Page Comparison

This guide covers the basics of creating a new page for your website or section on vic.gov.au.

Info

It covers:

search engine optimisation (SEO) tips
the different content templates in the CMS
the mandatory and optional components of the landing page template
how to format your text
how to add images and documents to your page
what you should do once your page is published.

It's a good idea when you create a new page to fill in just the required mandatory fields (e.g. Title, Summary, Topic, Site) and then save it as a draft before you start working on your page in more detail.

Saving your page regularly helps to avoid losing any work if there is a CMS timeout.

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Start with search results

The majority of our website traffic comes from search engine results, so if your content is not optimised it won't be found and won't be read.

This means:

each page title must be unique and descriptive
titles should contain keywords so they rank well on search results
titles should be between 30 and 70 characters
the page URL should match the page title.

If your content is likely to be common then you will need to take this into account and be descriptive within the character limit. For example, use "About the Department of Premier and Cabinet" rather than just "About us".

Only use acronyms in your title if there is evidence that the acronym is commonly known, such as ranking highly in search results and on Google Trends.

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If this happens to you, try opening another tab and logging back in on that tab. Then return to the tab you were working on and you may be able to save the page.

Watch our instructional video, or follow the landing page steps below:

Step 1: Choose your content template

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To create a new web page in the CMS, you can either:

roll over Content and then Add content in the top menu and select your template, or
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click on the Content page, click the Add content button.
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There are several content templates to choose from. The

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Landing page

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template is typically used for most content, and will be the example used for this guide.

For specific instructions on when and how to use other content templates, read our guides:

We also have guidelines on

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content types

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that don't have a specific CMS template – they would just use the landing page template:

How to fill out the landing page template

View transcript

Save regularly

Saving regularly while working in the CMS helps avoid losing your work. This sometimes happens when you have connection problems, the page times out due to inactivity, or the CMS resets (which happens twice a day).

If this happens to you, try opening another tab and logging back in on that tab. Then return to the tab you were working on and you may be able to save the page.

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Step 2: Complete the Header tab

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Page title

Enter a unique, SEO-focused page title. This will display as the page title on the live website.

Remember:

The majority of our website traffic comes from search engine results, so if your content is not optimised it won't be found and won't be read.
If your content is likely to be common then you will need to take this into account and be descriptive within the character limit. For example, use ‘About the Department of Premier and Cabinet’ rather than just ‘About us.’

Your title should be between 30 and

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60 characters and contain keywords.

Summary

This is the meta description text that is shown on Google search results as well as on promotion or navigation cards.

Aim for between 10 and 15 words (or

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155 characters, including spaces). The CMS has a limit of 200 characters, but it’s best not to exceed 155 characters.
Make it meaningful – don’t just copy and paste the first sentence from the page content. The summary should describe the content of the page using

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top 10 keywords and missing keywords to help people find your content.
Use Google Trends to see what keywords people are using most in searches.
Be specific – if the page is about an application, service, form or process, specify which one and what it does.
Only use acronyms in your title if there is evidence that the acronym is commonly known, such as ranking highly in search results and on Google Trends.

Introduction text

The text you add in this section appears under your page title on your published page. Use one or 2 sentences to summarise the purpose of the page.

Header links

You can add up to 6 links in this section, which display on the right hand side of the page title.

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Step 3: Add the topic field

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All content is matched to a predefined topic so we can automatically display key information across relevant areas. Topics also help people to discover and browse content that

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is relevant to their interests.

Check the 'topics and tags' page to see the list of topics you can choose from.

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Step 4: Check the correct site and site section is assigned to your content

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On the right hand side of the landing page template, click the Sites drop-down.

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When you’re assigned access to the CMS, this section will be completed by default. Depending on your access, you may have the option to select a different primary site.

Step 5: Save a draft of your page

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Once you’ve saved the page in draft, you can start adding content, navigation cards and promotional cards.

Step 6: Add a Customised header (if needed)

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Here you select the type of header you want for your page. Unless a variation has been designed or signed-off by a UX designer (in conjunction with the content team), leave this as the default option of 'default appearance.'

Header style

Default appearance

Displays your page with the page title and introduction text.

Full-width background image

Add an image to the top of your page. For instructions on adding a full-with image, visit our Hero banner page.

