Website Standards

Web presence within the NTG includes all internal and external websites and business systems, which can be accessed outside of the NTG information and communications technology (ICT) environment. Having an informative, accessible, secure and compliant web presence requires NTG agencies to understand and adhere to multiple requirements.

Intent

Government websites are classified into two categories: external and internal. External websites comprise the corporate site (nt.gov.au), agency websites, campaign websites and statutory authority websites (NTG independent). Internal websites comprise the government intranet (NTG Central) and individual agency staff websites.

Principles

• People centred – the primary focus is for the digital service to meet the consumer’s needs, ensuring responsive services that are simple to use, intuitive and clear.
• One NTG – digital services are to be presented from the NTG (rather than agencies or work units) with consistent presentation and operation providing people with a seamless interaction and a single view of government (this principle will be achieved gradually as digital services are developed or enhanced).
• Secure – digital services to have necessary cyber security and privacy controls to protect people’s information and the NTG’s digital environment.
• Accessible – digital services are able to be accessible by all people regardless of their ability and environment, including access via mobile devices.
• Tell NTG once – digital services to exchange and share digital data where appropriate through interoperable technology with streamlined interfacing and common data definitions, reuse known information and make history available (‘tell us once’ model reflects a journey that will take some time and continuing digital service investment across agencies to achieve).
• Adaptable – digital services to incorporate flexible service design and delivery that is responsive to people’s demands, usage patterns and modern devices, serviceable, readily adjusted as people’s needs change, accommodate consumer’s preferences and add value by encouraging feedback.
• Digital focus - encourage people to use digital services and gain the benefits from digital interactions with government, providing access to government services however, wherever and whenever consumers require.
• Understand the tools and systems – required to build, host, operate and measure the digital service and how to dopt, adapt and procure them.
• Measure performance – against defined key performance indicators to ensure decisions to improve the service are supported by data.

Standards

NT Government agencies and their providers will ensure the following standards when developing and maintaining websites:

• Language is written in plain English.
• Select from the NTG approved list of web content management systems:
  • Squiz Matrix.
  • Drupal.
• Utilise one source of truth:
  • Content for the general public is published on nt.gov.au.
  • Content for staff is published on agency staff websites or NTG Central.
  • All campaign sites must link back to nt.gov.au.
• Ensure web content is able to be read by standard and most commonly used web browsers.
• Present web content that is five pages or less in HTML format.
• Meet minimum NTG coding standards for all webpage mark-ups. More information is available from DCDD Digital Communications.
• Are approved by the NT Government Communications Review Committee for external strategic web initiatives.
• Must submit new initiatives and changes to the NTG Digital Communications unit for review prior to deployment.
• Must undertake website testing aligned to the Website testing guideline and template.
• Must adhere to NTG policy when linking to non-NTG websites / web pages.

Terminology

• Agency staff website: is an internal staff portal providing access to agency-specific information, services and resources. Sites may have a pointer page on NTG Central for easy access.
• Agency website: A department website, which provides access to agency’s corporate information (for example contacts, organisational charts, policies and reports) or data and information for industry or specialists. The format for the agency site domain name is agencyacronym.nt.gov.au for example. dipl.nt.gov.au – (Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics).
• Campaign website: A campaign site has a specific purpose, targeted at a particular audience and generally has a limited life. It is typically created to engage or consult on a defined topic/s and is often part of a promotional marketing campaign that includes activities through other channels eg TV, radio, print and social media. Sites may have a pointer page on nt.gov.au and/or may refer back to nt.gov.au as a source. A domain name must include the campaign name for example boundlesspossible.nt.gov.au. It should be succinct, easily understood and memorable. Examples: ntrebound.nt.gov.au.
• Corporate website: Government’s client-facing online portal providing access to government information, services and transactions. The domain name for the site is nt.gov.au.
• NTG – Northern Territory Government.