Prerequisites to Review

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Part One: Your First Look at the Site

In your first look, get a sense of whether the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) got the big-picture items right AND the little-picture items (most common errors) right.

• Review little-picture items
• Review big-picture items
• Contact the EIC

Review Little-Picture Items

• Get a list of all pages. Go to the Drupal dashboard and bring up a list of every basic page in the site. The easiest way to do this is to:
  1. type in the short name of the site (found at upper left of interior pages) into the “Web Area” field, then
  2. under “Type”, hit the control button and select “Basic page”, then
  3. click on the “Search” button. You should see a list of search results pop up. The list is often more than one screen.
• Spot-review about 10 pages. Click on about 10 of the URLs in the list. As you look at each page, compare it against all the items shown on the "How to Avoid Multiple Rounds..." document. 

Write up any comments you have as a result of the review of the “little-picture items.”

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Review Big-Picture Items

• List of audiences and tasks

  Get from the EIC the list of audiences, and the top tasks listed for each audience.  Does the list make sense (don’t look at the site yet).  Is there an audience that you would expect to be there, that is not there? Is there a task that seems too broad or ridiculously narrow? If you were guessing at the top audiences and tasks for a site, what would you guess? Does the list fairly match your guesses? If not, why do you think the list does not match?

  If you are unsure about what any of the tasks mean, or you don't think an audience or task makes sense, call the EIC with any questions; get your questions resolved before you proceed.

  Example: Task “Learn about children’s health at EPA”. Not specific enough; what does this mean? Does it mean learn what EPA does? Or learn about the history of what EPA has done?

• Home page addressing needs of audiences

  Once you are satisfied with the list of top audiences and tasks, look at the home page. Look at each top task under each audience. If a visitor looks at the home page, will they be able to find ONE (and not more than one) prominent location on the page to “follow the scent of the information” and complete that task, or get closer to completion?

  Example: the FACA website listed as a top audience “People interested in becoming FACA members” with a task “Research how to become a committee member", but it was not clear from the home page how to find information about becoming a committee member. 

• Clear site structure

  Is the home page clear – that is, can you get a sense of the overall structure of the site by looking at the home page? Are there too many choices about where to go? Poor site structure is an indication that the EIC simply moved all content from the buckeye server to Drupal without transforming it, without bothering to address the top tasks of top audiences.

  Example: the original draft of the Bed Bugs site had eight sections on the home page (too many choices), including both “Getting Rid of Bed Bugs” and “Getting Help for Bed Bugs”. These headings sound like the same thing. Visitors might not have been able to figure out which section on the page to go to. Resolution: see how the Bed Bugs home page changed.

• Appearance

  Does the home page look professional?  Ignore the images, since OWC will review them. Is there too much white space? Are there features that look outdated? Are there images that are unnecessarily big, thus adding to download times?  Images should generally not be more than 300 pixels wide and should not be more than 300 pixels high unless they display data (e.g. flow charts, maps etc.).

• Microsite sidebars

  If this is a microsite, go to any interior page and look at the left sidebar. Do the links make sense? How do they relate to the links on the home page?  They do not have to be exactly the same, but are all the links on the home page that you would expect to see in the left sidebar, in fact in the left sidebar? Does the sidebar link only to pages that seem to be in the top level of content, just below the home page, or re there links that you would guess would be four levels down in the structure of the site? Check a few pages; the left sidebar should be the same on every page. Is it?

• Best format?

  Spend a few minutes considering whether this site is in the best format (i.e., microsite or resource directory). Consider:

  •  the topic,
  • the number of pages in the site (see item ii below for an explanation of how to see the number of basic pages in a site), and
  • the six factors discussed on Should Your One EPA Web Content be a Resource Directory or Microsite? (PDF).
  • Remember that we tell EICs that there is usually no right answer about whether a site should be a resource directory or a microsite. Very occasionally, there is a right answer, and the EIC gets it wrong. If you feel strongly that the EIC has gotten it wrong, you should raise your concerns with the EIC. If the site is more than about 30 pages, it should probably be a microsite.

