Accessibility
By law, all local authority websites must meet specific accessibility standards.
Our website provider will help with the technical aspects. We must ensure that our content complies too.
Read more about accessibility standards on GOV.UK.
Documents
All documents must comply with the accessibility standards. They must be usable by as many people as possible. This includes those with disabilities.
If a document does not meet these standards, we could be breaking the law.
Wherever possible, publish documents as an HTML webpage, rather than as a PDF. It’s the best way to reach as many people as possible.
PDFs make our content harder to find, use and maintain.
Read the Government Digital Service (GDS) blog - Why content should be published in HTML and not PDF.
When PDFs should be used
Only use PDFs when it is not practical to add as HTML. The digital engagement team will suggest best practice on adding this to the website. However, they must still be formatted to meet accessibility standards.
Read more about how to create accessible PDFs on GOV.UK.
They must not duplicate content already on the website (for example, a flyer about how to apply for free school meals).
Open data
Avoid publishing statistical tables or datasets within a PDF.
For these, use an open format such as .ods or .csv. Do not use .xls, as it requires Microsoft Excel to open and may not be accessible to everyone. However, using the correct file format alone does not guarantee accessibility. Every document published on the website must be reviewed properly to ensure it is accessible from the outset.
Read more about open formats on GOV.UK.
URL standards
Our main URLs are designed to be more user and search engine friendly.
To help with this, we must use meaningful page titles. For example, the page title 'Register a birth' will result in the URL www.lincolshire.gov.uk/register-birth.
This will reduce the need to manually create links, known as 'friendly URLs', which redirect elsewhere.
They will:
- be clear, unambiguous, easy to read, easy to type and easy to share
- always be in lower case
- not contain acronyms, wherever possible
- use dashes to separate the words
- have articles (a, an, the) and other superfluous words removed
- use the verb stem, where possible (for example, /apply instead of /applying)
- be based upon user need
Friendly URLs
With more content at the top level on our website, fewer friendly URLs will be needed.
The digital engagement team (DET) will create them, but only with evidence of a user need.
When permitted, they must:
- conform to all other URL requirements
- be specific and make sense forever
- be used for significant offline marketing and promotion
- clear and simple
- lowercase
- use dashes to separate words (e.g.gov.uk/set-up-business).
- They should be descriptive
- reflect the action or content on the page
- avoid acronyms
- be based on user needs rather than services requirements
Campaign site URLs must be aligned with the marketing campaign (for example, www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/fairer-funding).
Service URLs
If a service is not covered by a natural URL, they can request a single, short URL. Typically, this would be used to promote themselves (for example, www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/registrars).
If approved, this would take the shortest version of the service's name in common use by the public.