1. Citizens must be able to identify official federal government websites and trust that those websites will provide current and accurate government information. Federal public websites must use government domains, show U.S. sponsorship, follow basic common linking practices, and be current.
2. Federal public websites must be written and organized from the audiences' point of view. Content must be organized in ways that make sense to citizens and intended audiences. Homepages must be written and organized from the viewpoint of the public, and federal public websites should not be used for employee information. Federal public websites must use basic common content, terminology, and placement. Organizations must measure customer satisfaction and usability of federal public websites.
3. Federal public websites must be designed and written to ensure they are easy to access and use. Federal public websites must provide easy access, be written in plain language, have consistent navigation, have a search engine, and use standard metadata. Federal public websites should provide access to documents in appropriate file formats and provide appropriate access to data. Organizations must inform audiences of website changes and ensure continuity of operations during emergencies.
4. To promote seamless government, federal organizations must work to simplify and unify information across the government. Federal public websites should avoid duplication and link to appropriate government-wide portals. Organizations should collaborate in developing government-wide portals. Federal public websites must link to FirstGov.gov [now USA.gov] and link back to the website's homepage from every subordinate page.
5. Federal organizations must establish priorities and a schedule for posting content on their public websites. Agencies must comply with Section 207(f)2 of the E-Government Act of 2002.
6. Organizations must continue to comply with existing federal laws, regulations, and policies. Existing requirements include: privacy; security protocols; accessibility; Freedom of Information; information quality; limited English proficiency; paperwork reduction; paperwork elimination; records management; digital rights, copyright, trademark, and patents; performance results; No Fear Act; small business paperwork relief; restrictions on lobbying; scheduling content to be posted; and categorizing information.
7. Developing web content policies and requirements for federal public websites is an ongoing process, requiring structure. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) should establish a Web Content Advisory Council, create processes to approve common content and links and to coordinate cross-agency portals, and require agencies to report progress and compliance with web content policies and requirements.
Interagency Committee on Government Information
The Interagency Committee on Government Information (the ICGI) was established on June 17, 2003, by the Office of Management and Budget, as required by Section 207 of the E-Government Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-347, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 36). The ICGI established several workgroups to make recommendations related to Section 207 which concern access to, dissemination of, and retention of federal information. The ICGI tasked the Web Content Management Workgroup to make recommendations on issues related to federal public websites.
The Web Content Standards Working Group
The ICGI tasked the Web Content Standards Working Group (subsequently referred to as "the Working Group") to develop recommendations to address requirements of Sections 207 (f) 1 and 2 of the E-Government Act. These sections require that, by December 31, 2004, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will issue "standards for agency websites," and that agencies will "establish priorities and schedules" for posting content on their public websites.
This report reflects recommendations developed by the Web Content Standards Working Group to meet these requirements. The recommendations have been reviewed and approved by the ICGI Executive Steering Committee for submission to OMB.
The ICGI and the Working Group recommend that OMB sanction each proposal in this report, either by issuing it in an official transmittal or by endorsing it as part of the Web Content Management Toolkit website. The ICGI further recommends that these proposed policies and guidelines also apply to requirements of Section 207(g)(3)(b) of the E-Government Act, which calls for policies to "improve dissemination of the results of research performed by Federal agencies and federally funded research and development centers."
Goals
The primary goal of the proposed policies and guidelines is to make U.S. government websites the most citizen-focused and visitor-friendly in the world.
The Working Group operated under two important principles:
1. All federal public websites-whether they are intended for citizens as a whole; intended for specific groups of citizens such as scientists, residents of a military base, or business partners; or both-should operate under common content policies and requirements that make them as visitor-friendly as possible, both individually and collectively.
2. Though many federal public websites are intended for specific groups, when a website is available to the public and is funded by tax dollars, then citizens-as a whole-are also an audience. They deserve certain basic information: who owns the website, its purpose, how it serves the public, and how they can find out more-all presented in terms they can understand. These recommendations will help ensure that every federal public website addresses the needs of citizens as a whole.
Scope
All of the recommendations are focused on the content of federal public websites, including how those websites are organized. These are not technical requirements.
While the scope of the recommendations of the Working Group was limited to federal public websites in the Executive branch, many of the policies, requirements, and guidelines proposed also are appropriate for extranets, intranets, and other parts of the federal government.
Since other ICGI Working Groups are addressing specific requirements and guidelines for categorization of information, electronic records, and a public domain directory, we have not attempted to address those subjects in this report. We have incorporated place-holders in these recommendations for policies, requirements, and guidelines resulting from their work.
Working Group Composition
The Working Group includes 22 web content managers and others who work on federal public websites. All Cabinet-level agencies were invited to designate a member. Working Group advisors also are web content managers and others who work on federal public websites. Advisors were selected because they have expertise in specific areas, including usability, information architecture, library science, depository libraries, records management, program management, and Freedom of Information Act requirements. Attachment A lists members and advisors.
Definitions
This report recommends policies and requirements for all federal public websites, at any organizational level, including cross-agency portals. We have defined "federal public websites" as any website that meets these three criteria:
We have specified exceptions where appropriate.
Throughout the report, we use the words "citizens" to refer to the people who are served by the United States government. We use the term "public" when we talk about the broader group of people-worldwide-who use federal public websites. We use the term "visitors" to refer to individuals who use a website. We use the term "organization" to refer to any official federal government organization, at any level.
Section 207(f)(1) uses four different terms to describe desired outcomes: "standards," "guidelines," "requirements," and "goals." The recommendations in this document are for policies, requirements, and guidelines. In most cases, they would not meet the definition of "standards" because they could not be audited.
When we use the word "must" in a recommendation, we mean that OMB should require the practice. When we use the word "should," we mean the practice is a guideline that, while not mandatory, will produce positive results in making a website more citizen-focused and visitor-friendly. Attachment B lists definitions of other terms used in this report.
Process
The ICGI Working Group developed the recommendations in three ways. First, we compiled web content requirements in existing laws, regulations, Presidential directives and other official documents. Our objective was to create one listing for all existing web content requirements. Where there already is implementation guidance for these requirements, we have cited it. Second, we reviewed current federal public websites and identified common practices that promote usability and good customer service. Third, we wanted to invite citizens to suggest ways to improve federal public websites, so we solicited suggestions through a comment form on the FirstGov.gov website [now USA.gov].
After the Working Group finished the first draft of the recommendations, and it was reviewed by the ICGI, the Working Group sent it to a group of colleagues, stakeholders, web content experts, and other interested parties listed in Attachment C. We also posted it on the ICGI website. We received more than 100 sets of comments during the 3-week informal vetting period, and we reconsidered each recommendation, based on the comments. Most of the comments were favorable. Many of the comments requested clarification. Several comments helped us identify exceptions. A summary of the comments is available on the ICGI website.
