Acknowledgement Many people deserve credit for creating this document. Special thanks to the Internet Common Look and Feel Working Group leaders for their considerable contribution. The Internet Common Look and Feel Working Group, an inter-institutional, multidisciplinary committee composed of approximately 75 members, provided support for this document. The Working Group is charged with providing a forum for consultation on government-wide issues associated with developing Internet standards that enhance information and service delivery, address universal accessibility issues, and strengthen federal presence and visibility. It does this by providing advice to the Treasury Board Secretariat for developing government-wide policy and procedures for use on Government of Canada (GoC) sites. The Common Look and Feel Working Group also acts as a government-wide forum for co-ordinating inter- institutional activities related to using common look and feel recommendations; sharing and exchanging best practices; maintaining awareness of developments related to service delivery, universal accessibility, federal identity issues; and, simplifying the process of adopting new recommendations in Web development and maintenance. CL&F Co-chairs: Alan Way, Chair Treasury Board Secretariat Donna Wood, Chair Public Works and Government Services Canada Common Look and Feel Report Prepared by: Alan Way Treasury Board Secretariat Grant Johnson Treasury Board Secretariat Marilyn Smith National Research Council Special Thanks: Cal Becker Industry Canada Guy Belanger Human Resources Development Canada Nancy Brodie National Library of Canada Karyn Curtis Transport Canada Barbara Dundas Transport Canada Chuck Letourneau Industry Canada Joe Ricciardi Treasury Board Secretariat Committee Members: Duncan Bailey Treasury Board Secretariat Pèter Balogh Public Works and Government Services Canada Eileen Bays-Coutts Finance Canada Suzanne Beaudoin Public Works and Government Services Canada Cal Becker Industry Canada Guy Belanger Human Resources Development Canada D.J. Blackwood Revenue Canada Sylvie Boileau Communication Research Centre Canada Nancy Brodie National Library of Canada Glen Brunton Industry Canada Richard Caron Canadian Heritage Alain Calvet Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages Edith Core Industry Canada Sharron Curley Public Works and Government Services Canada Karyn Curtis Transport Canada Ian Darragh Canadian International Development Agency Judy David Public Works and Government Services Canada Nancy Davy Treasury Board Secretariat Doug DeHart Department of National Defence Karen Donaldson Transport Canada Wayne Duford Canadian Heritage Barbara Dundas Transport Canada Pierre Gagnier Public Service Commission Chantal Gauthier National Library of Canada Annick Gauvin-Fleurant Canadian Space Agency Denis Gratton Privy Council Office Common Look and Feel for Internet: Report and Recommendations 2000 01 06 Terry Harding Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Pauline Hawkes Public Works and Government Services Canada Dave Huddlestone Canadian Heritage Grant Johnson Treasury Board Secretariat Mark Kennedy Natural Resources Canada Jane Kralik Industry Canada Carol Lemery Public Works and Government Services Canada John MacCraken Statistics Canada Peter Martin Industry Canada Scott McGregor Industry Canada Grace Moores Industry Canada Lynne Mulvihill Industry Canada Margo Nielson Citizenship and Immigration Canada Daniela Planka Status of Women Canada Judy Poirier Citizenship and Immigration Canada Scott Prieur Fisheries and Oceans Charles Reynolds Health Canada Daryl Rock Human Resources Development Canada Kate Seguin Revenue Canada Duncan Shaw Human Resources Development Canada Chis Stevenson Public Works and Government Services Canada Peter Smith Industry Canada Craig Taylor Canadian Heritage Paula Tozer Environment Canada Linda Wood Public Works and Government Services Canada Deane Zeeman Finance Canada Common Look and Feel for Internet: Report and Recommendations 2000 01 06 Update Common Look and Feel migrates to Government On-line In the fall of 1999, through the Speech from the Throne, the government set the ambitious goal of providing Canadians with access to all government information and services on-line, at the time and place of their choosing. Despite enormous diversities in geography, demography, and physical and technological abilities, all Canadians are united by a need to know about programs and services offered to them by their government that are relevant in their daily lives. The Government On-line (GOL) initiative seeks to address that need by increasing the amount of information available through Internet technologies and by improving overall access to the vast resources produced by government