Before you publish anything it must have:
- been fact-checked by the relevant subject matter expert
- been 2i'd by another member of the content design team
Before you publish something, and when you 2i, check that the content:
- should be on essex.gov.uk
- does not already exist
- has a clear user need
- is the right content type
- does not contain any personal data or sensitive information (including document metadata, which should all be removed before publication)
- has a subject matter expert assigned
- has a review date
Titles must be:
- clear and specific
- optimised for search
- under 65 characters (including spaces)
- unique within the site (check search results)
- in sentence case
- written in plain English (no jargon)
Summaries should:
- expand on the title without repeating it
- explain the point of the page and make sense in search results
- be written in full sentences (with a verb and a full stop)
- be front-loaded with words users are likely to search for
- be written in plain English (no jargon)
- explain any acronyms in the title
- be fewer than 140 characters (including spaces)
Body text should:
- begin with what’s most important to users (not to us)
- be concise and easy to scan
- be written in plain English (no jargon) and easy to understand
- use short sentences
- define acronyms and abbreviations the first time they’re used
- explain any technical terms
Remember:
- always check the style guide
- bullet points have a lead in line and start with a lower case letter
- do not use full stops in abbreviations or acronyms
- describe the destination of any links (do not use ‘click here’)
- use ‘and’ rather than ‘&’, unless it’s a department’s logo image
- do not use bold, italics, CAPS, semicolons, underlining or exclamation marks!!!
- use ‘to’ in date and time ranges, not hyphens or ‘/’
- write email addresses in full, in lower case and as active links