Pre-Publishing Review

Before you hit the Publish button, please ensure content meets web standards and accessibility requirements. This list is not exhaustive but covers many commonly seen errors.

Overall

Use the Compare Changes tool to confirm what has been changed on the page.
Check Referential Integrity to ensure you’re not linking to unpublished pages.
Ensure content is clear and uses plain text. Check reading level.
Ensure the page is correctly placed within the page tree/navigation structure.
Ensure layout works on mobile device view.
When publishing a group of pages, publish the parent first, then the children.

Headings

Headings are used in sequence without skipping levels (e.g., don’t skip from H2 to H4).
Page title, H2s, tile headings, accordion headings, bullet menus and Related Information links are in title case. (H3 and below can be sentence case but ensure consistency across your page.)
Bold text is not used to indicate a heading in place of H1 to H5.
Headings within accordions and tabs are H3 and below.
If you need changes to page title, contact digital@toronto.ca to update slug.

Links

Link copy is informative. (e.g. “Pay your parking ticket”, not “Click here to pay your parking ticket.”)
Check all hyperlinks to ensure that they lead to the correct destination.
Internal toronto.ca links are added via ‘page search’ method or use contrib links.
Internal links should not open in a new window.

Images

Ensure images are related and add value to the content.
Images have alt text that describes the content or meaning of the image. (Learn more about writing alt text.)
Images do not have overlaid or embedded text.
Ensure proper permissions and copyright level for images used.
Banners are photographs - not illustrations, branding or photo composites.
If you have campaign-related material or sponsorship fulfillment requirements, please email digital@toronto.ca.

PDFs

Avoid PDFs where possible or ensure core messaging is on webpage.
PDFs meet accessibility requirements.

Tables

Tables are used for tabular data and not for content layout or design.
Table headings properly set up – should see a blue.

Video

Videos must include closed captioning and descriptions for AODA compliance.
Ensure proper permissions are given by recognizable individuals and adequate copyright permissions.

Design Components

Highlight is no more than 300 characters (usually two lines in desktop).
Call-to-Action is used only to link to transactional content.
Page Alert is used only for service interruptions, not promotion of new items.
Tabs are a maximum of five.
Accordions are a maximum of eight and at least two.

Number Formats

Time of day is lowercase with periods. (e.g. 8:30 a.m.)
When time is at the top of the hour, there is no colon or zeros. (e.g. 4 p.m.)

Sidebar/In This Section

Check contact info is up-to-date and all information is relevant to public.
Related Links are relevant and there are no more than eight.
Sidebar navigation is not unnecessarily hidden. (Should usually be displayed.)
Sidebar menu order makes sense (e.g. most popular or overview page first)

Tips for Publishers

Don’t be afraid to reject content that does not meet web standards. Giving Editors feedback helps prevent mistakes for future.
Avoid publishing late in the day since your Editors may not be available to check the pages, and the Digital Engagement team may not be available for technical support.
Always ensure content is service-focused, division-neutral and people-centric.

For comprehensive http://toronto.ca guidelines, please visit inside.toronto.ca/digital-services.