Useful Tips

Don't have a large image? Don't bother linking as Image

If you have an item whose original image is not much larger than the actual thumbnail on the page, don't bother linking it as an image or to the original. It won't give the user a better experience to view the image and it's a waste of a click for the user. 

Accessibility and Universal Design 

Keep in mind principles of readability and sequence on the page itself. 

Don't type "Click Here"...

Instead of linking the word “here” or the phrase “click here,” use meaningful text for links. Screen readers often skip text and read only links, which will result in a page reading of “here, here, click here, next” instead of the desired intent.

Use Line Breaks

Sequencing can be difficult when resizing pages or text. Ensure readability by adding horizontal lines (line breaks) between sections and grouping images together that are connected. One image per paragraph is often a good rule of thumb.

Keeping Headings in order

For Accessibility purposes, it's important to keep your headings in order on a page. For instance, resist to use Heading 2 at the top of the page, and then later down the page use Heading 1. This will confuse visitors who are using screen readers, which will start at Heading 1 content and go to heading 2, then heading 3 and so forth. 

Use Captions and fill in Alt fields where available

Ensure captions and alt text are descriptive.

Important: DO NOT do the following:

• DO NOT copy your text from a Word or Google document and paste it into a page in Omeka. 
  This will add extra code in the source of your content and it often messes up the formatting on your page, resulting in an undesirable, non-uniform look.  To resolve this, copy your text from Word or a Google Doc but paste it first into a plain text editor, such as notepad or "notes" if on a Mac.
  
  Alternatively, you can copy and then paste into Omeka's HTML block from the page source view. Just click the "Source" button on the top left of the editing box. 
   
• DO NOT edit an existing resource template that you didn't create.
  Other sites are using these templates so if you make changes to one of them, it will affect the formatting / information on those other sites. You can always create a new resource template to suit your specific needs. 
   
• DO NOT delete items that you didn't create.
  For similar reasons above, items are being used by other sites.  Your persmissions may not let you do so, but just in case...please don't delete! 
   
• DO NOT upload large images over 72 dpi.
  While it is important that you use photos that are in between 1000 - 2000 pixels wide for large viewing in detail for your visitors, it is never neccessary to have the resolution be over 72 dpi because a screen doesn't display more than 72 dpi.  When images are scanned, many times they are at a high print resolution, such as 200 or 300 dpi, which magnifies the file size of the image. Too large of a document will result in very slow download / reveal when someone tries to load it on their screen, making for a poor user experience. 

Need more help?

If you have any questions, please contact digitalcollections@union.edu.