Technical Standards & Guidelines

Standards for interactive television (BBC Red Button)

• iTV Technical Guidelines

  General technical guidelines for third parties developing services for BBC Red Button

  Version: 1.0: Last updated: June 2005.

• iTV Content Interface Schema v1.6

  Interactive TV Content Interface Specification (iCI)

  Version: 1.6. Last updated: June 2005.

Standards for internet (BBC Online)

• (Server-Side) Application Development Standards

  Standards for (server-side) application development to ensure that applications maintain the integrity and security of bbc.co.uk.

  Version: 1.08. Last updated: Jun 2006.

• C++ Coding Guidelines

  Best practice C++ coding guidelines for bbc.co.uk projects.

  Version: 1.07. Last updated: Mar 2005.

• Perl Coding Guidelines

  Best practice Perl coding guidelines for bbc.co.uk projects.

  Version: 1.08. Last updated: Mar 2005.

• Audio-Video Standard

  AV standards, including links to technical information (bitrates, frame size, frame rate) for narrowband and broadband, streaming and download AV content.

  Version: 2.1. Last updated: September 2009.

• Using Barlesque to Develop bbc.co.uk Sites

  Guide on how to use the Barlesque templating system to create bbc.co.uk sites that comply with the Visual Language Guidelines.

  (This standard supersedes the standard (Implementing Page Layout Standards) Using Barley .)

  Version: 1.0. Last updated: April 2008.

• Browser Support Standard

  Standards for browser support and testing for bbc.co.uk

  Version: 3.5. Last updated: September 2009.

• Clickthrough (Go-) Tracking Standards

  Standards for the use of clickthrough (go-) tracking on bbc.co.uk links (mostly used to track use of external links)

  Version: 1.0. Last updated: Dec 2004.

• Cookies Standard

  Standards for cookie use on bbc.co.uk.

  Version: 2.1. Last updated: June 2009.

• CSS Standards

  Standards for use of Cascading Style Sheets on bbc.co.uk pages.

  Version: 1.1. Last updated: April 2006.

• Customising Content for users – use of Cookies, Registration and Single Sign-On

  Standards for customising users' experiences of sites on bbc.co.uk using cookies or registration.

  Version: 1.0. Last updated: Mar 2005.

• Database Design & Development Standards

  Standards for designing and developing live database (backed) applications for bbc.co.uk.

  Version: 1.0. Last updated: Mar 2005.

• Download Standards

  Standards for designing and developing live database (backed) applications for bbc.co.uk.

  Version: 1.1. Last updated: June 2008.

• Email Standards

  Standards for collecting collection of user email addresses and formatting, processing, delivery of email for bbc.co.uk.

  Version: 1.0. Last updated: Nov 2005.

• File Extensions Standards

  Standards specifying valid file extensions served from www.bbc.co.uk and news.bbc.co.uk.

  Version: 1.07. Last updated: September 2008.

• .htaccess Standards

  Standards for the creation, use and maintenance of all .htaccess files on www.bbc.co.uk servers.

  Version: 1.0. Last updated: Dec 2003.

• JavaScript Standards

  Summary of standards for JavaScript pages on bbc.co.uk. (Previously part of the HTML Integrity standards)

  Version: 1.0. Last updated: April 2006.

• Mapping Guidelines

  Defines which mapping providers site producers can use on bbc.co.uk.

  Version: 1.0. Last updated: October 2008.

• Multimedia Plug-In Content (Flash) Standards

  Standards for the use of multimedia plug-in content on bbc.co.uk, including: approved formats; advice on the choice of Flash version; requirements on the provision of alternatives to plug-in content; how to optimise, test, deliver and embed plug-in content.

  Version: 1.14; Last updated: Nov 2007.

• RSS Guidelines

  Initial interim guidelines for the use of RSS on bbc.co.uk – specifies acceptable formats, how to let users know an RSS feed is available, the help users should be given to consume RSS feeds etc.

  Version: 1.0. Last updated: April 2006.

• Semantic Mark-up

  The BBC endorses the principle of separating content from presentation in web pages, using HTML as a semantic markup language.

  Version: 1.6. Last updated: Septmeber 2009.

• XHTML Integrity Standards

  Summary of standards for XHTML pages on BBC Online (bbc.co.uk), including: doctypes; validation; browser support; code style; scripts; CSS.

  This standard supersedes the HTML Integrity Standard.

  Version: 1.3. Last updated: December 2008.

• XML Standards

  Initial standards for the use of XML on bbc.co.uk – includes: XML vocabularies, use of Schema languages, and creation and use of XML Namespaces.

  Version: 1.0. Last updated: Nov 2003.

• XSSI (eXtended Server Side Includes) Standards v1.1 (deprecated)

  Summary of how to use XSSI(eXtended Server Side Includes) on Apache servers.

  This standard supersedes the XSSI Standards v1.0.

  Version: 1.1. Last updated: October 2009.

Top of page