Website Style Guide: 5: Comprehensive DHHS Redesigned Website

Intentions-Based Design | URL Guidance | Style Guide Home

5.1 Intentions-Based Design

The NC DHHS Comprehensive Redesigned Website will have an "intentions-based" design. Content is written to allow site visitors to accomplish tasks.  Intentions-based design recognized that people come to the web with needs to fulfill. A young mother wants to know if her family is eligible for food stamps. A state employee looks for contacts. A county health department manager needs statistics on a certain program. A business owner needs to know the rules and procedures for licensing a nursing home.

Organizing content based on the audience’s needs is considered a best practice for managing a website, according to federal government usability experts.

If you have information to post on the site, consider (1) who needs the information, and (2) why they need it.

The website has nine main topic areas:

• The first six are related to the services we provide to NC residents: Children and Youth, Families and Adults, Older Adults, Health, Medicaid, Disability Issues.
• Two are cross-program or cross-division topics for non-public audiences: Government and Partners and Providers.
• One is Facts and Figures, where statistics for all programs will be compiled, as well as press releases and high interest publications.

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5.2 URL Guidance

The department home URL has become www.ncdhhs.gov.

Program and services will all have home pages within the structure of the new redesign site. Program may obtain alias URLs prior to incorporation into the redesign, by following these guidelines:

1. The general construction of the alias should be: www.ProgramName.ncdhhs.gov. This URL convention has the advantage of the .gov extension, which lends credence to the web page more than a .com or .org extension.
2. Since the redesigned website will be organized by programs/services, not by our organizational structure, departmental programs and departmental facilities can get alias URLs, not sections, or branches within the department. An example of a URL for a departmental facility is murdochcenter.ncdhhs.gov, not StateOperatedServicesSection.ncdhhs.gov. Alias division URLs will be assigned as each division is incorporated into the redesign site.
3. Unless central to the program or service name, the initials “nc” can be left off the program name, since it is specified in the ncdhhs.gov portion of the URL.
4. If a URL in this convention is requested prior to the redesigned site going live, such a request is appropriate as long as the URL points to a program, not an organizational unit.
5. In the redesigned site, the alias URL will, in general, point to the information designed for residents. Information designed for researchers, government, or partners and providers can be prominently linked and easily found from resident pages.
6. Alias URLs must be specific, descriptive and not overly broad. For instance, ‘employmentservices.ncdhhs.gov’ should not be assigned to a certain program since a wide variety of programs within DHHS are devoted to employment services. A more specific URL would be appropriate. 

These URL conventions are for programs that will exist on the newly redesigned departmental website. For existing, well-publicized URLs to high profile sites that contain a targeted message (such as eatsmartmovemoreNC.com), a URL change will not be immediately required. However, it is preferable that the URL eventually comply with this convention. Suggested strategies and time frames for changing URLs will be researched and circulated.

To obtain a URL Alias, follow one of the two procedures below:

For current sites on an ITS server:

1. Get Public Affairs signoff on the URL.

2. Send an email to ITS.Incidents@ncmail.net and make a request for DNS service. Sample request: "Add: asthma.ncdhhs.gov pointing directly to 207.192.nnn.nnn

3. Email ITS customer support at ITS.Incidents@ncmail.net and make a request for Web Services to add a virtual redirect site. Provide the actual URL and the new alias or virtual URL. The DHHS website account will be charged $68.50 (one-time setup fee).

For current sites not hosted at ITS:

1. Get Public Affairs signoff on the URL.

2. Send an email to ITS.Incidents@ncmail.net and make a request for DNS service. Sample request: "Add: asthma.ncdhhs.gov pointing directly to 207.192.nnn.nnn

3. Communicate with the server admin requesting a new virtual redirect site. Provide the actual URL and the new alias or virtual URL.

Questions? Contact lois.nilsen@ncmail.net.

5.6.2 Division and Office URLs

The convention for division home page addresses is as follows:

Convention:

www.ncdhhs.gov/acronym  

or

www.ncdhhs.gov/shortname.

Examples:

www.ncdhhs.gov/dss
www.ncdhhs.gov/dma
www.ncdhhs.gov/aging
www.ncdhhs.gov/oeo
www.ncdhhs.gov/mhddsas
www.ncdhhs.gov/budgetandanalysis
www.ncdhhs.gov/ocs
www.ncdhhs.gov/control
www.ncdhhs.gov/humanresources
www.ncdhhs.gov/publicaffairs
www.ncdhhs.gov/dsb

Divisions with website addresses in other formats can obtain a URL when they are incorporated into the redesign website, or they can obtain it sooner.

Changing a URL can be tricky. Some effort should be made to contact websites that link to the site and request a change to the new URL. Still, old URLs should not be phased out in any hurry. That is, both the new and the old website address should work for some time to come.

Divisions with website addresses that do not follow the convention must make an effort to publicize the DHHS home page address on all publications. That is, where the division home page address is printed on a publication, also include the home page of the department. For example, DPH publications should refer to both www.ncpublichealth.com and www.ncdhhs.gov.

5.6.3 Websites that are not Division Home Pages

Current websites that will be eventually incorporated into the comprehensive redesign site should make no change in URL until they are incorporated.

Current websites that will remain separate (that is, "branded" sites per the DHHS Policy on Public Websites) should make an effort to obtain a .GOV address.  Such website addresses require DHHS secretary and state CIO approval before being proposed to federal authorities at dotgov.gov.