City of Seattle Web Presentation and Accessibility Standards
Version 2.0
Approved by the Web Governance Board
and the Business Management Council
The purpose of this Standard is to document the level and type of consistency required across City of Seattle web sites to synchronize consistent design, usability and accessibility and to properly identify the aggregate group of sites as components of City government.
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The City of Seattle has a complex environment for web management. The complexity derives from an enormous variety of services, a multitude of audience types, and distributed web management responsibilities. Additionally, both the Mayor's Office and the City Council have expressed a strong desire for the City to maintain a single web site, the latter in Council Resolution 29563 which states in part:
WHEREAS, it is very important for the City to maintain one identity on the Internet, so that citizens know that the information they are receiving is official information from the City of Seattle.
This sentiment is echoed in the Single Domain Name Policy requiring departments to use the City's domain except in limited approved situations.
The complexity of the City's web management environment presents a number of challenges for site users and site managers. Two primary challenges are:
- Determining the level of consistency required across the City of Seattle web site for usability and accessibility.
- Balancing the need for line of business, campaign, and/or Department branding needs with City branding needs.
The City of Seattle's set of presentation standards continues to address the above challenges.
Due to the ongoing implementation of a City content management system (CMS) and the redesign of the portal navigation and top tiers of the site, the Web Governance Board (WGB) directed the Citywide Web Team (CWT) to lead a project to revise and update the presentation standards.
As a result of these presentation standards revisions and updates, a broader range of consistent design was attained throughout the City of Seattle web site, however it was recognized more consistency was needed in order to achieve a higher degree of successful usability and accessibility.
In late 2004, a major web design enhancement was added to the 21 department web sites that report directly to the Mayor's Office, involving a consistent use of graphical department identifier elements and home page elements to give City of Seattle web site visitors a more unified usability experience.
In 2005, the presentation standards were revised to create an even greater level of design consistency. Over the course of 2005 and into early 2006, City web sites will be implementing these standards.
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Departments are expected to conform to these standards. The Citywide Web Team (CWT) will work with departments to help them conform to these standards.
It is the policy of the City of Seattle that these standards account for the diverse abilities, tools, and software of all Web users, including people with combinations of visual, auditory, physical, cognitive, and neurological disabilities. These standards incorporate the WC3 Priority 1 Accessibility Guidelines and the US Access Board's guidelines for compliance with Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act.
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Adherence to specified STANDARDS is required unless an exemption is sought and granted. While not required, BEST PRACTICES represent generally accepted principles of good web design and are therefore strongly encouraged. OPTIONAL elements are left to the discretion of the department.
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STANDARD: All City web site pages will be 775 pixels wide.
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STANDARD: All City web pages will be centered in the browser window.
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STANDARD: All City web pages will use the same standard background provided by the Citywide Web Team.
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STANDARD: The color ensemble developed for each City of Seattle web site will be selected from a central palette of colors. Elements of the overall site design that will use this color ensemble include the department header, all navigation menu graphical elements, column backgrounds, department logos, highlight boxes and all other graphical elements that contribute to the site's design presentation.
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STANDARD: For consistency and ease of user navigation across the City website, a City of Seattle top header and text-based bottom footer are required on all City web pages.
The header will include the Chief Sealth logo, the clear identification of the City of Seattle and/or the City's website, navigation buttons/menus developed by the Citywide Web Team, and a Search toolbar.
City departments and offices that report directly to the Mayor must also include a Citywide header with a clear identification of the name and role of the current City of Seattle Mayor. Web sites of departments and offices that do not report to the Mayor's Office (City Council, City Clerk's Office, for example) do not include this identification in their Citywide header.
The City footer will include text-based navigation links developed by the Citywide Web Team.
There will be only one City footer used throughout the City of Seattle web site.
The City footer will include links to the City home page, City Departments page, City Services page, Staff Directory, Mayor's Office home page, City Council home page, the Citizen Service Bureau home page, the City Privacy Policy page, and the City of Seattle Copyright notice.
All City web sites must have a "Contact Us" page with contact information for that department or office, and an "About Us" page that describes the vision, mission and goals of that department or office.
These headers and footers must be called from server-side includes so that changes made by the Citywide Web Team are implemented immediately on all web sites.
The only exception to use of the Citywide footer is on community web sites hosted by the City of Seattle. However they will need a "Hosted by the City of Seattle" footer link on all pages, which will link to the City home page.
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STANDARD: For consistency across the City web site, all departments and offices that report to the Mayor's Office will adopt consistent Department/Office banners identifying the Department/Office name, and, if applicable, the name of the Department/Office Director.
All Departments/Offices that report to the Mayor's Office shall also include a photo of the Mayor and Department/Office Director on their home page, the inclusion of a "Mayor's Priorities" graphic that links to both the Mayor's web site and the Department/Office's "how we are helping" content, and a home page link to a new "About the Department/Office" page that includes a welcome message from the Department/Office Director, a Department/Office mission statement, and a message detailing how the Department/Office is helping to forward the Mayor's priorities.
