How to configure and QA an independent website using Single Digital Presence

This guide covers how to configure and QA a new fully independent website using the Single Digital Presence (SDP) Content Management System (CMS). SDP developers will create a CMS for users to manage, create and approve content for an independent website (separate to the content.vic.gov.au CMS).

On this page:

Roles and responsibilities

Accessing the Vic Gov CMS

Once approved, we will provide selected members of your team with Site Admin access (including a link to the production site and login details). The production site is the place to build your website content.

A develop and master site are created for use by developers. The content on these sites is over-ridden with a new version regularly for testing purposes and cannot be automatically moved to your production site. If you need to use these sites, raise a support request.

Setting up new CMS users

Use our new CMS user guide to set up access for editors in your team.

We encourage editors to complete our CMS training to learn about accessibility requirements and how to add hyperlinks and heading styles.

Setting up the site taxonomy and vocabularies

You’ll need to set up the site taxonomy and vocabularies for your website. This helps content creators and users easily navigate the site and understand its purpose.

Creating a website homepage

Start by creating a homepage and contact us page.

A homepage needs to exist in the CMS for a front-end preview of a website to be generated. It’s OK if the title of the homepage hasn’t been decided. The title and URL can be updated before go-live. A Site admin needs to add the homepage to the site taxonomy.

For steps on creating these pages, use the landing page guide.

Contact us page

A contact us page needs to exist so users can contact your team when a requested page is not available.

For steps on creating these pages, use the landing page guide.

Redirects

Updating the contact us link on the website’s error page (404 page not found)

The default 404 page not found page for each site contains a link to the site’s contact page. For example:

Open

By default, the link takes users who receive the error page to sitename.vic.gov.au/connect-with-us. This will need to be changed before the website goes live.

Create a redirect from connect-with-us to the contact page (e.g. sitename.vic.gov.au/contact-us).

Open

Example of redirect set up on Beaumaris Inquiry 404 page to direct user to actual contact page.

Migrated sites: mapping redirects

If migrating a site from another CMS to the SDP CMS, redirects must be mapped before go-live.

Domain name owners at domain name level are done by Site admin technical support, however, page redirects are completed by Site Admins. To ensure all redirects are in place, create a list of all live URLs in the Old URL column and map these pages to equivalent or new URLs to the New URL column. For example:

Use the URL redirects to add each redirect to the CMS. This should be completed after go-live.

Linking to Contact us from Was this page helpful?

It’s a Victorian government standard to gather visitor feedback on all of our sites.

If the Was this helpful? form is enabled on a page, when the user selects yes or no, they see the below message ‘We're unable to respond to queries or requests for contact via this form. If you have a question and would like to receive a reply, please use our contact us form.’

By default, the link is sitename.vic.gov.au/connect-with-us. You will need to set up a redirect to your site’s contact page if you’re using a different URL (similar to the 404 example above).

Completing a website QA before and after go-live

Use the website QA guide to understand the minimum checks to complete before and after go-live.

Related links

• GitHub code repository

• Raising a support ticket

• Assets you must provide to create a new site

• How to set up the site taxonomy and vocabularies for an independent website