After revising the draft based on the comments, the Working Group presented the report to the ICGI Steering Committee. The Steering Committee made some minor changes. This report reflects the final recommendations on web content standards from the ICGI to OMB.
Implementation
For each recommendation, we have suggested an appropriate implementation deadline:
Under each recommendation, we have provided the rationale and basic guidance on implementation.
During the next three months, the ICGI Working Group will develop a Web Content Management Toolkit website on FirstGov.gov [now USA.gov]. The website will include: examples and "best practices" showing how to implement each requirement; resources; and additional guidelines for making federal public websites citizen-friendly. As other ICGI Working Groups complete their recommendations, we will incorporate those additional requirements, along with guidance on implementation. The website will serve as a toolkit for federal web content managers and others who want to learn about web content management. The Working Group also will conduct further usability testing on recommendations for common terms and locations of content. Results will be documented on the Toolkit website.
After OMB acts on these recommendations, the Working Group plans to hold a Web Content Managers Workshop in Washington, DC, to discuss implementing the new policies, requirements, and guidelines.
IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR OMB TO CONSIDER
We want to highlight several issues that have an impact on the success of these recommendations.
1. Implementing some of these policies and requirements will be challenging. During the informal vetting process, we heard from many colleagues and stakeholders that funding, staff resources, organizational culture, and "political will" all are factors that will affect their implementation. The funding and staff resources issues, in particular, are legitimate and should be addressed by OMB and the agencies.
2. In some cases, web content managers are reluctant to move toward standard requirements imposed on all federal public websites-they prefer to establish their own requirements, based on the needs of their organizations and intended audiences. The Working Group weighed these concerns as we debated each of the recommendations. We believe that, with the vast number of federal public websites, some basic common practices will help citizens be more successful in using all federal public websites. This is an important principle. It will take strong and consistent leadership from OMB to continue the movement toward commonality and ongoing education and support to help federal web content managers achieve that objective.
3. This should be the first step in an ongoing process to raise the level of quality and effectiveness of federal public websites. We recommend that a permanent Web Content Advisory Council-composed primarily of federal web content managers-be established to support OMB and all agencies by researching and recommending new or changed policies and requirements for federal public websites, identifying resources and opportunities to help federal web content managers make their websites more citizen-friendly, helping OMB coordinate cross-agency portals, and managing the Web Content Management website.
4. While the ICGI and the Working Group attempted to consider all aspects of each recommendation and to identify appropriate exceptions, there may be other legitimate exceptions. We recommend that OMB adopt the same requirements used to grant exceptions to the prohibition of permanent "cookies:" agencies must document a "compelling need" and the agency head must approve the exception in writing.
5. In the last few years, both Congress and certain federal agencies have established requirements for web content, including specifying the names and locations of links that must be included on every federal website. While the intentions may be good, the result is not always the best for citizens. In fact, so many links have been required that some federal website homepages have become cluttered and confusing to citizens.
Usability testing is the best way to select names and locations of links. A link location might work well on one website and not on another because the organization of every homepage is different. Links must be evaluated within the context of each website, considering its mission and intended audience. Requiring common names and placement of links, then, should be done only after thoughtful review of the impact on the usability of all the websites subject to the requirement. We recommend that OMB establish a process for evaluating requests for required names and links,using the Web Content Advisory Council, before imposing new requirements or allowing other agencies to impose requirements.
6. The ICGI, Working Group, and many of those who submitted comments on these recommendations think we need strong guidelines to ensure that historical documents posted on federal public websites during each political administration remain available to the public. Researchers, students, librarians, elected officials, and others use federal public websites to read speeches, testimony, management plans, official reports, and other documents issued by current and prior administrations and published on our websites. This issue has been referred to the Electronic Records Working Group for further consideration.
7. The ICGI and Working Group are concerned about enforcement. To paraphrase one commenter, if these requirements have no "teeth," organizations will ignore them. Though we discussed a possible certification process, our only recommendations related to enforcement are that agencies report on their implementation of these requirements and guidelines in their annual reports to OMB, required by Section 202 of the E-Government Act of 2002, and that all organizations must evaluate customer satisfaction and usability of their websites.
For each recommendation, our final test was this: Is this the right thing to do for citizens? If it is, then we need to find a way to do it.
1. POLICY: CITIZENS MUST BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY OFFICIAL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WEBSITES AND TRUST THAT THOSE WEBSITES WILL PROVIDE CURRENT AND ACCURATE GOVERNMENT INFORMATION. Authenticity, branding, and timeliness of federal public websites are critical to maintaining public trust.
a. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Use Government Domains. Every federal public website must be established in the .gov, .mil, or fed.us domain to communicate to the public that these are websites that they can trust to provide official government information. This requirement applies to any federal public website, even if that website resides on a non-federal government owned server.
Exceptions:
Rationale: Many websites exist that resemble government websites or that appear to provide "official" government information. They can mislead the public into believing and acting on erroneous information.
Visitors looking for official government information must be confident that is what they are getting. The federal government must ensure that public websites are clearly branded. Using domains that are exclusive to the government is one way to communicate to citizens that federal public websites are legitimate.
The .mil, .gov, and fed.us domains are restricted to government agencies. Using these exclusive domains assures the public that these are official government websites and that a government agency is accountable for the website's content. Using these exclusive domains also will ensure that the FirstGov search engine [now USA.gov search engine] will find all official federal websites and that the FirstGov [now USA.gov] directory of federal public websites will list them.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: Immediately, for new websites. December 31, 2007, for existing websites.
b. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Show U.S. Sponsorship. Every federal public website must clearly display the name of the agency or organization that sponsors the website on every web page. If the agency or organization title does not include "United States," then the web page must show other wording to indicate that the U.S. government sponsors the website.
Exceptions:
Rationale: Visitors want to be sure that they are getting official government information, when that is what they seek. Agency or organization titles alone do not always convey that they are part of the U.S. Government. Therefore, it is important to use "United States" or "U.S." if it is an official part of the agency or organization's name. If it is not, it is important to convey in some other way that the U.S. Government sponsors the website.
Sponsorship must be noted on every page because visitors do not always come through the "front door." Many visitors enter a website at a second, third, fourth, or lower level. Thus, it is important to ensure that visitors can identify the sponsorship of a web page, no matter where they enter the website.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2007
c. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Follow Basic Common Linking Practices. Federal public websites must follow these requirements when linking to other websites:
Exceptions: Organizations are not responsible for maintaining links contained in documents or reports belonging to another organization or entity that are republished on the website.
Rationale: Linking to outside websites-both federal and non-federal-can add real value to a website, but organizations must manage links effectively.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
d. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Be Current. Every homepage, navigational page, and document on a federal public website must have a date showing that it is current, that it has been reviewed within the past 12 months, or that it is a historical document. Content that is obsolete and is not required by law or regulation should be removed or archived, in compliance with the organization's records management schedules.
