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Website editorial standards

Our corporate website is a major customer service and access channel. It is a powerful tool to help us communicate with the public. We receive around 300,000 visits to our website each month.

The website is updated daily with news stories and events. Homepage features and promotions also change on a regular basis. All pages on the website are reviewed on a regular basis to ensure the information is as up to date as possible. The job vacancies, libraries, schools information, recycling centres and public transport pages are among the most popular areas of the website.

We want our website to be much more than a reference manual, it should help to engage residents and encourage local democracy. To achieve this, our online content needs to be:

  • user focused;
  • clear and concise;
  • accessible;
  • accurate.

The guidance provided below is aimed at council staff, contractors and partners involved in producing content for the Warwickshire website, the Intranet and other websites supported by the council.

Writing for online audiences

The aim of this section is to show the importance of communicating through our website and Intranet and basic guidelines for effective and accessible writing and design.

When writing for our website or Intranet, it is important to remember that people will read and interact with the information you provide differently than they would with a printed document.

When looking for information online, people will tend to 'scan' the information, rather than reading it. This means that people will very often not read things in order that you may expect.

People will only spend a few seconds viewing a page before navigating away when looking for information. So you need to make sure your content is written and presented in a way that provides the information they want quickly and easily.

In order to gain access to the website or Intranet content management systems, staff must have been approved by the E Communications Team and have had appropriate training through the Effective E Communications course.

Some of the good practice covered by the Effective E Communications course is listed below. These points are relevant to anyone who is creating content which will be published online.

General writing

  • The information must be accurate;
  • The information must be up to date (avoid writing 'tomorrow',' next week' or 'yesterday' as the information will be out of date very quickly);
  • The information and language should be appropriate for the page's target audience;
  • The main points should be clear and easy to follow. Structure your page so that the main points are first, as people will be reluctant to scroll down the page;
  • Keep it short. A good page length is under 300 words (anything longer should be split over more than one page, or you can give people the option to download a version they can print out and read);
  • Paragraphs should be short, with one idea per paragraph. Space between text helps to refresh the eye when reading from a screen;
  • Sentences should be short with one idea per sentence;
  • Try to be specific ('It's raining' rather than the 'weather's bad');
  • Make sure you use plain words where possible (for example, 'start' not 'commence'). This helps to make the webpage easier to read;
  • The page should be shorter than 3 screen depths (Any more than this, and the information either needs to be shortened, or spread over more than one page);
  • Make sure your pages meet or refer to all current acts, legislations and regulations. When new ones are brought out make sure you update your information accordingly.

Editing

  • On the website, heading styles and text sizes must be consistent with the website standards;
  • Text should be aligned left, as this is the easiest to read quickly. Make sure that text is not fully justified, as this makes it harder to read on screen;
  • Make sure there are no spelling mistakes;
  • The punctuation should be appropriate. In particular, check apostrophes and exclamation marks;
  • Words should not be written in capitals to add emphasis (this disguises the shape of the word, making it harder to read, and looks like you are SHOUTING);
  • Text should not be underlined (underlined text looks like a link and can be confusing, use bold instead to add emphasis if appropriate);
  • Make sure there is as little jargon as possible;
  • If an acronym has been used, it should be explained in full the first time it is used on that page.

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Formatting and design standards

Formatting of text

All webpages on the www.warwickshire.gov.uk website must conform to these standards:

  • Body text must be Arial size 9;
  • Body text must be black;
  • Body text must be left aligned (not justified);
  • Page headings must be Arial size 14;
  • Subheadings must be Arial size 12;
  • Third level headings ('sub sub headings') must be Arial size 9, bold;
  • Background colour must be white;
  • All hyperlinks are shown as blue and underlined.

Design standards

  • The page must have a meaningful title (This not only helps people reading the page, but also improves search engine results);
  • The links must work;
  • The links must be descriptive ('Click Here' and 'More Information' are not allowed, as they make the site difficult to use with screen reader technology. Make sure the link text describes where the link will take you). For example - Online content standards;
  • Links to downloadable files (for example, PDF or Word files) must also include the file size and format. For example - Warwickshire View Spring 2009 (pdf, 2.6Mb);
  • Web addresses must not be used as the link text;
  • When including email links, the link must include the email address. This gives visitors the choice of contacting us using the online feedback system or by using the address in a separate email;
  • The images must be clear, professional and appropriate;
  • Images must add value.

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Navigation and usability

Our website and Intranet should be easy to use and navigate. People should be able to access our information quickly and easily. The faster people can get to the information they want, the better our website and Intranet will be.

'Usability' refers to how easy a site is to use. People expect websites to be quick and simple to use. The Navigation styles and layouts on our website and Intranet are controlled by the E Communications Team.

Pages on our website and Intranet should be as easy to find as possible. We encourage Intranet and web authors to think about what people will be looking for when they come to their pages, and to try and keep a sense of scale when linking their pages together.

A usable site inspires confidence in the site and ultimately visitors will be keen to return again and again.

Detailed advice about good practice in navigation and usability is available to council staff from E Services - webmaster@warwickshire.gov.uk

The Central Office of Information's usability toolkit website also provides good general advice which council content authors are encouraged to consider.

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Accessibility standards for online content

Accessibility of online services means providing reasonable access to online information, services and systems to all people, regardless of disability or the method they choose to access the information.

We will not allow any information onto the website or Intranet unless every effort has been made to make it accessible.

Our website and Intranet aims to conform to accessibility standards as specified by guidance published by the Cabinet Office. The Equality Act applies as much to our website and Intranet as it does to our buildings and offices.

In order to make our website and Intranet as accessible as possible it is important to remember that there is: no standard information user and no standard device for browsing online information. An accessible website does not unreasonably exclude anyone due to their access needs or preferences.

