The purpose of these guidelines is to advise editors
on good editorial judgment and decision making. End users should be able
to determine relevancy without having to visit a site. So, directory annotations
(i.e. titles and descriptions) should objectively describe a site's subject
and/or contents. The main intent of these style guidelines are:
to advise editors on writing accurate and objective
site annotations that will be relevant to end-users
to avoid flagrant and egregious marketing hype, sales pitches,
subjective commentary, excessive and unnecessary repetition, and other
superfluous information.
You should be accommodating of various individual
styles, and avoid adopting a fundamentalist view of these guidelines by being
overly critical and nitpicky of URL format, titles and descriptions. Editors
should keep in mind that while the quality of the annotations is important
for relevancy, the quality of the links themselves are most important to
the ODP's overall quality and usefulness.
Capturing the Correct URL
Verify a URL is correct and working by clicking
on the "new" link in front of the URL field. Your browser will
open a new window. Review the URL to make sure it loads properly and
it contains working links.
Sometimes it is helpful to remove superfluous information from
the end of the URL, such as "index.html," if this information is not necessary
for the correct page to load. This will ensure that the most stable
version of the URL is present, and prevent false link (Robozilla) errors.
When adding the main page of a site, add the URL that will bring
the user to the entrance of the site. If the site includes a splash, welcome,
or warning page, link to that page. If the welcome/entry page is hosted on
the same domain as the target page, then you should add the URL for the entry/welcome
page. However, if the entry/welcome page is hosted on a different domain,
the entry/welcome page shouldn't be added.
The title should identify the site,
not describe it. It should be both informative and concise.
Good titles ....
Do give the official name of the site
as the title. Generally, the title will be obvious and prominently displayed
on the site.
Do give the official name of the business or entity as
the title, if the site is about the business, organization, or
other entity (e.g. a company's home page).
Do contain the full form and acronym if the business,
organization or other entity is known by both, and both are used on the site.
Do derive a concise title from the site's contents if
the title is ambiguous or would give the appearance of spam.
Do have the first letter of each word in the title capitalized,
except for articles, prepositions or conjunctions unless they begin the
site title or a new part of a compound title.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Cold Snow: The Fluffy White Stuff
Sunlight on Snow: The Dangers of Glare and Eyestrain
Note: Since the rules for capitalization vary by language, this guideline
does not necessarily apply to all World/ categories; please refer to
the guidelines for each specific language.
Do not include superfluous keywords, unnecessary symbols
and letters, company slogans or promotional language as part of the
title.
Do not include words and phrases such as "Welcome
to," "Online" and "Homepage of" or "Website" at the beginning
or end of a title if it is not a component of the official name of the
site.
Do not include punctuation marks or unnecessary symbols
and letters, or special characters at the beginning of the title. Listings
are, in some cases, sorted alphabetically and sometimes people try to
get to the top of the list unfairly. If "aaa Website"
is the submitted title, but the website is really called
"Website," the best title is "Website."
Do not capitalize titles in their entirety.
Do not end with an exclamation mark or any other unnecessary
punctuation.
The description gives specific information
about the content and/or subject matter of the site. It should be informative
and concise, usually no longer than one or two lines. The basic formula
for a good description is Description = Subject + Content.
In some cases, the contents of all
the sites in your category will be the same. For example, sites about businesses
or organizations all contain similar information such as an "about" page,
a products and services section, etc. In these cases, it's fine to just
describe what the company does, focusing on it's products, services and
specializations (i.e. the subject).
The following are the basic principles for writing good descriptions. Good descriptions:
Are concise, informative, and objective, telling end-users what they will find when they visit a web site.
Highlight the unique subjects and contents of the site, thus allowing the user to appropriately determine relevancy.
Include relevant and specific terms that will make it easier for the end-user to determine a site's relevancy to his/her query.
Use logical sentence or phrase structure and proper punctuation and capitalization to make it easier for users to read directory listings.
Start descriptions with a capital letter and end with a period.
Use third person pronouns whenever possible, and avoid first and second person pronouns (e.g. "you", "your", "we", "us", "our", "I", or "me") as they are too subjective.
Check for spelling errors using the spell check tool.
Avoid using acronyms or abbreviations unless they are commonly understood by potential users of the category.
Do not read like advertisements, sales pitches, opinions, or editorial reviews. The ODP does not advertise or review web sites.
Avoid superlatives commonly used in advertising, such as "best", "most", "greatest", or "cheapest."
Do not use emphatic punctuation (e.g., "!!!" ), all caps to denote emphasis, ampersands ( "&" ) or ellipses ( "..." ).
Do not give your personal review of any aspect of the website.
Do not include excessive and unnecessary keyword repetition and other superfluous information.
Do not repeat the entire site title.
Do not excessively repeat the category name, keywords, phrases, or overuse adjectives.
Do not use specific dates, prices, time-sensitive numbers, or similar information that is subject to change.
Do not enter overused sentences and phrases, such as those starting with: "This site is...", "Site includes ..." or ending with "etc.", "and more".
Do not include: street/mailing and e-mail addresses, nearest intersection/highway exit, telephone/fax numbers, instructions for use of answering systems, hours of operation, prices, or other URLs.
Do not make reference to illegally obtained content (e.g. pirated versions of software and music).
May include limited quotations from a site (such as a brief quotation from a site's about page or similar informational areas) if paraphrasing proves too difficult.
ODP Note Field
This field is available for an
editor to communicate pertinent information about a web site to fellow editors.
Examples of some of the types
of comments appropriate for this field are:
Moving to another Category (e.g. Moving
this site [because ...]; already listed more appropriately
in Some/Other/Category).
Providing information about the site for other editors (e.g.
"Under Construction" "Affiliate of [URL]").
Deleting unreviewed sites (e.g. Already more appropriately
listed in Some/Other/Category).
Deleting listed sites (e.g. "Duplicate of http://www.some.site/
also listed in this category," "Deeplink of site already
listed in parent category.").
When adding, deleting, and moving
sites, or changing a listing's URL, automatic notes document the action.
However, you should mention a reason so your actions are clear to other
editors who may edit the URL. A reason must be given when deleting
a site.
Bookmarklets
have been created to automate creating common types of editor notes.
Sort Date Field
The date field may be used for the
media publication date of items such as articles and reviews, or for time
limited events such as conferences. Site listings with a date are sorted
by this date (not alphabetically). They are placed together at the bottom
of the page, below listings that do not have a date. A site with a date cannot
be marked cool.
The revision date of regularly updated
sites should not be reflected in the date field, as it is subject to
change.
The date field is not for entering
the date the listing was edited, or for other reasons for controlling the
order in which sites are displayed in the category.
Cool Sites
A site that stands out among the rest in your category
may be designated as "cool" site. A "cool" site should be the most
definitive, complete and content rich site on your subject. The site
should also have a usable design (people should be able to read the content)
and intuitive navigation (links should work and be easy to find). Ideally,
since the cool site is the best site in your category, there should be only
one. However, two cool sites may be appropriate in some instances.
Editors may not cool their own sites
or any sites with which they are affiliated, including business or personal
affiliations. Doing so is contrary to ODP's policy and mission to provide
a fair and objective resource for end-users. It is also contrary to this
policy to request another editor to cool a site with which you are
affiliated. Misuse of the cool site feature may result in removal of your
editing privileges. Please see the section on
Conflicts of Interest for further explanations.
Note: Please utilize the cool
site award as opposed to creating categories entitled "Editor's Picks."
Read more information
about cooling sites.
Last update: 2004-09-30