Exceptions:
Rationale: Citizens, businesses, and other governments expect the information on federal public websites to be valid, accurate, and current. Researchers, media, students, and others need to cite dates.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Date: December 31, 2007.
2. POLICY: FEDERAL PUBLIC WEBSITES MUST BE WRITTEN AND ORGANIZED FROM THE AUDIENCES' POINT OF VIEW. Websites must be written and organized from the point of view of the audience. When a website's intended audience is a specific group-scientists, residents of a particular military base, or business partners, for example-it also must include information for citizens, as a whole. When a website is available to the public and is funded by tax dollars, then citizens-as a whole-deserve certain basic information: who operates the website, its purpose, how it serves them, and how they can find out more-presented in terms they can understand.
a. Requirement: Content Must Be Organized in Ways That Make Sense to Citizens and Intended Audiences. Federal public websites must be organized by subject (topic, tasks, services, life events), by audience group, by geographic location, or by any combination of these factors, as the primary navigation. In some cases, federal public websites may include navigation based on organizational structure; however, that must not be the primary navigation structure of the website. Web content managers must analyze the wants and needs of both citizens and other intended customer groups when organizing the content of federal public websites.
Exceptions: There are no exceptions.
Rationale: Usability tests and customer satisfaction reviews indicate that most web visitors-both citizens and other audience groups-are familiar with navigating websites by subject, audience, or location. These are the preferred ways to organize a federal public website. Focus groups and other feedback indicate that citizens do not know-nor do they want to know-how the government is organized to get the information and services they want. Creating navigation according to organizational structure is not the best way to design a website for citizens. If a federal website is available to anyone, then citizens-as a whole-are part of the audience and the website must be organized in ways that help them use it.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2007
b. Requirement: Homepages Must Be Written and Organized from the Viewpoint of the Public. The purpose of the homepage must be to help the public get to the content they need and want most. Homepages must be designed to feature the most requested information and services. Even if the public is not the primary intended audience of a website, the homepage must provide an easy-to-identify section where the purpose of the website and the value to citizens is explained in terms they can understand.
Exceptions: There are no exceptions to this requirement.
Rationale: Federal websites need to focus on helping the public find the services and information they want and need. The homepage is the main tool for sending visitors in the right direction. Web visitors want fast, efficient service. They want to find what they seek in the first screen. They do not want to be distracted by text or graphics that do not help them find what they want and that increase download time. Homepages must anticipate the wants and needs of the public. Homepage space, therefore, must be designed carefully and effectively to provide the very best customer service. Citizens-as a whole-are an audience for federal public websites funded by taxpayer dollars.
Implementation Guidance: o Customer satisfaction surveys;
o Focus groups;
o Email, phone calls, letters, and other contact with the public;
o Talking with intended audiences;
o Talking with other web content managers; and,
o Analyzing web reports, including search terms and statistics.
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
c. Guideline: Federal Public Websites Should Not Be Used for Employee Information. Federal public websites should contain information and services for the public. As a rule, they should not be used to convey information specific to that agency's employees. Intranets or extranets should be used to inform employees.
Exceptions: In emergencies, federal public websites may be used to inform both employees and the public about the status of operations.
Rationale: The public can be confused by instructions intended for employees. As a rule, federal public websites should be aimed at the public-not at federal employees of that agency.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2007
d. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Use Basic Common Content, Terminology, and Placement. Federal public websites must incorporate common content, including common terminology and placement where specified.
Exceptions: Exceptions are noted under each item below.
Rationale:
Implementation Guidance: Requirements are provided under each specific item below. Additional guidance-including examples, best practices, and resources-will be available on the Web Content Management Toolkit website.
(1) Contact information. Federal public websites must have a page entitled "Contact Us" or "Contact (Organization Name)." That page must be linked from the homepage and every major point of entry, using the page title as the link text. Contact information must include all of the following, at a minimum:
Exceptions: Organizations connected with national security, defense, and law enforcement may choose or be required to not include names, addresses, and phone numbers of offices and officials, including contact officials. However, they should provide some secure way for citizens to contact them.
Rationale: Citizens expect to be able to contact any federal government organization to ask questions, get information, or report problems. It is important to provide some means for them to do that.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
(2) Organizational information. Federal public websites must have a page entitled "About Us" or "About (Organization Name)." That page must be linked from the homepage, using the page title as the link text. The page must provide basic information about the sponsoring organization. At a minimum, it must include all of the following:
Exceptions:
Rationale: The public, including students and researchers, often wants to know something about the organization that sponsors a public website. The E-Government Act requires specific information that must be included on all federal public websites, and several of these are appropriately categorized under "About Us." It will help visitors find this information if every federal public website puts it in that same category.
Implementation Guidance:
o The parent organization's "About Us" page, or
o An "About Us" page written for kids. If an organization chooses this option, the "About Us" page still must include a link to the parent organization's "About Us" page, for the benefit of parents who may want to know more about the sponsoring organization.
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
(3) Site Map or Subject Index. Every federal public website must have a page entitled "Site Map" or a page entitled "Subject Index" that gives an overview of the major content categories on the website. At a minimum, there must be a link to the Site Map or Subject Index from the homepage, using those words as the link text. Site Maps and Subject Indexes must be kept current so they are useful.
Exceptions: There are no exceptions to this requirement.
Rationale: The public needs to be able to find the information and services they seek, as easily as possible. Even on small public websites, a Site Map or Subject Index can give them a quick and easy way to find what they want. Usability testing on the terms "Site Map" and "Subject Index" show that the public understands these terms, so organizations must use them.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
(4) Common or Frequently Asked Questions. Federal public websites must have a page for answers to frequently asked questions. That page must be linked from the homepage and every major entry point, using the title of the page as the link text. This page must provide basic answers to questions the agency receives most often.
Exceptions: There are no exceptions to this requirement.
Rationale: Though web content managers do their best to write and organize their websites to anticipate all questions, it is an impossible task. Visitors still have questions because they couldn't find something, because they didn't understand something, or because it isn't there. A list of answers to common questions can be a big help to the website audience.
Implementation Guidance:
o Look at email, phone calls, and letters from the public
o Conduct a survey
o Arrange focus groups
o Talk to the people who answer phones and mail at the organization
o Look at statistics
o Look at information requested under the Freedom of Information Act
o Review top search terms
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
(5) Online Services. Federal public websites must offer easy access to online services, displaying them as prominently as possible.
Exceptions: There are no exceptions to this requirement.
Rationale: Website visitors want self-service, and they want it fast. They want to know-right away-what they can do on the website to help them solve their problems or achieve their goals. Agencies can save time and money and by putting services online. To be effective for visitors, federal public websites must prominently display the most requested and most used online services, so visitors can find out what the website can do for them.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
(6) Forms and Publications. Federal public websites must offer easy access to public use forms and current publications and link to appropriate federal portals that offer forms and publications for the public.