City web sites that do not report to the Mayor's Office (City Council, City Clerk's Office, Boards and Commissions, for example) will be required to adopt a banner identifying the name of their office, that is consistent in design with the banners used on the rest of the City of Seattle web site.
The width, height, design, font and color of all banners will be consistent. The banners will include global navigation buttons for each web site, for the Home page, About Us page and Contact Us page.
All City department/office web sites will have a Contact Us page with contact information for that department or office, and an About Us page that describes the vision, mission and goals of that department or office.
All City web sites will use a consistent, standard text-based navigation menu footer at the bottom of each web page on their web site, located just above the City footer, which reflects the menu of their most global web site navigation.
The Seattle Public Library web site and the Seattle Center web site are not required to adopt this standard at this time.
Public Development Authority web sites on the City of Seattle web server and community group web sites hosted on the City web server are not required to adopt this standard.
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STANDARD: Each City web site must include a consistent standard navigation menu or menus, required on all pages of each web site.
The standard navigation menu on each City web site may be a top menu, left menu, or both top menu and left menu, and may also include an additional right menu if required for a sectional sub-menu within the web site.
The top menu may optionally include a dropdown menu element with one level of a fly-out menu element, and the left menu may optionally include one or two tiers of pulldown menu elements. These sub-menus will be text based, with a consistent use of font size, link colors and placement throughout the entire City of Seattle web site.
On all standard navigation menus throughout the City of Seattle web site, the menus (including dropdown and fly-out menus) will have a consistent appearance, which will include the visual design of the menu buttons, text links, fonts and decorations. The optional dropdown and fly-out elements will be Javascript-driven from scripts created by the Citywide Web Team.
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STANDARD: All City web pages should use a basic web page design layout that is consistent in placement and width sizing, and will include the following elements:
City header
City footer
Department/Office/Legislative/Board/Site banner
A combination of the following page elements should be used:
Top bar navigation menu
and/or
Left column navigation menu
The center column will be used for main page content.
A right column section may be used, for highlights, contact info or miscellaneous content elements. In some instances, the right column may be used for sub-navigation of a web site section, however it may not be used for main site navigation.
All left, center and right column widths will be a standard size across the entire City of Seattle web site. The standard size will be determined by the Citywide Web Team.
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- Size
STANDARD: The minimum font size for basic page body text will be or appear equal to Verdana 10 points.
- Color
STANDARD: All page body text will be black.
- Style
STANDARD: All page body text will be presented in Verdana font.
- Links
STANDARD: Links in the body of the page should appear in "link" blue. Text that is not a link should not be underlined.
BEST PRACTICE: Links in the body of the page should be underlined.
- Background (colors & images)
STANDARD: The center column background color for text will be white.
NOTE ON TEXT PRESENTATION STANDARDS:
It is recognized that it may be desirable to vary the appearance of text and background to elevate or highlight certain elements or sections of a page. In these cases the overriding principle is readability. For example, when non-standard colors are used, the contrast between text and background must be sufficient to allow the text to be easily read by a variety of users.
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STANDARD: All City web site pages should contain visible information, and/or links to information on how a citizen can contact the appropriate City department, agency and/or program for the page's specific topic.
BEST PRACTICE: Specific page/site contacts are encouraged where appropriate.
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STANDARD: Counters are not allowed on City web pages. Web statistics are available by request.
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STANDARD: The required City of Seattle text footer will contain a link to the Privacy Policy and other appropriate legal notices and disclaimers. Copyright notice will appear on the City homepage.
BEST PRACTICE: A separate link to the City's Online Privacy Policy should appear on any web page where personal information is collected.
OPTIONAL: The further use of copyright notice information is left to the discretion of the department or program.
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STANDARD: At a minimum, the following metatags will be used for page identification and to promote search-engine functionality:
- <META name="title" content="Page title"> Specific title of the page; same as Page Title item below.
- <META name="description" content="Up to a paragraph of description"> Specific description of the page, to be displayed when a page is found by a search.
- <META name="keywords" content="key word, list"> A list of keywords describing the page to be searched by search engines.
- <title>Page Title</title> Specific title of the page, to be displayed when a page is found by a search.
BEST PRACTICE The following metatags are optional but recommended by the Citywide Web Team:
- <META name="author" content="authorName"> for the document creator.
- <META name="publication_date" content="date"> for the dates of the initial publication and any substantive revisions.
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BEST PRACTICE: As a best practice, City web site pages should present alternate, printer-friendly versions of pages, particularly for pages such as online forms, using the same standard methodology, which will be provided by the Citywide Web Team.
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STANDARD: Pages will be designed to function with Internet Explorer and Netscape, versions 5.0 or higher, and Firefox, version 1.0 or higher.
