unh.edu website, it should open in a new window.
- Links should use descriptive words, not phrases like "click here" or “visit this website.”
- Links should not consist of the URL itself.
Linking to External Websites
Links to and from reliable external sources improve SEO by increasing the authority of the site. Sometimes it's appropriate to link to a different website, such as a government agency or resource for pertinent information:
- Only link to reliable, authoritative informational or educational websites that you are confident will remain active
- Do not link to personal websites
- Do not link to business websites unless there is an established relationship, as a link may be perceived as an endorsement
- Links to external websites should open in a new window
- External links and .pdfs are not allowed in any masthead navigation
Embedding External Content
External content can be embedded in a UNH website only if the creator of the material is UNH or from an organization with a recognized relationship, such as:
- UNH videos stored in MediaSpace or YouTube
- UNH Twitter feeds
- UNH Facebook channels
- UNH Tableau data
- UNH SalesForce forms
- Affiliated research organizations
Google maps may also be embedded on a unh.edu website.
To request that other tools, services or information be embedded on a webpage, please contact WMD. The tool may need to have a security review.
Use the embed code provided by the external tools. I-frames are discouraged because they are not natively responsive and so are difficult to read on mobile devices.
Support
For questions regarding links, embedded content and single sources of truth, please contact WMD.
Training
Anyone working on a Drupal website is welcome to attend the open walk-in training and help sessions that Academic Technology offers. For a schedule of the training sessions and walk-in times, see the Academic Technology (AT) training calendar.
Responsibility for Content
UNH.edu websites are maintained by members of the University community acting as official representatives of the University of New Hampshire. Editors are responsible for creating links and embedded content as described in this standard. In addition, editors should review links on their websites at least twice a year to ensure that all links and embedded content are still active and available. Finally, editors are responsible for complying with all relevant laws and university policies.
Violations
Although UNH AT does not monitor or regularly review site content, it reserves the right to remove at any time any content that it considers to violate this standard or any other UNH policies.
If inappropriate or inaccurate content is submitted, UNH AT will contact the site owner to discuss the issue. If the site or content owner cannot be contacted or is no longer at UNH, that content will be administered by WMD and can be removed if deemed inaccurate or inappropriate. When content is obviously unacceptable, UNH WMD will immediately remove the content prior to contacting the site owner. Unacceptable entries also may cause unh.edu access to be suspended.
Reports regarding inappropriate content may be sent to UNH WMD.