Exceptions: The only exception to this requirement is a website for an organization that has no public use forms and publications.
Rationale: Website visitors want fast, easy service-24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They do not want to have to wait until an organization is open for business. They do not want to wait in line or on the phone to get forms and publications they need to accomplish their objectives.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
(7) Jobs. Agency websites must include information about jobs at the organization, along with a link to the USA.Jobs website.
Exceptions:
Rationale: Job seekers and curious citizens want to know basic information such as what jobs are available, how to apply, and what it's like to work in federal organizations.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
(8) Information about Regulations. Every organization that issues regulations must provide information about those regulations on its website and link to the "Regulations.gov" portal.
Exceptions: There are no exceptions to this requirement.
Rationale: The President's Management Agenda makes it a priority to inform the public about pending regulations and provide them an opportunity to be involved in rulemaking. It helps citizens to be more involved in their government.
Implementation Guidance: The Web Content Management Toolkit website will provide specific examples and best practices for implementing this requirement.
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
(9) Information about Grants and Contracts. Every organization that provides grants or has contracting opportunities must provide information about those opportunities on its website and link to appropriate cross-agency portals.
Exceptions: There are no exceptions to this requirement.
Rationale: The President's Management Agenda makes it a priority to standardize and automate the grants application process and to centralize federal contracting opportunities in cross-agency portals. All federal organizations must support those portals.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
(10) Required Website Policies and Links: To help visitors find website policies and links required by laws and regulations, federal public websites should use common terminology and placement.
Exceptions: The policies and links in this section are required by laws and regulations. The terminology and placement of required links and policies are guidelines.
Rationale: The more federal public websites that follow the same practices for naming and placing important information, the easier it will be for citizens to find that information as they move from one website to another.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
e. Requirement: Organizations Must Measure Customer Satisfaction and Usability of Federal Public Websites. Organizations must evaluate customer satisfaction and usability of their websites and use the assessments to improve the websites. Federal public websites that reach the widest audiences-including agency websites and all second-level domain names registered in .gov, .mil, or .fed.us-must use a standard customer satisfaction survey.
Exceptions: There are no exceptions to this requirement.
Rationale: Organizations that create federal public websites, and the citizens they serve, want these websites to be as useful as possible. While web content managers do their best to write and organize their websites to be effective, they need to test their websites to identify problem areas and then fix those problems. A common customer satisfaction survey will reduce costs government-wide and compare government websites with each other.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
3. POLICY: FEDERAL PUBLIC WEBSITES MUST BE DESIGNED AND WRITTEN TO ENSURE THEY ARE EASY TO ACCESS AND USE. All federal public websites must be designed and written to ensure that the audiences for whom they are intended can easily access and use those websites. Organizations must consider the needs of a broad range of visitors, including (but not limited to) the general public, specialized audiences, people with disabilities, those without access to advanced technologies, and those with limited English proficiency. While organizations should ensure broad accessibility and usability, this should not limit them from providing information and services for specialized audiences, or from pursuing advanced technologies that will improve the website for future visitors.
Note: Requirements related to accessibility for people with disabilities and people with limited English proficiency are included in Section 5 of this document, which addresses existing laws, regulations, and other requirements.
a. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Provide Common Access. Federal public websites must be designed, developed, and tested for a broad range of visitors, including those with lower-end hardware and software capabilities.
Exceptions: There are no exceptions to this policy.
Rationale: To ensure that all citizens have access to U.S. government information and services, federal public websites should attend to the needs of a broad range of visitors, including those without reasonable access to advanced technologies. While more and more visitors have access to higher-end technologies, a significant percentage of the public still uses relatively low connection speeds, lower screen resolutions, and prefers a variety of different Internet browsers.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
b. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Be Written in Plain Language. Organizations must ensure that-at a minimum-homepages, all major entry points, and navigational elements of federal public websites are written in plain language. Plain language is language the website's typical visitor can understand in one reading; it is writing designed for the reader. Organizations should assume that the intended audience for homepages is the general public.
Rationale: Writing in plain language-language designed for the intended reader-ensures that federal public websites communicate effectively. Poor writing that does not communicate effectively wastes the reader's time, often fails to achieve its purpose, and is poor customer service.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
c. Guideline: Federal Public Websites Should Provide Access to Documents in Appropriate File Formats. Federal public websites should provide access to documents using open, industry standard web formats or using alternative formats that do not impose an unnecessary burden on the intended audience. Organizations should base their choice of file formats on both the needs of their intended audience(s) and the business needs of the organization.
Rationale: Presenting documents in open, industry standard formats allows universal access, since every person with a browser can read these and the full contents of these documents are easily retrievable using web search engines. Usability studies have shown that visitors can become frustrated and are less likely to access information that requires downloading with additional software or plug-ins, even if that software is freely available, because it involves extra time and effort to view the material. In addition, many proprietary files are so large compared to industry standard formats that visitors with slow connection speeds cannot download them. Certain software and plug-ins also pose difficulties for persons with (primarily) visual impairments.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2007
d. Guideline: Federal Public Websites Should Provide Appropriate Access to Data. Federal public websites that provide material and data for downloading by the user for off-line analysis or manipulation should provide the data in open, industry standard formats or in alternative formats that do not impose a burden on the intended audience.
Rationale: Visitors to federal public websites need to be able to efficiently download available data in a format that allows them to effectively aggregate and disaggregate the data.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2007
e. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Have Consistent Navigation. To promote ease-of-use for all citizens, federal public websites must have a navigation scheme that is used consistently across the website.
Exceptions: There are no exceptions to this requirement.
Rationale: Consistent navigation makes websites easier to use because visitors don't have to learn a new navigation scheme on each new page. Visitors are more likely to get what they need from a website if they are familiar with its navigation scheme.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2007
f. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Have a Search Engine. Federal public websites must include either a "search box" or a link to a "search" page on every page. The search engine must allow visitors to search all files on the website that are intended for public use. Organizations must provide search results in an easy-to-read format, set minimum service level standards for their search capabilities, and monitor how well they are able to meet those standards.
Exceptions: Small websites, typically narrow in scope and under 200 pages, are not required to have a search engine and may find substituting a Site Map or Subject Index serves as well or better than a search engine.
Rationale: Visitors expect to have a "search" available since it is a standard feature on almost every website. Effective search functionality is critical for accessing the depth and breadth of information made available on federal public websites. This is especially true for information not readily accessed using the "browse" functionality, such as information located in organization databases. In addition, Section 207(f) of the E-Gov Act of 2002 requires minimum goals related to search relevancy and speed of retrieval of results.