Corner graphics

Allows you to customise the top and bottom corner graphics of a page. These can only be changed if there has been approval from the Digital 9 governance group. The graphical image will not display when a hero image is added.

Logo

This is a small logo that will appear above the page title. Only use this when working with a UX designer or the content team.

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Step 7: Add Header extras if needed

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Under this tab you can add an introduction banner.

This banner will appear under the page title and introduction section on the published page.

For more information, see our introduction banner guide.

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Step 8: Add a Feature image (if needed)

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Feature image

Feature images don't display on the page you're updating. Instead, they appear in any promotion cards or navigation cards linking to the page. This image also appears on social media when the link to the page is being used.

Resize the image for your page to be 818 pixels wide x 496 pixels high (keep this dimension proportional).

Click Select images.
Browse and select your image from the

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Library tab if uploading an existing image.
If you're uploading an image for the first time, click on Add image, then Choose file and browse your computer for your image.
Complete the Name field. Make the name of the file meaningful to the image, so it can be easily found using Media search. For example, a photo of a teenage girl laughing should be titled

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‘Teenage girl

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laughing

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.’ If it’s a photo of a well-known person, you should include their name and position in the title (e.g. Joan

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Kirner

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former

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Premier

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of

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Victoria).
Complete the Alternative text field for your image. This is a description of the image for users who can’t see the image; it’s an important accessibility requirement. If the image is simply decorative, add 2 double quotes in the alt text field; this tells the screen reader to skip it.
Click Save image.

Step 9: Add a Page campaign (if needed)

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Create or add a campaign block

If you've already created a campaign block, start typing the name of your custom block component to display your campaign. To find out how to create one, read our campaign blocks guide.

Primary campaign

Primary campaigns display at the top of the page between the header section and the body content section. They span the full width of the content area.

Secondary campaign

Secondary campaigns display after the content area, just above the page footer. They span the full width of the content area.

Step 10: Add your Page content

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This is where you add the main body copy and components to your page.

Content components

Select

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Add Component

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to begin adding content. The Basic text component is the most common component you'll use.

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Visit the Format basic text page for more detailed instructions on using this component, such as formatting headings, creating lists and adding links.

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Visit the Body text components page to learn about using these features:

Show table of contents
Basic text
Navigation cards and promotion cards
Call to action feature.

Add images and documents

There are some important rules for using images, image galleries and downloadable files.

Documents should be:

only added when there's a strong user need
no larger than 10MB
named appropriately and descriptively, using hyphens between words in the original file name
always accompanied by a HTML version of the content.

Images should be:

only added if they serve a purpose (not merely decorative)
cropped and resized to the appropriate dimensions
named appropriately and descriptively, using hyphens between words in the original file name
accompanied by alt text (unless descriptive).

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Find more information at guidelines on adding images, files, audio and videos and accessibility guides.

Step 11: Add Sidebar content (if needed)

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Site-section navigation

Ticking this box displays the site section navigation menu, visible on the right side of the screen on your published page.

Add the name of your site section in the

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Site-section Navigation Title field (for example, Commemorating veterans) as this will display at the top of the menu and helps users orientate themselves.

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For more information, read our Site-section navigation guide.

Contact

Read the Adding a contact block guide.

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Social sharing

This allows users to share the page on social media. It defaults to 'On' but can be turned off. We recommend keeping it on.

Topic

All content is matched to a predefined topic so we can automatically display key information across relevant areas. Topics also help people to discover and browse content that is relevant to their interests.

Check out the 'topics and tags' page to see the list of topics you can choose from.

Tags (content audience)

Tags are not mandatory for most content pages, but they help users discover and browse content.

Tags are recommended for events to help users filter to content that interests them.

If you choose to add tags, you can choose 1 to 3 from the tags list. You can select your department as a tag to show the content belongs to your department.

The list of current tags can be found on the 'topics and tags' page.

Additional tagging for events

Event pages have additional tagging options. This includes selecting up to 3 tags for:

audience type
event category
event requirements.

To see the tag options you can choose, visit the 'create an event' page.

Customised header tab

Here you select the type of header you want for your page. Unless a variation has been designed or signed-off by a UX designer (in conjunction with the content team), leave this as the default option of 'default appearance.'