The alert content type is used to notify users about an emergency, significant update or sensitive issue. It displays a banner across the top of every page of a website.
Content components
If you're looking for information about current emergency alerts, visit the Emergency Victoria website.
The alert content type can be used for 2 contexts:
emergency warning alerts
information alerts (for significant updates or sensitive issues).
It displays as a coloured banner that sits at the top of every page of a website, pushing the page content down. It continues to display on all pages unless manually dismissed by the user.
It should not be used for promotional content or updates that aren't significant enough to be shown on every webpage. Instead you could use:
Only site administrators have access to this content type. If you want to add an alert to a website managed in http://content.vic.gov.au , email your request to digital@dpc.vic.gov.au.
Emergency warning alerts
This alert should only be used when a statewide emergency is active, meaning the State Control Centre is in operation.
This alert should only be activated at the request of the Department of Premier and Cabinet Senior Communications Executive (SCE) or the department SCE responsible for the emergency, such as the Department of Health SCE for Coronavirus alerts.
The icon and colour used for the alert banner relates to the option selected as the "alert type" in the CMS.
Examples of options available for emergency warning alert banners.
Information alerts
An information alert can be added if necessary to alert users about:
a significant, timely change that affects all content across the site, such as the caretaker period.
health or statutory guidance
Example: The Shrine of Remembrance is closed to the public due to Coronavirus restrictions.
potentially sensitive information
Example: The First Peoples – State Relations website contains images of people who have passed away.
Requests to add this type of alert should be sent to the SDP team by emailing digital@dpc.vic.gov.au.
Example of an information alert on the First Peoples – State Relations website.
Guide for site administrators
Create an alert
In the CMS:
Click on or hover over Content
Select Add content
Select Alert.
Fill in the following fields:
Title – this is the text that will be visible in the alert banner
Alert type – this will decide the colour and icon used for the banner. Options available are:
emergency
fire
flood
heatwave
lightning
medical
pollution
traffic
notification – use this for information alerts
URL – you can add a link to a webpage where more information is provided. This can be an internal or external link.
Link text – the text that will be hyperlinked with the URL provided above.
Site – the site/s the alert will display on.
Fields marked with a red asterisk are mandatory.
The alert content should:
be short and succinct
highlight the key message, with a link to more information if available
use terms like 'warning', to align with emergency response language.
Once the alert has been published, it will appear across all pages tagged to the site you selected. It is recommended to only have one alert published at a time.
Find and manage alerts
Finding published alerts for a specific site:
In the CMS, select Structure > Taxonomy > Sites > List terms.
Find the site or site section you want to check and click Edit.
At the bottom of this page is a section called Site alerts and notifications, which will display any currently published alerts.
You can edit, delete, archive, clone or schedule an update for this alert from this section.
Finding all alerts (published and unpublished):
In the CMS, select Content.
Search for an alert by filling in the title field and/or by choosing Alert in the Content type filter.
You can also filter by Site, Department/agency or Published status
Click on an alert to edit, delete, archive, clone or schedule an update.
Schedule an update
You can schedule an alert to be published or archived at a specific date or time by filling in the fields in the Scheduled updates tab.
You can also schedule an updated revision of the alert to be published.