Implementation Guidance:
o Frequency of Search Indexing - In most cases, organizations should index the content of their website(s) at least once a month. Content that is added and updated frequently, such as press releases, should be indexed more frequently; however, content that changes infrequently, such as archived or historical documents, may be indexed less often.
o Response time - On average, search engines should produce results in less than three (3) seconds. Organizations should monitor and log search response times and ensure that adequate hardware and software capacity is available to achieve the response time standard.
o Relevancy - Every organization should routinely identify the common search terms used on their website, evaluate the relevancy of their search results for those terms, and configure their search services to provide the best ranking possible. Organizations should conduct this review at least quarterly.
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
g. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Use Standard Metadata. Federal public websites must include the following metadata on the homepage and all major entry points:
Exceptions: There are no exceptions to this requirement.
Rationale: Metadata provides a standardized system to classify and label web resources. Metadata improves search relevancy, provides information about who created the information and when it was created, supports website maintenance and administration, helps create data-driven pages, and allows information to be tracked and assembled government-wide. Without quality metadata, the public cannot efficiently locate government information using search engines. Metadata should be applied on as many pages as possible so that both high-level pages and pages embedded deep within a website can be reasonably accessed.
The set of required metadata elements is based on internationally recognized Dublin Core standards, which are widely used by government and commercial websites, including all Government of Canada websites.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2007.
h. Requirement: Organizations Must Inform Audiences of Website Changes. When federal public websites undergo changes that may affect the public's ability to locate information on the website, the organization must help visitors locate information in the new format. When significant changes occur, such as a website redesign, the organization must provide information to the public about the changes. When changes are made to an organization's root domain name (for example, www.irs.gov or http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov), they must notify staff at FirstGov.gov [now USA.gov] so the new domain name is correctly identified on FirstGov, including the government-wide domain directory and search index.
Exceptions: This requirement does not apply to changes that do not affect the public's ability to locate information on the website, such as adding new features or sections to a website.
Rationale: Repeat visitors are familiar with a website's navigation and appearance and will get confused if a website doesn't explain changes that affect their ability to accomplish what they need. In particular, every visitor needs to know about changes to URLs that may affect bookmarks and other links to the website. Since many federal organizations link to each other, it's important to keep URLs current, or provide redirect pages, so content on other federal websites also stays current.
Implementation Guidance:
o Changes to an organization's root domain name, such as changing from www.bcis.gov to www.uscis.gov;
o URL changes for frequently visited pages (such as those that occur when a page is removed, renamed, or placed in a different location within the website);
o Major changes to the navigational or organizational structure of the website;
o Website redesigns (complete change to a website's "look and feel" and navigation scheme).
Implementation Deadline: Effective immediately. Organizations should follow this requirement when the next major website change occurs.
i. Requirement: Organizations Must Ensure Continuity of Operations During Emergencies. Every organization must have procedures to address what it will do with its website during disasters or emergencies.
Rationale: The public depends on federal websites to get information and services and do business on a daily basis. Organizations need to plan how the website will communicate vital information during an emergency and what services will be available to the public.
Exceptions: There are no exceptions to this policy.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
4. POLICY: TO PROMOTE SEAMLESS GOVERNMENT, FEDERAL ORGANIZATIONS MUST WORK TO SIMPLIFY AND UNIFY INFORMATION ACROSS THE GOVERNMENT. The proliferation of information on the Internet, including information on federal public websites, can make it difficult for the public to sift through the maze of available resources, some of them overlapping and duplicative. Better coordination within and among federal organizations would limit the amount of duplication that currently exists and allow organizations to more effectively manage their resources. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by leveraging the resources of cross-agency portals, which promote the principle that information and services are created once and used many times.
a. Guideline: Federal Public Websites Should Avoid Duplication Organizations should avoid duplicating or recreating content that already exists on a federal public website. Before creating new information on a particular topic, organizations should, to the maximum extent possible, determine if that same-or comparable-information already exists on their website or on another federal public website, including on a government-wide portal.
Rationale: The public can become confused when they find overlapping or inconsistent information on the same subject. The accuracy and quality of content will be improved if it is created once, where the greatest expertise exists, maintained thoroughly, and used many times. Decreasing duplication will also help organizations focus resources on web content within their mission area without duplicating content created by other mission areas. Identifying whether content already exists is less time-consuming than re-creating it.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: Immediate
b. Guideline: Organizations Should Collaborate in Developing Cross-Agency Portals Organizations should collaborate with each other in developing cross-agency portals to ensure they provide the breadth of information and services available across government about the particular topic or audience group. Cross-agency portals should be coordinated with OMB or the Web Content Advisory Council to ensure that they a) meet a defined business need; b) include all appropriate organizations; c) do not duplicate existing portals; and d) have sufficient resources to be sustainable. Sponsoring organizations should have a strategic plan to ensure cross-agency portals can be effectively managed over time.
Rationale: Cross-agency portals provide many benefits to the public and to the federal government by bringing together information and services from multiple federal organizations on a particular topic or audience group. These portal websites can improve the public's access to information and services, strengthen the quality of content, and provide cost and efficiency savings to federal organizations. But to achieve these benefits, organizations need to work together to develop cross-agency portals rather than developing them in isolation. If cross-agency portals are not managed effectively, the public may not be getting a full view of all available information and resources, even though they believe they are.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: Immediate
c. Guideline: Federal Public Websites Should Link to Appropriate Cross-Agency Portals. Federal public websites should link to appropriate cross-agency portals when applicable, to guide the public to additional resources that exist across the U.S. government.
Rationale: Links to cross-agency portals can supplement or replace the information on federal public websites. Links to other government information can guide visitors to additional resources to help them find what they need. This is especially important for federal public websites since many visitors do not know the organizational structure of the government and may need additional assistance to locate the information or service that best meets their needs. These links can also help ensure that visitors are being directed to the most authoritative, current source for the information, rather than having individual organizations attempt to keep the information accurate and up-to-date themselves.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: Immediate
d. Requirement: Pages on Federal Public Websites Must Link to the Homepage. To improve usability, every page on federal public websites must include a link back to the website's homepage or to another appropriate, logical starting point.
Exceptions: PDF files are exempt from this requirement. Other file types that cannot physically contain a link are also exempt.
Rationale: Visitors often need to access a website's front page to choose other paths and to have another way of knowing where they are within a website. This helps both those who get lost and others who drill deeply into a website from a search engine or other source.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2007
e. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Link to FirstGov.gov [now USA.gov]. Every federal public website must link from its homepage and major entry points to the homepage of FirstGov.gov (www.firstgov.gov) [now USA.gov].
Exceptions: There are no exceptions to this requirement.