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Write up any comments you have as a result of the review of the “big-picture items.”

Contact the EIC about All Big- and Little-Picture Items You Found

Unless the EIC has gotten virtually all of the big items and virtually all of the small items right, at this point you will need to return the site to the EIC.

• Who should the email go to? Cc or bcc yourself, and put a copy in a “One EPA Web Reviews” folder in Outlook.
• What information should the email include?
  • Say that the site is not ready for your full review.
  • Then include any comments, concerns or questions you have written up about the big picture items.
    • If the site structure is not clear, ask to see a wireframe of the entire site (not just the topmost levels). By wireframe, we mean something that looks like an organizational chart or site map. If the EIC cannot readily produce this, then s/he hasn’t been creating the site in the correct way; s/he has skipped Step 8 of the Step-by-Step document.
  • Include examples of the little-picture items. You do not need to list all specific issues on all 10 of the URLs you reviewed; however, you should provide examples of 3-4 ways the site does not meet the guidelines shown on the "How to Avoid Multiple Rounds..." document.  You can say, for example:

The site has several of the issues we commonly see in first drafts. These common issues are identified on "How to Avoid Multiple Rounds of Review"; please review the site against the guidelines shown on that page.  For example:

On this page,	there is this issue:
https://wcms.epa.gov/unicorns/basic-information	Page title is not unique
https://wcms.epa.gov/unicorns/unicorns-my-pretty-pony	Link texts: Sunshine and rainbows Lollipops … do not match destination pages closely enough
https://wcms.epa.gov/unicorns/magical-facts-unicorns	Is in the wide template but should not be
https://wcms.epa.gov/unicorns/attack-zebra-striped-robot-unicorns	Second paragraph is not written in plain language

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Part Two: Your Second Look at the Site

First, Repeat Part One

Get out the email you sent to the EIC after your initial review. Review the revised site against your comments in the email. Does it look like the EIC addressed all those comments?

• If not, then send the site back to the EIC with an explanation of which comments do not seem to be addressed.
• If so, then proceed to your second review.

Second, Conduct a Detailed Review

• Look at the steps to bring up in Drupal a list of all basic pages in the site. Make a list of all pages. You will have to copy the URLs into Word or email.
• Review each page against all standards and requirements set forth below. Write up your comments in this format:

URL

1. Comment 1
2. Comment 2
3. Group all comments about content in a right-side box together:
   1. Right-side box comment 1
   2. Right-side box comment 2
   3. Right-side box comment 3
4. If you have lots of comments on a page, group all comments about content in a particular section together:
   1. Curly Mustaches section comment 1
   2. Curly Mustaches section comment 2
   3. Curly Mustaches section comment 3

Reviewing Against Our Standards and Requirements

• How to Successfully Prepare Your Website for Review

  Check each page against the items in the "How to Successfully Prepare..." guidance.

• Writing for the Web

  Highlights of the Writing for the Web guidance:

  • No broken links on the page.

  • No sentences longer than about 25 words.

  • No paragraphs longer than about 70-75 words.

  • Is all text written plainly? Can you understand every sentence? If not, those sentences should be rewritten.

  • Lists are displayed in bullet format.

  • All external links use external link icon. Links going to other federal agencies should not include this icon.

  • Links to PDFs include “(PDF)” in the link text.

  • Links to document pages don’t include “(PDF)”.

  • Link text should:

    • Clearly and precisely explain where the link is going.

    • Be noticeable / not be buried in paragraphs.

    • Closely match the text of the destination page.

    Review more information on how to write links. Exit

• EPA Stylebook Writing Guide

  Highlights of the Stylebook writing guidance:

  • “Ground water” is always two words

  • Ampersands are only used where “and” takes up too much room

  • Passive voice should be minimized.

  • Spelling is correct.

  • Acronyms are always explained in page titles and again the first time they appear on the page, unless they are spelled out in the web area name.

