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STANDARDS BIT has established standard practices for development, processing and services
BIT Standards
why?
  • Rules and regulations are essential to any well managed organization. Standards are valuable to our clients because of the cost savings, faster support and reliable technology infrastructure. They serve to establish uniform practices and common techniques used as guidelines to measure performance.

    For example, with one standard email system, a small number of administrators can maintain a system supporting all of state government. If the state had two email systems, the number of administrators and support staff would double with no corresponding benefit in functionality. The same principle applies to system designs, writing programs and setting up operations in a data processing center. All of which require certain individual skills, standard policies, procedures and equipment.

    More information >
important!
  • Vendors who are actively pursuing IT business opportunities with the State of South Dakota must also comply with the Information Technology Security Policy. For security purposes, this content is not for public consumption, however a modified version is available for you here.
other
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FINANCE BIT Finance Office
BIT Rates and Information
  • Development >
    Analysis, design, programming, implementation and maintenance of the state’s information systems.
  • Data Center >
    Provides enterprise computer processing services for state government agencies, higher education, constitutional offices and the Unified Judicial System (UJS)..
  • Telecommunications >
    Provides all support for hardware/software, Active Directory accounts required for access to network, telephone access, videoconferencing, and more.
Finance info

South Dakota BIT Standard Products

Web Standards

Web standards are the formal set of standards and technical specifications created by the BIT Development division that define and describe aspects of best practices for building websites.

Each of the below web standards are important when constructing and launching a new website within state government from the design to required languages and sections as well as copyrights and additional plug-ins.

Design
  • Design files must be compatible with BIT supported design programs which include Photoshop, Illustrator, Visual Studio, and Dreamweaver. Layered files for banners, titles, backgrounds, images, etc. should be provided to the agency and to BIT.
  • All Cascading Style Sheets (CSS3) content needs to be contained in an external CSS file. Print ready CSS files should be created for printing by an end user. Print ready means the banner and other design elements are eliminated so only relevant content is printed.
  • Inline styles should not be used. Only very minimal local formatting should be used. It is suggested to only use <em> and <strong>> formatting to support screen readers, when needed.
  • Tables must only be used for tabular data entry or data displaying. Please use div formatting for all other content.
  • Flash animations are not supported. If there is a need to present animations, please use HTML5 and Ajax, as needed.
  • For more information on web design standards, see W3C https://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/
Security
Standard Software

Below you will find information on the standard software available for web and graphic design.

  • Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) is a collection of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications made by Adobe Systems. We recommend using the latest version of Adobe Creative Cloud (CC).
  • Dreamweaver is a combination of code and GUI (Graphics User Interface) web development applications for web developers or agency webmasters.
  • Photoshop is a graphics editing program with significant vector graphics editing functionality.
  • Illustrator is a vector graphics editor.
Browsers
  • All state government websites must be fully functional on the latest versions of the most used browsers on any operating system.
    • Microsoft Edge
    • Mozilla Firefox
    • Safari
    • Chrome
  • All sites must have responsive layouts that work and scale appropriately on all browser sizes, including tablet and mobile devices.
Load Testing

Performance testing is the process of simulating the kind of internet traffic a website or web application can expect to see in the real world. While a performance is running, developers and other engineers can monitor the state of the software and the servers involved in order to ensure they will perform in an acceptable way when the application is launched.

Agency Users
Performance testing ensures that a website will continue to be accessible when there are multiple users accessing the site simultaneously. There are different situations that may not occur when conducting testing with just a few users that can slow down, or even break, a site when multiple users are accessing it. By simulating these large amounts of traffic in a controlled and monitored way, BIT can monitor these types of situations and try to mitigate them before launching it to the public.

Performance testing is performed for all applications accessible by multiple users. This is part of the development process and is done before the application moves to production. While this is part of a new application, it is not done routinely to existing or agency constructed websites.

Developers
Performance testing is considered to be another step in the development lifecycle, along with user acceptance testing (UAT). Given the shared nature of resources utilized by a web application, it is vital to run a test with a number of simultaneous users to catch any concurrency issues or bottlenecks before releasing software to production for public use. Even if the site does not have a large number of users expected, there can still be contention issues when more than one user tries to access a resource at the same time.

A properly performed performance load test can show developers and system administrators where a slowdown might occur and provide an opportunity to try to alleviate these issues.

