Policy Code: 
BA001.1
Effective Date: 
Monday, February 9, 2004
Revision Number: 
1
Revision Date: 
Monday, May 16, 2016
Last Reviewed: 
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Version Control: 
This version supersedes Best Practices EGT-BP001

Best Practices

  1. All of the designs should meet the WCAG 2.0 AA accessibility guidelines and should be compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
  2. All new web sites should be developed with responsive design functionality.
  3. Pages that are indexed by a search engine shall include the Meta tag “description” to describe the page’s content.
  4. Every HTML page shall use a title tag containing information that is relevant to the page’s content.
  5. Browser Plug-ins:
    1. All links to non-HTML content shall provide information on file type, (i.e. pdf).
    2. Users shall be informed of the need for a plug-in and provided a link to download it.
    3. Primary site navigation shall not require a third-party browser plug-in (Acrobat, Flash, Java applet, etc.).
  6. Websites should provide a secure web form to ensure those who do not have an email client or are using public computers may easily contact you. This will also provide a secure mechanism as email is not deemed secure. Websites should avoid publishing personal email addresses. Use generic accounts such as taxinfo@nd.gov and individualtax@nd.gov.
  7. Links taking users outside of North Dakota state government should first alert the user with a notification or page (i.e., a splash message) indicating they are about to leave an official state government site.
  8. Do not store personal or customer information in cookies.
  9. Encrypt cookie content
  10. If the web site requires the use of a cookie and the browser has cookies disabled, redirect the user to a web page explaining why the web site requires a cookie and how to turn them back on.

Drafted By

Application Architecture