institutions. Under the direction of the Treasury Board Secretariat Advisory Committee, the Information Management Subcommittee (TIMS) has undertaken to champion GOL to ensure that policies and procedures for effective government-wide implementation are made available. Obviously, the scope of the GOL initiative is broad, and there are many issues to consider. With a long history in information management and information technology assessment and implementation, the Chief Information Officer Branch (CIOB) has the skills and expertise necessary to spearhead this multifaceted initiative on behalf of TIMS. As champion of GOL, CIOB will draw upon a wide range of specialists and stakeholders to ensure close alignment of business and technology requirements of both the electronic service delivery/GOL and the Strategic IM/IT Infrastructure initiatives. Making it easy to obtain GoC information via the Internet is one aspect of the larger electronic service delivery (ESD) model that will make up GOL. In recognition of the need to create a unified approach to the delivery of electronic on-line products and services for Canadians, TBS is transferring from the Service and Innovation sector (S&I) to the CIOB, the Common Look and Feel for Internet (CL&F) initiative. The CL&F initiative has gained tremendous support from both CL&F Working Group members and GoC institutions over the past 20 months. CIOB will continue to work with the (S&I) Federal Identity Program (FIP), which has established preliminary guidelines for CL&F implementation, to ensure issues associated with the FIP policies and programs are effectively addressed within both CL&F and GOL. In addition, S&I will continue to focus on complementary non-electronic channels and the Service Canada pilots. CIOB and S&I will collaborate on all areas to ensure consistency across all service channels. Many GoC institutions have begun to implement elements of CL&F during the course of regular Web maintenance and new site development. Already, the GoC is beginning to present a more unified visual design and navigational approach to Canadians. With this report and recommendations, an attempt has been made to address the issues and concerns raised by institutions following the release of Draft 1 in April 1999. The S&I Sector is confident institutions will have a clearer sense of how to begin CL&F implementation. Although some aspects of larger issues remain unresolved, these are clearly identified, along with an overview of the progress made to date in investigating options and reaching final conclusions. Common Look and Feel for Internet: Report and Recommendations 2000 01 06 Common Look and Feel for Internet: Report and Recommendations 2000 01 06 Table of Contents Index of Recommendations 1 Introduction 5 Background 7 Statement of Objectives 11 Section 1: Communication A Citizen-centred Approach 13 Section 2: Identification Visibility and Recognition 21 Section 3: Navigation Common Sense Connections 33 Section 4: Content Information Design 41 Section 5: Enabling and Emerging Technologies Reaching All Canadians 47 Glossary 55 Figures 1-20 63 Common Look and Feel for Internet: Report and Recommendations 2000 01 06 Common Look and Feel for Internet: Report and Recommendations 2000 01 06 1 Index of Recommendations 1 All Web pages on all GoC Web sites should incorporate navigational buttons that allow users to proceed through the site in the language of their choice, or to access identical information in the alternate official language. 15 (a) Language buttons on Welcome Pages should be displayed in the manner indicated to ensure visual equality and continuity within the visual standards of CL&F. 15 (b) Language navigation buttons on all Content Pages should be incorporated in the mandatory menu bar. The language button should hyperlink directly to the identical content in the alternate official language. 15 2 All messages generated by GoC web servers, including instructions, permissions, confirmations and errors, must comply with official languages requirements, meaning the content of the message must appear in both official languages. 15 3 All text equivalents must be given in the language of the Web page in which they are embedded. 15 4 The mandatory GILS elements that make up the metatag for any given Web page must correspond to the official language of the page itself. 15 5 All GoC Web sites should comply with W3C Priority 1 and Priority 2 checkpoints to ensure sites can be easily accessed by the widest possible audience. 17 6 All GoC Web sites shall incorporate Welcome Pages at the main point of entry to the site and at any point at which users are introduced to a new sub-site for a specific program or service. Each Welcome Page shall incorporate three key elements: federal identifiers, institutional