Making sure our website and Intranet are as usable and accessible as possible means making sure that they are:

  • intuitive to use;
  • efficient to use;
  • easy to remember;
  • enjoyable to use; and
  • consistent in their behaviour.

Designing content to support assistive technology

Where software, hardware or a combination of both are used to enable access to online information by a person with a disability or impairment, this is known as assistive technology.

This includes:

  • customisation of screen views to alter the colours and size of text, icons, menu bars and scroll bars;
  • screen magnifiers;
  • screen readers;
  • braille translation (converts the words into Braille, which can then be embossed via a Braille embosser);
  • text-to-speech and speech-to-text converters;
  • spelling and grammar checkers.

We make every effort to make sure that our website and Intranet work well with as many assistive technologies as possible. All council staff who produce content for online publishing are required to support accessibility. This includes but is not restricted to:

  • Making sure all images have alt tags (a text alternative to the image for use with screen readers);
  • Making sure that alternatives to image-based content (such as maps) are available;
  • Making sure text is always shown as text (and not as an image of text); so that screen readers can access it, and colours and text sizes can be changed easily to make the page easier to read;
  • Making sure all links can be tabbed through, making the site easy to use where keyboard controls are used;
  • Making sure all video and audio content has a text transcript.

When creating content for publishing online council staff should also be aware of the advice about accessibility that is provided to users of the Warwickshire website and of the council's equality and diversity policies

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External links policy

Relevance

The following policy is applicable to all corporate online channels including the Warwickshire website and the Intranet. This policy should be followed by all council content authors and reviewers.

Requirements

The criteria set out below will be used wherever external links are published online. This includes but is not limited to: webpages, a downloadable document (for example a report or leaflet) and other channels such as blogs and discussion forums.

E Services reserves the right to remove any links that may adversely affect the reputation of the council or may raise unacceptable risks.

All websites offered by Warwickshire County Council must publish the following disclaimer.

Warwickshire County Council accepts no liability for the content, performance, accuracy, privacy or availability of external websites. Views expressed on external websites and on any social networking services (including those offered by the council) do not necessarily represent the views of or endorsement by Warwickshire County Council.

This disclaimer will be published in appropriate places on the Warwickshire website, such as within the website's disclaimer page, by E Services. Publishing the disclaimer on other council websites should be discussed with E Services.

Links to external websites must only be provided where the following criteria are satisfied:

  • The website offers information or services that are genuinely relevant to the council information or service it is linked from.
  • The website is reputable and does not provide content which may be illegal, promote dangerous or illegal acts or may be considered offensive.
  • The website does not breach the council's Equality and Diversity policies.
  • The relevant information or services provided on the website linked to must be free to access.
  • Websites which promote political or religious viewpoints must only be linked to where they provide essential information relevant to the council's services and responsibilities.
  • Where-ever possible, websites which provide overt commercial advertising should be avoided where services are aimed at children and young people. This is in line with Department for Children, Schools and Families guidance.
  • Links to commercial websites should be provided only where the relevant information or services are free to access or where it is a commercial partner providing services on behalf of the council or where they have met specific criteria set by the council (such as through trader vetting schemes).

Links to websites which provide online discussion forums, blogs and other social networking services (such as Facebook and Twitter) must only be made with the approval of E Services.

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Tools for testing plain English writing

The aim of this section is to show you how to check the plain English levels of your work.

Word processing applications such as Microsoft Word automatically check your spelling and grammar. But they can also let you know readability scores. This is where it works out your levels of plain English for the document you have written. The scores then tell you if your work is easy for people to understand or not. You should check the readability scores for every written document you produce.

Readability scores explained

There are three readability scores. Each one bases its rating on the average number of syllables per word and words per sentence.

Passive sentences - Microsoft Word will tell you the percentage of your sentences that are passive. Make sure that no more than 25 per cent of your sentences are passive.

Flesch Reading Ease score - this rates text on a 100-point scale; the higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document. For most standard documents, your score must be at least 50.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score - this rates text on American school grades. For example, a score of 8.0 means that an eighth grader (a fourteen year old) can understand the document. For most standard documents, your score must be no higher than 10. The highest, or worst, possible score is 12.

Setting up readability scores

For Microsoft Word:

  1. Open Microsoft Word
  2. Then on Tools, click on Options
  3. On Options, click on Spelling and Grammar
  4. Tick box marked Show readability statistics

Once you have set up Word to check your levels of plain English, the readability scores will appear when you click on the spelling and grammar button. This is the icon with the tick and the ABC letters on.

Meeting the scores

This is how to achieve better scores:

  • Use shorter words
  • Use active sentences
  • Write as you would speak

Example

Example of poor readability:

Under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, the council can intervene when neighbours have been unable to settle disputes over high hedges. In adjudicating on whether a hedge is preventing occupants' reasonable enjoyment of their home or garden, the council will take account of, and strike a balance between, the competing interests of the complainant and the hedge owner, as well as the interests of the wider community.

  • 67 Words: Passive 0 per cent
  • Reading ease 22.5: Grade level 12

Following a rewrite:

By law we can act as a go-between for neighbours disputing high hedges. We will decide if the height of a hedge is stopping someone from enjoying their home or garden. When making this decision we will look at a range of issues. This will include the interests of both the complainant and the hedge owner.

  • 56 words: Passive 0 per cent
  • Reading ease 73.2: Grade level 6.5

This version has much better scores and is a lot easier to understand. It gives readers the same information but without the official language.

If you have problems with your readability scores you can check individual paragraphs and sentences as well as the finished document. This lets you identify any problem areas causing the poor scores.

  • Highlight the paragraph or sentence and click on the spelling and grammar icon.
  • Word will ask if you want it to continue to check the rest of the document. Click no and it will then show you the readability scores for that paragraph.

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