Ensure your content is user-focussed and accessible by reviewing our quality checklist.
All our content is to:
help Victorians to navigate government by providing news, events, grants, contacts and assistance information
tell the ‘story’ of government so Victorians can understand what’s happening and how they can access services
allow Victorians (including public servants) to help themselves and others by providing innovation opportunities, including freeing government information for reuse.
Check your content is hitting the mark by doing the following checks.
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Publishing queue teams perform a range of quality checks before publishing new content on vic.gov.au and SDP-managed sites.
You can help avoid delays in getting your content published by stepping through each of these how-to guides to make sure your content is user-focussed and accessible.
Checklist
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Before adding a new content page, ensure there is a clear purpose to the page/outcome for the user.
Check Google Trends for keywords to use in your page title and description.
Check the title is:
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no longer than 70 characters
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no longer than 156 characters
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Check meaningful sub-headings been used throughout the page.
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Remember to write like a journalist! Don’t bury the lead or key messages of your content. Users want to get information as quickly as possible. Structure your page in order of:
Need to know or essential information.
Supporting information.
Nice to know information.
Remember only 25% of uses will scroll to the bottom of a page to get more detail.
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Email addresses
When an email address is hyperlinked, tapping/clicking on it will launch the user's email program and create a new email. To link to an email address:
Select the email address and copy it.
Click the Link icon on the toolbar (or Ctrl + K).
Type mailto: into the URL field and paste the email address with no space between the colon and the email address (it will look like this: mailto:John.Doe@dpc.vic.gov.au).
Click Save.
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When a phone number is hyperlinked, mobile users will be able to tap on a phone number to call it. To link a phone number:
Select the number and copy it.
With it still selected, click the Link icon on the toolbar (or Ctrl + K).
Type 'tel:' into the URL field and paste in the phone number.
Remove any spaces so it will look like this: tel:0370171234. We use the 03 area. We don't use +61 country code.
Click Save.
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Visit: Apply heading styles in the text field
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If you create a new page, ensure its been added to the menu. Check the Site section navigation box is ticked and includes a menu title that reflects the front-end user experience. If you need a new menu created, contact the SDP content team. |
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DocumentsA HTML equivalent is available for Word or PDF documents. Our Publications template allows you to create an accessible online publication. If adding a download in addition to the online publication, check the following has been applied to the document:
ImagesMeaningful text alternative been provided for informational images in the alt text field. If your alternative text is long and your image has lots of detail, use the complex image component. If the image is decorative image, use " " in the alternative text field. You also need to check the following when using images:
VideoThe video has been added to a hosting site like Vimeo or YouTube and has been embedded onto the page using the video module. Use the video module to include a video title, length and transcript. The video is close-captioned (accurately, not using auto-generated YouTube captions). AudioCheck the podcast provider has been added our security list:
Check there is a transcript for the audio file and it has been embedded using our audio module. |
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Check the content uses:
Use an active voice (change the nouns to verbs)Using an active voice in your writing means the subject of the sentence comes first and performs the action the rest of the sentence describes. For example, say 'we manage the program' and 'we analyse data' not 'management of the program is undertaken by the Department of Premier and Cabinet.' Check the content reading level
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Short checklist for publishing new content
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Search engine optimized (SEO) title and summary
Ensure there is a clear purpose for the page/outcome for the user before adding new content page
Check Google Trends for keywords to use in page title and description
Check title is no longer than 70 characters and unique and descriptive
Check summary is no longer than 156 characters and meaningful and describes the content of the page using key words
Check meaningful sub-headings are used throughout the page
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Content structured from most important to least important
Write like a journalist and don't bury the lead or key messages of your content
Structure your page in order of need to know or essential information, supporting information, and nice to know information
Remember that only 25% of users will scroll to the bottom of a page to get more detail
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Emails and phone numbers are correctly linked
When hyperlinking an email address, launch user's email program and create a new email
When hyperlinking a phone number, mobile users will be able to tap on the number to call it
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Internal and external links are correctly formatted
Use descriptive linked text
For internal links, click the Link icon on the toolbar and type the title of the page you want to link to
For external links, add the full website address into the URL field, including https:// and www.
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Heading structure on the page starts from H2 to H5 sequentially
Show the hierarchy of content to make your page scannable
Start with Heading 2 in the content and use H3 for sub-groupings under H2
Meet accessibility guidelines for people using screen readers
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Content is on the page and not hidden in attachments
Use HTML as the default for all government information
Provide a HTML version if including a PDF or Word document
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Navigation and menus
Ensure new pages are added to the menu
Check the Site section navigation box is ticked and includes a menu title that reflects the front-end user experience
Contact the SDP content team if you need a new menu created
Check images, documents, video, and audio content is accessible
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Provide a HTML equivalent for Word or PDF documents
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Use the Publications template to create an accessible online publication
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Provide alternative text for images
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HTML should be the default for all government information.
It's a better experience for users - they won't need to jump between website content and PDFs/Word documents to understand content.
Most people prefer to read web pages and avoid PDFs.
HTML pages receive more traffic and offer a better user experience.
If you have to include a PDF or Word document, you also need a HTML version to meet accessibility.
Check the new page has been added to the navigation and menus
Media content is accessible, including: