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

This guide outlines steps to configure the site taxonomy and vocabularies for an independent website using the Single Digital Presence (SDP) Content Management System (CMS). It should be used in conjunction with the independent website guide.

The site must be set up in the CMS site taxonomy section. This is located under Structure > Taxonomy.

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Sites (site name)

Most of the website configuration is completed within the Sites vocabulary. Here you add your site’s name and logos and set up your top navigation (menu) and footer menu.

To update Sites, select Structure > Taxonomy > Sites > List terms.

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Here you see a list of site names. Find the name of the site you’d like to review and click Edit.

The Name field is the name of your site.

It will be displayed in all tab titles after the page title. For example, Board of Inquiry | Beaumaris Inquiry.

Slogan

Leave this section as is. No changes needed.

Logo

Upload the site’s main logo. This sits on the top left corner of every page on the website. The file should be in PNG format, sized to 280 px wide x 80 px high. (This applies to secondary logos in the top navigation banner for co-branded sites.)

This may have already been added when the site taxonomy was first created.

Print-friendly logo

You can add a print-friendly logo (usually a black version with a transparent background) which will be included on printouts from the website.

Domains

Add the domain(s) in the following formats:

www.sitename.vic.gov.au

app.production.sitename-vic-gov-au.sdp (this URL will be provided by the support team)

app.production.sitename-vic-gov-au.sdp3.sdp.vic.gov.au
app.standby.sitename-vic-gov-au.sdp4.sdp.vic.gov.au
www.inactive.sitename.vic.gov.au

www.master.sitename.vic.gov.au
app.master.sitename-vic-gov-au.sdp4.sdp.vic.gov.au

www.develop.sitename.vic.gov.au
app.develop.sitename-vic-gov-au.sdp4.sdp.vic.gov.au

Main and footer menu

Check that a main menu and footer menu have been designated. (These are automatically created when the site taxonomy is created.)

If a main and footer menu haven’t been created, use the create and edit menus guide.

Footer text

Add the following text to this section:

© Copyright State Government of Victoria

Footer logo (optional)

The Victorian Government logo will appear here by default. You can add a second logo to the website.

The file should be in PNG format and sized to 84 pixels high x 148 pixels wide.

Make sure this is a contrasting colour to the footer (usually white on a transparent background) so it displays well and is accessible.

CTA

URL: make the call-to-action URL the site’s home page. The link text will show if a user hovers over the image with their cursor.

Link text: make the link text Home.

Feature image

Upload a PNG version of the footer logo.

Footer logos

You can add an additional logo and link it to another website by selecting add Call to action image.

Before you upload an image, check your image has been resized correctly. Visit: Image ratios, sizes and component use.

URL: full address of the website.

Link text: this field is mandatory, but doesn’t display in the front end.

Feature image: select the Select images icon to add a logo. This sits on the bottom right of the website footer, on every page on the website.

Homepage

Start typing in the title of the website home page and select it from the dynamic list.

Show Exit Site

Tick this if the website requires a Quick exit button to appear on the top-right of all website pages.

Example of the Quick exit button on http://beaumarisinquiry.vic.gov.au

Relations

Leave this section as is. No changes needed.

Acknowledgement to Country

The following text should be added:

The Victorian Government acknowledges Aboriginal Traditional Owners of Country throughout Victoria and pays respect to their cultures and Elders past and present.

Prominence of Acknowledgement of Country

Leave this section as is. No changes needed.

Social media image

Shows on social media when a link to any page on the site is shared if there is no featured image. Image should be square and at least 600 pixels high and wide.

Twitter share image

Shows on Twitter when a link to any page on the site is shared if there is no featured image. Image should be rectangle in shape. Before you upload an image, check your image has been resized correctly. Visit: Image ratios, sizes and component use.

Social media channels

Add links to social media channels to the footer of the website. Links will appear under a heading titled Connect with us along with the relevant social media icon.

Table of contents

You can turn on the table of contents for the site map page. The site map page is automatically generated from the site’s top navigation. It displays 2 levels of the website’s IA.

Title of Table of contents: allows you to add a custom title for the table of contents.

Site theme values

This is where you set up the front end design elements of a website, including the colours. Ask a designer for the specifications for your site theme (including hex codes and tokens) and then input them.

Site feature flag values

This section is used to configure Google Analytics 4 (GA4) properties for the site and any other custom settings developers require.

Use: Guide to setting up analytics properties for Ripple 2

Site favicon

This should be supplied by a UX designer as a PNG file, 512 pixels wide x 512 pixels high.

Site header corner graphics

This should be supplied by a UX designer as PNG files. For more information, visit the Ripple design system.

If you need help with these graphics, submit a support request.

Site Alerts and Notifications

Leave this section as is. No changes needed.

Setting up your other mandatory vocabularies

The following vocabulary templates will be provided with your CMS, but you’ll need to add your own terms. Some fields in content types are mandatory, depending on your setup. That means you won’t be able to save pages without filling them in.

The attributes that the vocabularies describe can be used to categorise content for filtering in search, Content collections and Search listings. You can see the terms we use for the Victorian Government website on this knowledge base article: CMS vocabularies in use in the Vic Gov CMS

Department

The department field is a mandatory field on some content types/CMS templates and media items. You’ll need to add at least 1 term to your department vocabulary.

To add terms to the department taxonomy:

1. Hover over Structure and click Taxonomy.

2. Locate the Department vocabulary and click list terms.

3. Click Add term and enter your term in the Name field.

4. Click Save.

Topic

The topic field is a mandatory field on most content types/CMS templates. You’ll need to add at least 1 term to your department vocabulary.

To add a topic:

1. Hover over Structure and click Taxonomy.

2. Locate Topic and click List terms.

3. Click Add term and enter your term in the Name field.

4. Click Save.

5. Repeat until you’ve added all the topics you’ll be using for your site.

Language

Language is a mandatory field on all content types/CMS templates. It is configured to be set to Australian English by default on all content types.

If you will be adding content in other languages, you’ll need to add them to the Language vocabulary. This information controls what font is used on the live site and also the reading direction in case you’re using a right-to-left language such as Arabic.

To add a language term:

1. Hover over Structure and click Taxonomy.

2. Locate Language and click List terms.

3. Click Add term and enter your language in the Name field, e.g.

   Arabic (العربية).

4. If you want to specify a font, put it in the Font field.

5. If you need to set the text direction, set this.

6. Click Save.

Organisation

The Organisation field is mandatory on some content types. You’ll need to add at least 1 term to your department vocabulary.

To add an organisation:

1. Hover over structure and click taxonomy.

2. Locate Organisations and click List terms.

3. Click Add term and enter the term in the Name field.

4. Click Save.

Content category

Content category is mandatory on some content types or in some independent site installations. Confirm with your developers.

To add content category terms:

1. Hover over Structure and click Taxonomy.

2. Locate Content category and click List terms.

3. Click Add term and enter ‘Copyright’ in the Name field.

4. Click Save.

Tags

Tags are non-mandatory fields on some content types/CMS templates. On vic.gov.au the Tags fields are used to specify content audience; for an independent website, you might want to use this taxonomy for business units or groups of content on your site.

To add a tag:

1. Hover over structure and click taxonomy.

2. Locate Tags and click List terms.

3. Click Add term and enter the term in the Name field.

4. Click Save.

License type

License types are not mandatory, but it is worth adding both Copyright and Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 as license types. Generally government information is not copyright, but photos sometimes are.

To add these 2 license types:

1. Hover over Structure and click Taxonomy.

2. Locate License type and click List terms.

3. Click Add term and enter ‘Copyright’ in the Name field.

4. Click Save.

Related links

• How to set up an independent website