Website Guidelines: Version 1.1 – September 2019

Digital Services Policy Framework

Websites Guidelines

Last Updated: September 2019

Document Control

Website Guidelines: Version 1.1 – September 2019

Produced and published by: Office of Digital Government

Contact:

Office of Digital Government 2 Havelock Street WEST PERTH WA 6005

Telephone: 61 8 6552 5000

Email: [email protected]

Document version history

Date Author Version Revision Notes April 2018 Office of the GCIO 1.0 First release September 2019 Office of Digital 1.1 Rebranded to Office of Digital Government Government, added guidance on website redirect

This document, the Website Guidelines Version 1.1 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you attribute the Government of Western Australia (Office of Digital Government) as author, indicate if changes were made, and comply with the other licence terms. The licence does not apply to any branding or images.

License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Attribution: © Government of Western Australia (Office of Digital Government) 2018 to 2019

Notice Identifying Other Material and/or Rights in this Publication:

The Creative Commons licence does not apply to the Government of Western Australia Coat of Arms. Permission to reuse the Coat of Arms can be obtained from the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.

Purpose This document aims to support agencies in achieving their website governance responsibilities.

Policy context This guideline should be read in conjunction with the Digital Services Policy Framework suite of policies, standards and guidance materials, in particular the Website Standard and Western Australian Government Domain Name Standard.

1 Website planning considerations Before creating a new website, or redesigning or redeveloping a website, you should be able to demonstrate that: 1.1 Website standard requirement 7.2: The website project aligns with the whole of government ServiceWA (Digital) strategic initiative All website projects are expected to align to the ServiceWA (Digital) whole of government strategic direction and common digital services platform approach.

You should discuss your approach with the Office of Digital Government before seeking exemptions. Details are provided in section 3.1 below. 1.2 Website standard requirement 7.3: The content cannot or should not be hosted on the whole of government ServiceWA (Digital) portal (WA.gov.au), or on any other existing whole of government Western Australian Government websites Before developing or redeveloping a website, you should explore opportunities to collaborate with other organisations to make it easier for customers to access a range of related information and services or to deliver a more complete view of the information and services available for a particular service/topic area. 1.3 Website standard requirement 7.4: The website is supported by a website business plan endorsed by your agency's Director General or equivalent Seek approval from your agency Director General or equivalent delegate before developing or redeveloping a website. The approval should demonstrate that you have considered all aspects of website planning. The intention of this requirement is to avoid unnecessary website investments outside of a whole of government approach, as directed under the Website Project Governance Process. A website business plan documents key information about the website, ensures transparency and accountability, and provides a mechanism for stakeholder approval and signoff before the website is developed. The Website Standard requires a website business plan for all new websites and for significant redevelopment of existing websites.

The website business plan should include:

• the website business objectives • how those objectives are to be measured and evaluated • the business and technical requirements • a risk analysis • the standards to be applied • how the website will be built and managed • the cost involved. 1.4 Website standard requirement 7.6: Your proposed website complies with all approved digital services principles, policies, standards and processes identified in the Digital Services Policy Framework (DSPF) The DSPF contains or references a number of standards, relevant legislation and best practice guidelines to assist you in developing and maintaining quality websites. These include, but are not limited to:

• One government user experience (UX) website design The UX website design standards prove the usability and accessibility of Western Australian Government websites by requiring a level of consistency in:

• the positioning and functionality of key website elements; including website navigation, branding, search and footer content. UX website design standard for the Western Australian public sector are detailed in the Visual Design and Functional Standard. • how online content is written and presented; to ensure content is easy to read, meaningful and easily understood. Content strategy and writing style for the Western Australian public sector are detailed in the Digital Services Content Standard. • how online content is tagged; to ensure relevant content can be easily found. Details on how to capture metadata for online content are available in the Website Metadata Tagging Standard.

• Accessibility It is important that websites are developed to meet website accessibility standards to ensure they cater for a broad range of needs. This includes people with disabilities, people in rural and remote areas that have slow Internet connections and people using alternative technologies such as smart phones and other handheld devices. Accessibility requirements for the Western Australian public sector websites are detailed in the Accessibility and Inclusivity Standard.

• Content management and website maintenance Content management plays a critical role in ensuring that the information and services you provide through your website can be easily found, and is meaningful and useful to the consumer.

If you move your content to a different online location, or if your website URL is changed for any reason, you must ensure you have a redirect in place so that people visiting the content will not find broken links or abandoned web pages. A 301 redirect is recommended to redirect one web page to another. If there is no alternative content or page, consider using 301 redirect to direct consumer to a page to advise that the page or content has been removed or deleted. If you do not put this redirect in place, consumers will be presented with a broken link, generally in the form of a 404 error page.

2 Website domain name considerations Before applying for a wa.gov.au domain name for the purpose of a new website, you are encouraged to discuss your website proposal with the Office of Digital Government. The table below provides some examples to help you assess if a new website and domain name is warranted. This guidance will assist agencies comply with Domain Name Standard requirement 7.3.