Rationale: Section 204 of the E-Government Act of 2002 designates FirstGov,gov as the official web portal of the U.S. Government [now USA.gov]. FirstGov.gov [now USA.gov] serves as the "homepage" for the entire U.S. government by providing a topical and organizational directory of U.S. government websites and a government-wide search index. It promotes seamless government by allowing citizens to access the vast amount of information from across government without having to know which agency sponsors the information. In the same way that links to a homepage help people start browsing from a known location, this link will help people who aren't at the website of the appropriate agency find the government information and services they need.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2005
Related Recommendation: The working group recommends that the name for FirstGov.gov [now USA.gov] be changed to a name that is more intuitive, that better conveys the purpose of the website, and that is more marketable. Usability testing and focus groups conducted by FirstGov [now USA.gov] (as well as people who commented on these recommendations) indicate that the public is unfamiliar with the name and that it lacks real meaning. There have been numerous suggestions to change the name to usa.gov or us.gov, which are domains already registered by GSA. Changing the name would have minimal impact on FirstGov's [now USA.gov] visibility and its number of visitors, since a permanent, automatic redirect could be made to the new URL for anyone who still searches for FirstGov [now USA.gov].
5. POLICY: FEDERAL ORGANIZATIONS MUST ESTABLISH PRIORITIES AND A SCHEDULE FOR POSTING CONTENT ON THEIR PUBLIC WEBSITES.
a. Requirement: Agencies Must Comply with Section 207(f)(2) of the E-Government Act of 2002. Agencies must develop an inventory of information to be published on their websites, establish a schedule for publishing information, make those schedules available for public comment, and post the schedules and priorities on the website. Agencies should develop their website inventories based on the wants and needs of citizens as a whole and intended audiences. In establishing priorities, agencies should consider current and anticipated information needs, as well as historical, legacy materials.
Exceptions: There are no exceptions to this requirement.
Rationale: Section 207(f)(2) of the E-Government Act of 2002 requires each agency ("agency" here is defined in the Act) to:
Implementation Guidance:
o Priority 1: required by law, regulation, Presidential directive, or other official directive or to ensure national security
o Priority 2: mission-critical and essential for program operations, but not required by law, regulation, or Presidential directive (that is, information or services that are directly tied to an agency's mission and/or strategic plan)
o Priority 3: frequently requested information or services that would improve business processes and/or customer service to the public (for example, most commonly used forms, documents, applications, transactions, etc.).
o Priority 4: other information
o If information fits in two or more priorities, agencies should assign it the highest priority.
o The frequency of use by the intended audience(s); and
o The level of effort and time required by the agency to convert the information for the Internet. There may be some "low hanging fruit" that might warrant a higher priority, such as content that is already available in another format that easily could be converted to the web. Conversely, there may be some older "legacy" documents or databases that might be assigned a lower priority if converting them to the web would pose an undue burden on the organization.
Implementation Deadline: December 31, 2004
6. POLICY: ORGANIZATIONS MUST CONTINUE TO COMPLY WITH EXISTING FEDERAL LAWS, REGULATIONS AND POLICIES. In addition to the particular actions discussed above, this guidance reiterates existing federal laws and regulations, general directives from previous Presidential and OMB memoranda, and other policies regarding federal public websites. Organizations should continue to follow these requirements, as indicated.
Note: Given that this section reiterates existing requirements, we have not included exceptions, implementation guidance, or an implementation deadline under each item, as we have in other sections of this document. Organizations should refer to the individual citations for these details. The Web Content Managers Toolkit will also provide additional guidance, best practices, and examples to help web content managers as they continue to implement these requirements.
a. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Comply with Privacy Requirements. All federal public websites must comply with existing laws and directives that address the need to protect the privacy of the American people when they interact with their government. Some of the key requirements for federal public websites include: (1) conducting privacy impact assessments; (2) posting privacy policies on each website; (3) posting a "Privacy Act Statement" that tells visitors the organization's legal authority for collecting personal data and how the data will be used; and (4) translating privacy policies into a standardized machine-readable format. Organizations should review the following laws and regulations related to privacy protections to ensure that their public websites meet the full range of requirements:
b. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Have Security Protocols to Protect Information. All federal public websites must comply with Section 207(f)(1)(b)(iv) of the E-Gov Act of 2002, which requires organizations to have security protocols to protect information.
c. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Ensure Access for People with Disabilities. All federal public websites must continue to comply with the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d), designed to make online information and services fully available to individuals with disabilities. Organizations should review Section 508 and accompanying guidance to ensure that their public websites meet the requirements:
d. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). All federal public websites must comply with existing laws and directives that relate to the Freedom of Information Act. The principal requirement is that websites must have a page that includes certain content as required by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This page should include information about how the public can request information under the Act. Organizations should review the FOIA and implementation guidance to ensure that their public websites meet the full range of requirements:
e. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Comply with Information Quality Guidelines. All federal public websites must comply with Public Law 106-554, "Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information Disseminated by Federal Organizations." This law requires federal organizations to issue guidelines for "ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information (including statistical information) disseminated by Federal organizations." Organizations should review the Act and implementation guidance to ensure that their public websites meet the requirements:
f. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Provide Appropriate Access for People with Limited English Proficiency. Organizations must comply with existing requirements of Executive Order 13166, "Improving Access to Services for People with Limited English Proficiency," based on Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination on the basis of national origin. Agencies must specifically follow guidance related to agency websites.
g. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). All federal public websites must comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35) to ensure that information collected from the public minimizes burden and maximizes public utility. One of the principal requirements of the PRA is that organizations must have OMB approval before collecting information from the public (such as forms, general questionnaires, surveys, instructions, and other types of collections), and they must display the current OMB control number on the collection. Organizations should review the PRA and implementation guidance to ensure their public websites meet the full range of requirements:
h. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Comply with the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA). All federal public websites must comply with the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA, Pub. L. 105-277). The Act requires that, when practicable, federal organizations use electronic forms, electronic filing, and electronic signatures to conduct official business with the public, by 2003. Organizations should review the Act to ensure that their public websites meet the full range of requirements:
i. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Comply with Records Management Requirements. All federal public websites must comply with existing laws and regulations related to the management of public web records. This includes the need for organizations to comply with necessary policies and standards to implement the E-Government Act of 2002, Section 207(e), "Public Access to Electronic Information," which will be issued by December 2005. Organizations should review existing laws and regulations to ensure their public websites meet the full range of requirements:
In addition, NARA will be issuing policy and requirements for the capture and transfer of a government-wide snapshot of federal public websites at the end of an Administration.
j. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Comply with Digital Rights, Copyright, Trademark, and Patent Laws. Most content on federal public websites is in the public domain and should not include copyright or other intellectual property notices. However, when an organization uses or duplicates information available from the private sector as part of an information resource, product or service, the organization must ensure that the property rights of the private sector source are adequately protected. These protections apply to any material posted to federal public websites, such as documents, graphics, or audio files. Organizations should also review content to determine if it is subject to international copyright laws. Organizations should review the relevant laws and regulations to ensure that their public websites meet the full range of requirements:
k. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Comply with the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). All federal public websites must comply with Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, which requires organizations to make their annual performance plans readily available to the public.
l. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Comply with the No Fear Act. All federal public websites must comply with the existing No Fear Act Notification and Federal Employee Anti-discrimination and Retaliation of 2002 (No Fear Act) Public Law No. 107-174). Organizations should review the relevant law to ensure that their public websites meet the full range of requirements:
m. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Comply with the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act. All federal public websites must comply with Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, which requires organizations to designate a single point of contact for small businesses, and to post the contact information on the organization's website.
n. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Comply with Restrictions on Lobbying. All federal public websites must comply with existing laws that prohibit federal public websites from being used for direct or indirect lobbying. Organizations should review the relevant law to ensure that their public websites meet the full range of requirements:
o. Requirement: Federal Public Websites Must Comply with Upcoming Requirements to Categorize Information. All federal public websites must comply with upcoming policies and standards to implement the E-Government Act of 2002, Section 207(d), which are being developed based on recommendations from the ICGI's Categorization of Information Working Group.
