Our publication template allows you to create an accessible online publication.
It features:
chapters/sections as subpages that are easy to navigate
pagination between sections
the option to print pages
automatic menu creation that lists child pages.
The benefits of the publication content type
Ministers and executives are increasingly asking for and expecting a digital-first publication.
The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing won IPAA 2021 Leadership in the Public Sector Communications Award for their 10-year Rolling Action Plan which used the SDP publications template.
Digital publications get more readers
We have published more than 20 publications using this template. Whether it's the publications template or a standard web page HTML versions always get more readers.
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Structure your content for the reader
Across a range of different content the following trends have emerged:
people will scroll until they find the information that's useful to them (for most people this varies from half of the page to 75%). This means writing in a news style (most to least important) rather than a narrative style (beginning, middle, end) is the best for the user. Actionable content should also be highlighted as close to the top of the page as possible
publications are often wordy. Use infographics or video where possible but if words are required users have responded positively to accordions in multiple rounds of user testing
most viewed content is about finding resources or support or what the government is doing, including tracking progress
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Outsource a digital publication
You can outsource a digital publication the same way you would outsource a PDF to a designer. We can provide training and access to external vendors for this purpose. For more information on this contact the Single Digital Presence team.
You shouldn't use PDFs for your primary content - see How to use the publication content type. But if you're also doing a PDF version, it must also be provided in an accessible format. Make sure your designer knows how to create an accessible PDF.