Business Considerations and recommendations need I want to In most cases, your agency’s website content should be hosted on the create a whole of government website (WA.gov.au). website for my As directed under Website standard requirement 7.4, you must provide department or a business justification that is approved by your agency’s Director agency General or equivalent delegate, for any separate websites. All new websites must comply with all relevant policies and standards provided to support the outcomes of the state digital strategy, including those that fall under the Digital Services Policy Framework. If you can demonstrate that your content cannot or should be hosted on the whole of government ServiceWA (Digital) portal* (WA.gov.au), you can apply for a fourth level domain name. The website URL will usually take the form of agencyname.wa.gov.au (for example, parliament.wa.gov.au).

* All website projects are expected to align to the ServiceWA (Digital) whole of government strategic direction and common digital services platform approach, or compliance with relevant policies and standards provided to support the outcomes of the state digital strategy. For more information on the requirements and process, see the Website Project Governance Process. Western Australian public sector entities operating in a commercial or semi-commercial environment may apply for a non-Western Australian government domain (e.g. .com.au).

Business Considerations and recommendations need Western Australian public sector entities looking to protect against the use of high profile government ‘brands’ in other domain spaces, can register extra domains outside of the Western Australian government domain (for example westernaustralia.com). However you should only promote the Western Australian government domain. I want to It is not necessary to have a separate website and domain name for create a each product or service you offer. In the first instance, you should website for a consider hosting the content on the WA.gov.au website. specific topic or initiative In most cases your agency’s initiatives or projects should form part of that is owned your agency’s existing website. A subdomain (e.g. new- by my agency initiative.agencyname.wa.gov.au) or subdirectory (for example, agencyname.wa.gov.au/new-initiative.) can be setup for this initiative to give it more prominence.

Example of subdomain vs. subdirectory:

Category Example Existing parent domain mainroads.wa.gov.au (this is an example of a fourth level domain name) Subdomain Travelmap.mainroads.wa.gov.au (this is an example of a fifth level Typically known as sub-website, domain name) and is usually a separate website. Subdomains are indicated by the ‘travelmap’ is a subdomain of section to the left of the parent ‘mainroads.wa.gov.au’ domain. A parent domain can have many subdomains. Subdirectory mainroads.wa.gov.au/UsingRoads

In its simplest form a subdirectory is ‘UsingRoads’ is a folder within the a folder within your website. It is mainroads.wa.gov.au website. part of your existing website

Business Considerations and recommendations need High-profile agency-specific initiatives or agency specific initiative at a whole of government level may warrant a separate domain name or short URL for promotional purposes, which can redirect to the content within the WA.gov.au website or agency website. The domain name format can be new-initiative.wa.gov.au or wa.gov.au/new-initiative.

Whole of government campaign (i.e.: politically oriented campaign) or advertising websites are required adhere to the Premier’s Circular 2017/02: Advertising and communications expenditure and related policies. I want to Content relating to a division, team or business unit within an agency create a should be contained within the agency’s website; not as a separate website for my website. division or Your agency’s website structure should be based on the services it business unit offers rather than by its organisation structure. within my agency

I want to Initiatives providing comprehensive information from a whole of create a government and/or cross-agency perspective should be housed on the website for a government digital services portal (WA.gov.au). whole of Depending on the initiative, it may warrant the creation of a short URL government, for promotional purposes. For example: topic.wa.gov.au or cross-agency wa.gov.au/topic. or multi- agency project or topic Considerations when planning for this type of website: • liaison required with all Western Australian Government organisations that have an interest or involvement in the topic • decision required on who will own and administer the content, and website

I want to Educational institutions may use the wa.gov.au (e.g. tafe.wa.gov.au) create a domain. website for my Most educational institutions choose to use the wa.edu.au domain (e.g. educational curtin.wa.edu.au). institution Application for wa.edu.au domain names is through the Education Services Australia Ltd.

Business Considerations and recommendations need I want to Local government entities may use the wa.gov.au domain. create a Examples include: website for my • City of Stirling - stirling.wa.gov.au agency. I am • from a local Town of Vincent - vincent.wa.gov.au government agency.

3 Exemptions 3.1 Alignment with ServiceWA (Digital) strategic direction Agencies seeking EXEMPTION from aligning with the whole of government approach will require Directors General ICT Council approval. This exemption applies to any agency website project:

• with a total cost of $100,000 or more that DO NOT ALIGN with the ServiceWA (Digital) whole of government strategic direction • that DO NOT COMPLY with all the relevant policies and standards provided to support the outcomes of the state digital strategy. Full details including scope and affected project types, assessment criteria and the exemption approval process are provided in the Website Project Governance Process. Any queries relating to the Website Project Governance Process may be directed to the Office of Digital Government, telephone 61 8 6552 5000 or by email to dgov- [email protected]