7. POLICY: DEVELOPING WEB CONTENT POLICIES AND REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL PUBLIC WEBSITES IS AN ONGOING PROCESS, REQUIRING STRUCTURE. The federal government must continue to review and improve web content policies and practices and look ahead to new policies and practices that can make federal public websites, both individually and as a group, the most citizen-focused and visitor-friendly in the world. When common web content practices will both improve the visitors' experience and make better use of resources across the federal government, they should be implemented. We need a structure to ensure this happens.
a. Recommendation: OMB Should Establish a Web Content Advisory Council OMB should establish a permanent Web Content Advisory Council to regularly review and make recommendations for strengthening web content policies and for coordinating support for implementing the policies across federal agencies. The Council should continue, and expand on, the work started by the Web Content Standards Working Group. The Council should serve as an advisory group to OMB agencies and base its recommendations on regular input from federal web content managers, others who work on federal websites, program managers, other stakeholders, web content experts, industry advisors, and citizens. OMB should ensure that the Council has adequate funding and support. The Council should report annually to OMB on its accomplishments and plans.
The Council's Duties: The Council should have two primary responsibilities:
1. Support OMB by making recommendations about web content policies and practices
2. Support federal web content managers by coordinating best practices, research, and other practical tools that can be shared and leveraged across all federal agencies.
Composition:
Rationale: Accomplishing the goal of making the United States government's public websites the most citizen-focused and visitor-friendly in the world cannot be accomplished by a one-time initiative. It needs to be an ongoing process and coordinated approach. Technology improvements, growing expectations of citizens, usability research, new trends, and best practices may inspire changes in existing policies and requirements or new policies and requirements. Federal web content managers need a source of guidance and resources to help them implement policies and requirements and to learn about new directions. Requirements and decisions based on recommendations of an Advisory Council of their peers will be more credible to federal web content managers.
Implementation:
Implementation Deadline: Immediate
b. Recommendation: Common Content and Links Should Be Approved by OMB Federal agencies that want to require common content or links on federal public websites other than their own should submit that request to OMB before incorporating it in rules or regulations. OMB should ask the Web Content Advisory Council for recommendations on these requests.
Exceptions: There are no exceptions to this requirement.
Rationale: In the last few years, both Congress and certain federal agencies have established requirements for web content, including specifying the names and locations of links that must be included on every federal public website. While the intentions may be good, the result is not always the best for the public. In fact, so many links have been required or suggested that many federal website homepages have become cluttered and confusing to citizens. A link location might work well on one website and not on another because the organization and audiences of each homepage is different. Usability testing is the best way to determine names and locations of links.
Implementation Guidance:
Implementation Deadline: Immediate
c. Recommendation: OMB Should Review and Approve Cross-Agency Portals OMB should establish a process to review and approve current and proposed cross-agency portals to ensure they are needed, include all appropriate agencies, do not duplicate other websites, and have sufficient support to be sustained.
Exception: There are no exceptions to this requirement
Rationale: In the past few years, there has been a proliferation of cross-agency portals. The FirstGov.gov website [now USA.gov] currently lists 83 existing cross-agency portals. Others are in development. Currently, any group that can get a domain name can establish a portal, even if that portal duplicates other portals, fails to fill a legitimate business need, or lacks support of appropriate agencies. The public may not be getting a full view of all available information and resources, even though they believe they are. Some portals start out well but fail over time, due to lack of maintenance. Further, agency web teams are being stretched to provide support to all the portals that are emerging.
While cross-agency portals are an excellent way to blend common content and make it easier for the public to find what they need, portals must be comprehensive, high quality, sustainable, and meet a legitimate business need.
Implementation Guidance:Implementation Deadline: Immediate
d. Recommendation: Agencies Should Report Progress and Compliance with Web Content Policies and Requirements Agencies must report on compliance with requirements from the E-Government Act of 2002, Section 202(g). Those reports should include progress and compliance with web content policies and requirements, including results from the agency's standard customer satisfaction survey (see Recommendation 2e).
Exceptions: Only OMB may grant exceptions
Rationale: Since these policies, requirements, and guidelines emanate from the E-Government Act, they should be incorporated in the annual reporting required by the Act.
Implementation Guidance: Web content managers must participate in determining compliance with these requirements, for the annual report. Since many web content managers work in organizations other than the CIO, agency heads and CIOs must ensure that the web content managers are aware of the internal report deadlines and any guidance that has been provided by OMB.