  • Common nouns are not capitalized: No “We regulate Asbestos” or “We have Program Offices.”

  • “Federal” and “state” and “tribes” are lowercase unless at the beginning of a sentence.

• Images and Image Guidance

  Highlights of the Image Guidance:

  • Do not look at images on home pages -- OWC will review.

  • Are images other than data-driven images (e.g. maps, flow charts) less than 300 pixels wide and less than 300 pixels high? Do images include captions that explain how the content of the images relate to the text on the page? (Not all images require captions; decorative images are sometimes OK).

  • Do all images on internal pages have good resolution?

• Microsite Guidance

  Highlights of the Microsite Guidance:

  • Does the site include “learn about” content, and if appropriate, :

    • science and technology content ,

    • laws and regs content,

    • geographical content,

    • recent additions/newsroom content, and

    • FAQs content

  • Is all this content displayed per the Microsite Guidance?

  • Does the site include Spanish content? If so, contact Lina to let her know.

  • Does the site include a QuickFinder or Top Tasks box? If so, have the EIC remove it.

  • Do banners meet all requirements set forth in the guidance?

  • Do links on the home page go primarily to other pages in the site?

  • Is the left sidebar the same on all pages and does the left sidebar otherwise meet all requirements set forth in the guidance?

  • Check epa.gov to see if there is Regional content related to the topic. If so, has it been included in the website? Is there any sign that the EIC included Regional content, if appropriate?

  • Does regulatory content meet the standards set forth in the appendix to the guidance?

• Resource Directory Guidance

  Highlights of the Resource Directory Guidance:

  • If any of the section headings run on to a second or third line, let Christine Dibble know. There is a special way to code this to avoid having the images misaligned. Christine can fix it.

  • Graphics on home page should be clickable, taking visitors to the most significant content in that section.  Sometimes a landing page must be created just to have a place that a home page image can link to.

  • Program logos/identifiers

    • Should only be displayed above right-side boxes, not in the main part of the page.

    • Must have been approved by the Office of Multimedia.

  • Are there five links or less per section?

  • Is there a Top Tasks box on the right? If so, have the EIC remove it.

  • On internal pages, there should be no: sidebars, local area footers, right-side boxes that provide navigation to other internal pages

  • Does regulatory content meet the standards set forth in the appendix to the guidance?

• 508 Checklist

  Highlights of 508 guidance:

  • Spot-check images to ensure that there is alt text or captions (not both).

  • Maps and graphics:

    • ensure that color is not the only means of identifying information

    • ensure that there is equivalent information in the alt text or in nearby text

  • If you are unsure about the accessibility of any feature on the site, ask the EIC about it – he or she may need to check with Amanda Sweda.

• Web Standards

  Standards that people violate the most:

  • Contact Us page

  • External site links

  • Glossaries

  • Graphics

  • Headings

  • Link text

• Web Style Guide
  • If you have any doubt that the EIC used approved styles of things like colorboxes, tables, boxes, tabs, or other features, check against the Web Style Guide .

• Ensure that there are no duplicate pages (pages with the same titles) – duplicates should be deleted.

• Request that the EIC delete all pages that will not be published.

• Take a look at the top audiences and tasks one more time.  Have they all been addressed somewhere on your site?  If not, add that to your comments.

• Review your comments:
  • Clarity: Will someone reading your comments understand them and be able to address them?
  • Tone: Are your comments encouraging? Do they include explanations of why you are including your comments?

• Send comments to the EIC, and cc or bcc yourself.

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Once All Comments Have Been Addressed and Your Review is Done

• Send an email to Kathleen MacKinnon notifying her that your content review is complete and you have approved the content.
• Cc the Editor-in-Chief (EIC).
• Remind the EIC that the next step is review by OWC, which includes:
  • content review, followed by
  • review of home/hub page images, and in some cases, followed in some cases by
  • review by OPA management (contact Kathleen MacKinnon to see if a site is subject to this review).

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