Web Content Guidelines

Writing for the Web

See Writing for the Web guidelines

Essential rules include:

• Consider what users want most, and make that content most prominent.
• Use plain, everyday English, as appropriate.
• Keep text spare and concise (avoid "Welcome to..." and "Please...").
• Organize content into small chunks (short paragraphs, bulleted lists), separated with headingsheadings(opens in new tab).
• Avoid clutter or putting too many ideas/images on a page.
• Keep it current (tip: create calendar reminders to check content for currency).

Additional CDFW Style Rules

Be consistent.

• Use "website" (not "Web site"). Use "page" (not webpage or web page).
• Use only "the California Department of Fish and Wildlife" or "CDFW" (not "the DFW" or "the Department", etc., unless quoting a source with that styling).
• Dates: Use "January 1, 2013" or "1/1/2013", consistently throughout page (not "Jan. 1st" or "01.01.12", etc.). Do not use ordinal suffixes (January 1st) unless the number comes before the month ("the 1st of January").
• Time: Use "10:00 a.m.", "2:30 p.m." (not "AM", "am", or 24-hour time notation); "Noon" and "Midnight" may be used.
• Phone Numbers: Use "(123) 456-7891 ext.1234" (not "123.456.7891" or "123-456-7891"). Tip: enclose phone numbers with tags to prevent the number breaking between lines. 
• Express CDFW email addresses using title case for the name (Jane.Doe@wildlife.ca.gov).
• Do not double space between sentences.
• Do not use empty paragraphs to create space between paragraphs.
• To emphasize text with color, use BOLD and/or this Shade of Red (#c00000) (or the "textBoldRed" style class).

Links

Ensure that linked text is descriptive of the link destination:

Do this: See a map of the affected area.

Not this: To see a map of the affected area, click here.

Avoid displaying URLs on the page.

When linking to a file (other than a web page), indicate the file type within the linked text:

August 2014 Report on Trout Take (PDF)

Download blank survey data spreadsheet (Excel)

When linking to a PDF file stored in the Document Library that you want to open up in the browser, append "&inline" to the end of the document's URL:

http://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=86532&inline

Links to external web pages and/or to a PDF files that open in the browser must be configured to open in a NEW WINDOW.

Images

• Image file formats permitted on the CDFW website are JPEG, GIF and PNG. Not sure which format to use? Determine which one is appropriate.
• Image file names may only include letters, numerals, underscores and hyphens. DO NOT include spaces or any other special characters (ampersands, parentheses, periods, etc.). Names should be as short and descriptive as possible. If the image is copyright protected, include the owner’s first initial and last name (unless they require something else). Good examples:
  mule-deer.jpg
  Chinook-salmon_J-Jones.jpg
  sturgeon-lifecycle-diagram.png
  Purchased/licensed stock images, if unedited, should retain the original file name after a descriptive term. Example: Owl_AdobeStock_102583249.jpg
• Resize images at roughly the size (pixel width and height) they'll be displayed on the web page before uploading to the site. When resizing, retain any originally associated metadata (file info). A general guide for dimensions:
  • Full page width (as for banners): 1200-1600px wide 
  • Narrow column width: 600px wide 
  • Wide column width: 900px wide
• Always provide an ALT-text attribute. Include a brief, literal description of image content. Optimal length is 1-2 sentences/phrases, no more than 125 characters, but can be longer for complex graphs/diagrams.
• Image Credit Format
  **IMPORTANT! See the CDFW Internet Policy for information about using COPYRIGHTED PROPERTY (must obtain use agreement PRIOR to publication; see Photo Use Agreement Template (Word))**
  • For CDFW-owned images:
    "CDFW photo/image"
    or "CDFW photo/image by [name of photographer/creator]"
    or no caption
  • For other public domain images:
    "[entity] photo"
    (okay to list photographer/creator name if available)
  • For images with Creative Commons license:
    "CC photo/image"
    (list photographer/creator name if available), or as specified by CC license, where "CC" links to the license association
  • For purchased/licensed stock images, follow requirements of end-user license agreement (EULA). Example, Adobe stock image licensing requires the format, "[Contributor Name]/stock.adobe.com"
  • For all other images covered by copyright:
    "© [owner name], all rights reserved" (or whatever rights are stipulated in use agreement)

Multimedia

Video

• Public video files are not hosted on CDFW servers.
• Video content may be hosted on CDFW's YouTube account (with OCEO approval) and embedded in a web page. Contact OCEO for assistance.
• Videos that include audio content must be closed captioned and accompanied by a transcript. Microsoft Stream can be used to prepare a transcript file that can then be used for captioning on YouTube.

Audio

• Audio-only files may be uploaded to CDFW's Document Library, or produced as a video file (with still image(s)) and hosted on YouTube.
• All audio content must be accompanied by a transcript in the form of a Word or text file.

Live Broadcast

Live video or audio broadcasts/webcasts must include live, synchronized captioning. Visual media presented during broadcast must be provided separately and include text alternatives, as per WCAG Guideline 1.1.

Social Media

All participation in social media on behalf of, or to represent, CDFW must be approved by OCEO, including the creation of any such accounts. CDFW must adhere to the policy provided in the Statewide Information Management Manual (SIMM) Section 66-B (PDF).