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2.2 What content should be on your website?

Publishing date: May 2002

Effective communication on the web is the product of good content and quality of presentation. Departments and agencies should develop websites that are rich in authoritative and up-to-date content that is well written, caters to the needs of a wide range of audiences and is easily accessible. Publication on the Internet should generally be simultaneous with publication in other media.

2.2.1 Introduction

This section states minimum requirements for the content of websites. It aims to establish what users should expect in homepages, and it sets out for the benefit of web teams a list of the minimum requirements with which they should comply. Together with material in section 2.4 it contributes to the establishment of an authoritative look and feel for government websites. Within these general parameters, it is for departments to determine how best to organise content with their own audiences in mind.

Go to section 2.4 Building in universal accessibility

Departments and agencies should be aware of who the core and non-core audiences are for their websites. It is very likely that the audiences for different parts of the website, or for different websites within a single department's estate, will vary considerably. It is very desirable that, in planning websites, departments should carry out market research or other consultation with core and non-core audiences and that this should be repeated subsequently. It is especially desirable that designers and website managers should view sites alongside members of their core audience and be responsive to their comments.

Departments should apply the same principles of plain language and inclusive language to their websites as they are expected to do to printed documents.

2.2.2 Minimum website requirements

Departments should, where appropriate, publish the following information and documents online:

• list of Ministers and their responsibilities
• CEO/management board responsibilities
• organisation’s aims and objectives
• all public sector organisations should provide in an easily accessible form (although not necessarily on each of their websites), their organisation’s structure
• postal address(es),fax and telephone numbers, email address(es) - refer to section 2.3.4
• responsibilities, aims and objectives of units and divisions
• membership and terms of reference of advisory groups
• names and telephone numbers or email addresses of contacts for further information on specific policies or services (note that these need not be named individuals)
• complaints procedures
• public service agreements
• complaints procedures
• Command Papers - refer to section 2.3.3
• for Bills before Parliament, a link to http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa
• legislation for which the department has the lead, or a link to the Official legislation website - refer to section 2.3.7
• press notices or a link to the relevant section of the Central Office of Information website
• consultation documents - refer to section 2.3.4
• research reports and statistical information
• forms published by the department and guidance for their completion
• recruitment policies, procedures and information - refer to section 2.3.2
• frequently asked questions (FAQs)
• Inforoute - refer to section 2.3.5

• http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa
• Go to 2.3 Cross-government requirements

2.2.3 Minimum homepage requirements

The following is a checklist of items that must be included on your web homepage:

• the organisation’s full name
• the organisation’s logo
• email contact address.

It should also, where appropriate, contain links to the following:

• UK online at the URL http://www.ukonline.gov.uk - refer to section 2.3.8
• contact addresses - refer to section 2.2.4
• complaints procedure
• organisation’s statement of purpose
• organisation’s structure, including agencies, directorates etc
• ‘What's New’ section
• terms and conditions (to include privacy statement, copyright statement, disclaimers and hyperlinking policy) - refer to section 1.10
• feedback page
• FAQs (frequently asked questions)
• help facility
• search facility
• language anchor pages - refer to section 2.7
• http://www.info4local.gov.uk - refer to section 2.3.6

• Go to section 1.10 Legal issues
• Go to 2.3 Cross-government requirements
• Go to 2.7 Use of other languages

2.2.4 Contact addresses

A full postal address must be provided as well as an email address.

Personal email addresses must not be used; for example, richard@hotmail.com should not be used instead of richard@e-envoy.gov.uk.

Alternatively, generic addresses can be used, depending on the strategy of your organisation, eg, webguidelines@e-envoy.gsi.gov.uk. This allows for portability of email addresses during personnel changes.

When email addresses are to be included within an HTML page they should be displayed using the universally understood email format.

The persons name alone is not sufficient because:

• a new web user may not realise that they can establish contact if just the name is displayed, and
• some users may have changed the default settings of their web browser. They may have underlining of links turned off and some may have all links displayed in the same colour as standard text.

2.2.5 Department location

Although not essential for all, it is always a good idea to include maps and direction instructions to assist people visiting your department.

The map should be presented either as a web graphic such as, a JPG or GIF, or a downloadable PDF file. Whichever format is chosen there should also be a text version covering directions by rail, road, bus and underground.

2.2.6 Version control of website publications

Please refer to section 3.2.8.

Go to 3.2 Document structure