5 FAH-8 H-420
required
elements and tags
(CT:WEB-5; 06-21-2012)
(Office of Origin: IRM/BMP/GRP/GP)
(Updated only to revise Office of Origin)
5 FAH-8 H-421 hypertext mark-up
language (HTML) File
(CT:WEB-1; 09-29-2005)
a. All new or revised HyperText Mark-up Language (HTML)
files must begin with a DOCTYPE statement that identifies the version of HTML
you are using. It is necessary for proper validation of both the HTML code and
any Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) files that are being used. You should not be
coding Web pages using deprecated tags and should be using the strict form of
the DOCTYPE statement (first example). If it is necessary to use deprecated
tags, the transitional DOCTYPE statement (second example) may be used.
<!DOCTYPE
HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html4/strict.dtd">
<!DOCTYPE
HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html4/loose.dtd">
b. When coding with Extensible HyperText Mark-up
Language (XHTML), the appropriate strict, transitional and Document Type
Definition (DTD) DOCTYPE statement should be used.
5 FAH-8 H-422 HEAD
5 FAH-8 H-422.1 Title Tag
(CT:WEB-1; 09-29-2005)
The head section must contain a short title that is
descriptive of the page. The title is displayed by the browser when viewing
the Web page and on the top of each page when printing the Web page.
<HEAD>
<TITLE>5 FAH-8 H-420
Required Elements and Tags</TITLE>
</HEAD>
5 FAH-8 H-422.2 META Tags
(CT:WEB-1; 09-29-2005)
a. Content-Type (required) extending the content-type
to include the character set will cause browsers to load the appropriate
character set before displaying the Web page. If you are using a software
application to generate Web pages, it may automatically include a content-type
meta tag. If in doubt, use ISO-8859-1 as the character set.
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
b. Description (optional) the description provides a
short summary of the Web page content. The content should be kept under 200
characters.
<META name="description" content="Policy and guidance for creating and
managing Department websites.">
c. Keywords (optional) the keyword tag is ignored by
most global search engines but may be included if desired. As the name
implies, it is a list of words. There is no way to indicate a phrase so the
concept of web development as the example, its treated as web and
development. If used, the content should be kept under 1000 characters, as
most search engines will ignore anything over that length.
<META name="keywords" content="policy web development">
d. Robots (optional) the robot tag is used to control
indexing of the Web page by search engines. To indicate the page should not be
indexed, use:
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX">
5 FAH-8 H-423 BODY
5 FAH-8 H-423.1 Contact Information
(CT:WEB-1; 09-29-2005)
a. Each Web page must include information necessary to
contact the Webmaster or other person responsible for the content of the page
(see 5 FAM 773
c). The recommended method is a mailto: link at the bottom of the page. The
subject parameter in the reference can be used to identify the specific Web page.
b. The html code
<p> Please send comments/questions to
<a
href="mailto:IRM_BPC_RG@state.gov?subject=Web%20Page%20Comments">
IRM_BPC_RG@state.gov</a></p>
where "%20" is the
hexadecimal code for a blank space is displayed as:
Please send comments/questions
to IRM_BPC_RG@state.gov
and the link generates an e-mail
message for the user to fill out and send. For people who use webmail and
cannot generate an e-mail message from the link, the full e-mail address should
be included as part of the link text.
5 FAH-8 H-424 Disallowed Tags
(CT:WEB-1; 09-29-2005)
a. As of HTML version 4.01, there are three obsolete
tags. Although older browsers will display them properly, newer browser
versions will ignore them. The obsolete tags LISTING PLAINTEXT, and XMP must
not be used on the Department of State Web sites.
b. Several tags are listed as deprecated in HTML version 4.01. A deprecated tag has
been outdated by newer constructs and may become obsolete in future versions of
HTML. Webmasters should avoid using the following deprecated tags:
(1) APPLET;
(2) BASEFONT;
(3) CENTER;
(4) DIR;
(5) FONT;
(6) ISINDEX;
(7) MENU;
(8) S;
(9) STRIKE; and
(10) U.
5 FAH-8 H-425 Through H-429 Unassigned
(CT:WEB-1; 09-29-2005)