Languages
  • PHP is not supported.
  • Pages developed for the State of South Dakota must use semantic HTML 5 for the content and CSS3 for the formatting. Semantic HTML tags define the purpose of the element and helps the browser understand the meaning of the content instead of just displaying it. For example, H1 tags are most important headers on the page, H2 tags are next and so on.
  • If there is a need for any server-side scripting, such as web forms or web applications, they must be developed with C# ASP.Net version 4 or above and .Net Framework version 4 or above. It is recommended that BIT Development personnel be involved for any ASP.Net, AJAX development, or database programming.
  • If client-side scripting is needed, use JavaScript. Please avoid the use of JavaScript scripting for basic site navigation or functionality, data checking, or manipulation. Consider that potential site users might have client-side scripting disabled.
  • Content Management Systems (CMS) such as Drupal, WordPress, or Joomla are not supported. The only exception to this is SharePoint and the BIT CMS.
Required Sections
There are certain sections required in any site developed for state government. These are common practices in web development.
  • HTML Titles. It is essential that all web pages have an appropriate title as a descriptor of the page.
    • For best Search Engine Optimization (SEO) use the following format for page titles.
      Secondary Keyword | Brand Name
      Ex: <title> Home | State of South Dakota</title>
      Ex. 2 <title> Standards - Web | South Dakota Bureau of Information and Telecommunications</title>
      - or -
      <title> Web Standards | South Dakota Bureau of Information and Telecommunications</title>
    • Each page must have a unique title. This is not only for aesthetic purposes but also for search engines to find your site, to distinguish it from other pages, and for the search engine to give the web page a high ranking.
  • Every page needs to have a link back to the application homepage. It is recommended for this link to be in the top of the page, usually close to the banner, or the banner itself. Most web users associate the logo image as the link back to the homepage.
  • The State of South Dakota requires the use of a custom search function that searches everything within the site. BIT can provide Google Custom Search functionality if needed. Please contact your BIT Point of Contact for more information about the search engine feature.
  • A section called “Contact”, “Contact Us”, or “Feedback”. Users need to be able to contact the state agency or program at any time. On this page, different types of contact should be listed such as physical and mailing addresses, telephone numbers and emails, as appropriate.

The following are mandatory links for EVERY page.
  • Text that states Official State of South Dakota Website.
  • Link to State Homepage:
    A link needs to point to the State of South Dakota official homepage: https://www.sd.gov
  • Privacy Policy
    All web pages developed for the State of South Dakota must use the State of South Dakota Web Site Privacy Policy where appropriate on the agency home page and other pages. https://public.sd.gov/privacy.aspx
  • Accessibility
    All new state developed web pages are required to meet W3C Level 1 guidelines and Section 508 guidelines. BIT monitors the requirements toward industry standards and adjusts as appropriate. https://public.sd.gov/accpolicy.aspx
  • Disclaimer Statement
    The purpose of a disclaimer is primarily to advise the end user of certain policies, practices, and legal issues that the State of South Dakota is not responsible for. The disclaimer includes inappropriate viewing practices, limited or non-compliance browsing standards, or hardware issues. The South Dakota Disclaimer Statement and Limitation of Liability should be used to warn the internet community of liability, the placement of such liability, and is recommended to be placed wherever the Privacy Statement link is located. For further information about the Disclaimer Policy please read the contents provided below: https://public.sd.gov/disclaim.aspx
Copyright/Authorizations
It is recommended that agency web developers become familiar with copyright laws. Developers are advised to obtain permission before the utilization of copyrighted material. When images are used to depict people, there must be a consent form signed according to the agency's policies and procedures.
Plug-ins
Not all users can download a plug-in without administrator assistance, therefore, any use of a plug-in must be approved by BIT.
  • If it is necessary for state developed websites to utilize browser plug-ins, the plug-in must be identified on the website and a download link must be provided.
  • All plug-ins should be free for private use and certified malware free.
  • Plug-ins need to work on all browsers listed in the browser section.
Responsive Design (Mobile-Ready)

BIT defines responsive design as a layout that responds to user behavior and environment based on screen size, platform, and orientation.

Accessibility

View the State of South Dakota's accessibility policy here.

For more information about accessibility, visit the BIT Accessibility Website: accessibility.sd.gov

BIT Content Delivery Network (CDN)

BIT hosts its own CDN with the most common resources used, for example, jQuery or Angular. Contact BIT for more information regarding other resources available.