Implementation Deadline: Annual reporting date required by OMB
ATTACHMENT A
Interagency Council on Government Information
Web Content Standards Working Group
1. Candi Harrison (Co-Chair)
Departmental Web Manager for Field Operations, Office of Departmental Operations and Coordination, Department of Housing and Urban Development
2. Sheila Campbell (Co-Chair)
Senior Content Manager, FirstGov, General Services Administration
3. Nancy Allard
Lead Archives Specialist, Policy and Communications Staff, National Archives and Records Administration
4. Alice Bettencourt
Co-Manager, Web Management Team, Department of Health and Human Services
5. Dave Borowski
Internet Program Manager, Office of the CIO, Department of Treasury
6. Annetta Cheek
Plain Language Coordinator, Federal Aviation Administration
7. Terry Davis
Manager, Office of Secretary of Defense Public Web Program, Department of Defense
8. Kate Donohue
Co-Web Manager, Web Communications Services, Office of Public Affairs, Department of Labor
9. Karen Drayne
Content Specialist, Web Services Staff, Justice Management Division, Department of Justice
10. Brian Dunbar
Internet Services Manager, Media Services Division, Office of Public Affairs, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
11. Sam Gallagher
Departmental Web Manager for Headquarters Operations, Office of Departmental Operations and Coordination, Department of Housing and Urban Development
12. Colleen Hope
Director, Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, State Department
13. Gwynne Kostin
Director, Web Content, Department of Homeland Security
14. Julia Laws
Division Director, Information Management, Department of Interior
15. Jeffrey Levy
Senior Web Advisor, Office of Public Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency
16. Bernie Lubran
Project Manager, Federal Consulting Group, Department of Treasury
17. Suzanne Nawrot
IT Specialist (Web Manager), Corporate Systems Division, Chief Information Officer, Department of Energy
18. Jennifer Reeves
IT Specialist, Development Services Group, Office of the CIO, Department of Education
19. Janet Stevens
Website Project Manager, Risk Management Agency, Department of Agriculture
20. Martha (Marti) Szczur
Deputy Associate Director for Specialized Information Services, National Library of Medicine, Department of Health and Human Services
21. Keith Thurston
Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Electronic Government, General Services Administration
22. Alan Vander Mallie
Web Manager, Commerce Web Advisory Group, Department of Commerce
1. Joan Bryan
Web Content Manager, Social Security Administration
2. Tom Freebairn
USA Services, General Services Administration (common content models)
3. Sanjay Koyani
Department of Health and Human Services (usability)
4. Joanne McGovern
Senior Content Specialist, FirstGov [now USA.gov], General Services Administration (liaison to other working groups)
5. John Murphy
Director, E-Gov Solutions, General Services Administration (search technology)
6. Janice Nall
Office of Government-wide Policy, General Services Administration (usability, content standards)
7. Russell O'Neill
General Services Administration (IT standards)
8. Gina Pearson
Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture (usability)
9. Helen Savoye
Deputy Web Manager, Department of Housing and Urban Development (information technology)
10. Kim Taylor
Director of Web Services, Department of Agriculture (IT)
11. Carlynn Thompson
Director, Component Information Support, Defense Technical Information Center, Department of Defense (technical standards and policies)
12. James Vaughn
USA Services Program Manager, General Services Administration (customer service)
13. Tricia Wellman
Senior Attorney, Office of Information and Privacy, Department of Justice (e-FOIA)
14. Michael White
National Archives and Records Administration (U.S. Government Manual)
ATTACHMENT B Interagency Council on Government Information Web Content Standards Working Group
The following are definitions for terms used in this report.
Agency: An organizational unit of the executive branch that is any of the following:
Alternative Formats: Web file formats that are not universally accessible, but are available to the public via specific software or plug-ins. These formats include, but are not limited to: Portable Document Formats (PDF), WordPerfect, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, and statistical data files, such as SAS, SPSS, SQL, and MS Excel.
Content: Any material that is available on a federal public website.
Cross-Agency Portal: A website that brings together information and services from multiple federal agencies or organizations about a particular topic or for a particular audience group.
Document: A file provided on a website that contains text, such as pages, text files, word processing files, and spreadsheet files.
Domain Names: Web addresses that are used to help people find websites on the Internet. Domain names are made up of a hierarchy known as levels, which are separated by periods (".") within the domain name. Top-level domains include domains such as .gov, .mil., .us, .org, .com., and .edu. Examples of a federal organization's domain name are army.mil, noaa.gov and publicdebt.treas.gov.
Extranet: A public-private website or portal, secured or password-protected, specifically designed for selected workers in an organization and selected external partners to conduct internal business.
Federal Public Website: Any website that meets these three criteria:
Homepage: The page that serves as the front door of a website. Every website has a homepage. No website has more than one homepage.
Industry Standard Web Formats: Web file formats that are universally accessible to anyone with a web browser, which do not require specific software or plug-ins. HTML and XML are current examples of industry standard formats.
Intranet: A private website or portal, secured or password-protected, specifically designed for workers in an organization to conduct internal business.
Major Entry Point: Pages that are frequently accessed directly by the public. Major entry points include:
Navigation: The means by which a visitor can navigate the content of a website. Navigation usually consists of a collection of links to sections and subsections of a website.
Organization and Federal Organization: Any entity of a federal executive branch agency, at any level of the agency-for example, any department, agency, bureau, division, office, program, or other organizational unit.
Page: A text file at a single URL, written or generated in a markup language like HTML, and viewed through a browser. For the purpose of these policies, pages do include PDFs but do not include pop-up windows, dialog windows, files that provide text descriptions of non-text content to enhance accessibility (d-links), redirection pages, or slides within a presentation, except where otherwise noted.
Second-Level Domain Name: A website address that is at the next highest level of the hierarchy below the top-level domains of .gov and .mil, such as hud.gov, fbi.gov, regulations.gov, or army.mil. It includes all websites registered through the official Government Domain Registry (including domain names in the .fed.us domain), and all websites registered through the Department of Defense .mil registry. It does not include websites considered to be third-level domains, such as nmfs.noaa.gov or www.publicdebt.treas.gov.
Site Map: A linked, graphic or text-based display of a website's hierarchy, similar to an organization chart. Typically, site maps break down a website's content into increasingly specific subject areas to help the visitor understand its structure, from the main navigation pages to their subordinate pages. The main difference between a site map and a subject index is that a subject index is typically an alphabetical list, not a hierarchically structured set of links.
Subject Index: A list of a website's content, typically presented in alphabetical order, similar to an index in the back of a book. The main difference between a subject index and a site map is that a site map conveys website structure or navigation.
Usability: The measure of the quality of a visitor's experience when using a website, including the ability to accomplish basic tasks.
Web Content Manager: Federal employees who write, edit, manage, and form strategic plans for the content of federal websites.
Website: A collection of web content organized under a single homepage.
ATTACHMENT C
Interagency Council on Government Information
Web Content Standards Working Group
The following groups and individuals were invited to provide feedback on the draft recommendations developed by the Web Content Standards Working Group in April 2004.
The initial draft recommendations have also been posted on the ICGI website.
ATTACHMENT D
Interagency Council on Government Information
Web Content Standards Working Group
Here is a simple 3-step process that can help you meet the requirements of Section 207(f)(2) of the E-Government Act of 2002. It will help you decide what should be on your website-both now and in the future-and help you set publication priorities.
Just follow the steps and keep this in mind: If it can be public, and is of interest to the public, it should be public. Agencies dealing with national defense and law enforcement should weigh security needs as well as the public's need to know.
Step 1: Determine your audiences
Step 2: Develop your inventory
Step 3: Set priorities
Worksheet 1: DEFINE YOUR WEBSITE AUDIENCES
List the different audience groups that might use your website. Think about the groups that you want to target and about the groups who might just end up at your website. Look at your email. Think about citizen groups, business groups, and other government organizations.
1. Citizens as a whole
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Worksheet 2: DEVELOP YOUR INVENTORY OF INFORMATION/SERVICES FOR THE WEBSITE
| Audience | Organization Components or Program Areas |
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Worksheet 3: SET PRIORITIES AND PUBLICATION TARGETS
| Content | Status | Priority | Publication Target |
|---|---|---|---|