Impacts on other versions and browsers should be considered and minimized, and wherever possible, text alternatives to advance features should be employed.
The city's standard is not to disable normal browser functionality, including but not limited to right-click menu usage and back button usage.
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STANDARD: The use of DHTML is allowed under controlled and well-supported conditions by approval of the Central Web Team. DHTML components must be tested thoroughly for cross-browser compatibility and usability. Expert development and troubleshooting support for DHTML implementations must be identified and available, and non-DHTML alternatives must be provided.
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STANDARD: The use of Javascript is allowed under controlled and well-supported conditions by approval of the Central Web Team. Javascript components must be tested thoroughly for cross-browser compatibility and usability. Expert development and troubleshooting support for Javascript implementations must be identified and available, and non-Javascript alternatives must be provided.
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STANDARD: The use of descriptive "alt=" parameters within <img> tags is required for all graphics. For any graphic that is a hyperlink, the alt tag should be a meaningful description of the destination site, with the phrase "Link to Web Page Name", where Web Page Name is the title of the destination web page for that link.
BEST PRACTICE: The file size of an image should be considerate of users accessing the City's website via dial-up connections. A single graphic limit of 30 kb is recommended. Photographs should be optimized for faster download speeds. Sites designed for specific users should take the needs and capabilities of these users in mind. The use of links or linked thumbnails, appropriately labeled (indicating file size) to larger graphics is a good alternative.
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STANDARD: Frames are not permitted except where specialized software requires them. In such cases, departments should contact the Citywide Web Team for consultation on options before proceeding or purchasing the solution in question. If no non-frame alternatives equal in cost and benefit are found, departments may request, and will be granted, an exemption from this standard. If frames are used, they should be designed in a way that allows branding of the site, the inclusion of standard City of Seattle and departmental navigation, and if at all possible, an alternative non-frames method to browse the site which also includes those elements.
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For design elements not specifically described in this document, such as data tables, flicker rate, image maps, form design, standards shall include Section 508 and/or WC3 Priority level one accessibility guidelines.
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Web applications will conform to the web presentation standards.
The following standards have been identified as particularly important to the web application user interface process:
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Web application error messages should not be cryptic. Provide users with information they can use to correct the situation and to hide information that hackers may use to identify weaknesses in City applications.
Handle errors appropriately based on the type of error.
Error messages resulting from data input by user or incorrect action performed by the user should be meaningful to the user and clearly communicate what action is needed from the user to correct the error.
Any other errors that are not resulted from user input such as system related errors should be handled using a generic user-friendly page, which should include a message stating system or page unavailable and provide alternative options or links.
Do not display system generated messages to the user.
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To maintain consistent City branding throughout the City of Seattle web site, City and department branding should be maintained on all City web application pages by using the appropriate graphical elements.
The City web header will be used to maintain consistent City branding.
The department banner and the color elements of the department's web site should be used to create department branding on the web application.
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To give users a record of their online transaction, web applications should provide a receipt of the transaction, preferably with a unique identifier that will allow the user to initiate later follow-ups specific for that transaction.
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Web application interfaces should identify for users any follow-up steps necessary after completing the online part of the transaction. Let them know how and when they can expect service to be delivered. Give them a telephone number they can follow-up with if they have any questions.
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This section outlines criteria and process for evaluating requests for exemptions to the City's Web Presentation Standards. All of the criteria would not need to be present for the exemption to be granted. Conversely, a request identifying one or a few of the stated criteria would not automatically be approved. Rather, each request should be viewed from the totality of the circumstances as guided by the criteria below. Further, requestors should feel free to suggest additional criteria they feel are appropriate to their particular exemption request.
Requests for exemptions should be initially submitted to the Citywide Web Team Manager in written form.
- Requests for exemptions from these standards should be made in writing and signed by the department director or senior management designee.
- Requests for exemptions shall state the circumstances which compel an exemption.
- Among the criteria to be considered for exemptions are:
- Pre-existing exemptions and/or past practices
- Technical requirements
- Legal requirements or mandates
- Limited target audience
- Where appropriate, requests for exemptions shall explain how the exempted website will remain a clearly recognizable and functional part of the greater City of Seattle website. Issues such as branding and cross-linking (navigation) should be addressed.
- Exemptions should be submitted to the City's central web team (CWT) who will make the preliminary decision of whether an exemption will be granted. If the CWT determines that the request should not be granted, the CWT shall give the applying department options as to how they might achieve their purpose without the exemption.
- Appeals of the preliminary decision may be made in writing to the Director of the Office of Electronic Communications. The CTO is the final step in the appellate process.
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The Citywide Web Team (CWT) and/or departments may suggest permanent changes to the City's Web Presentation Standards. Proposed changes should be presented in writing as amendments to this document, and submitted to the CWT. Appeals of the preliminary decision by the CWT may be made in writing directly to the Director of the Office of Electronic Communications. The CTO is the final step in the appellate process.
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