A new British standard has been produced to help businesses manage and organise their web sites.

The British Standards Institution (BSI) and online content firm Magus have developed a set of guidelines - Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 124 - offering a best practice approach to implementing and managing the standards of online sites.

The guide aims to improve return on investment by helping businesses to cut the time and cost of development of their web presence, while keeping in line with relevant legislation.

“This is a major step forward for the web industry," said Mike Lowe, director of the BSI.

"The BSI has brought together a wide range of expertise in the field of web site standards to develop a robust framework that will yield great benefits for the sector.”

The PAS was developed by the BSI and Magus before being presented to a steering group of business experts, including Shell, the Institute of Directors and The Institution of Engineering and Technology.