This section outlines policies and standards for the establishment, design, and posting of content to IRS intranet sites. The officials normally responsible for an intranet site are its executive owner, content manager, and web administrator.

Other intranet-related policies, standards, and guidelines include:

All IRS intranet sites and servers must be registered with C&L and MITS. A site's content manager is normally the official who completes the registration. As part of the registration process, the site's executive owner must certify that the site meets a business purpose, contains only authorized content, and complies with mandatory system controls for web services. As site characteristics or ownership change, site owners must update their registration records. Refer to IRM 2.25, Web Services. Frequently Asked Questions and a Registration User's Guide can be found at http://ws.web.irs.gov/webreg.

Separate registrations for sub-sites may not be necessary if those who manage a main site have strong centralized control over the sub-sites and those who manage them, and the central web manager keeps thorough records about all sub-sites.

Sites or servers that are not properly registered will be removed from the intranet.

IRweb (http://irweb.irs.gov) is to be the default intranet home page for all employees. Managers who want their employees to make extensive use of a different site can have employees set up a "favorite " for that site in their web browser.

Content must be appropriate. Content should focus on business need, present a professional appearance, and contain nothing that is or could be interpreted as being inappropriate for a government intranet site. A site's executive owner is responsible for determining the appropriateness of the site's content.

The business owner of content is the only one who may post it, and should post the content in only one place on the intranet. Site officials may never post or republish to their site any content that is owned by a different business owner. The correct way to refer to or incorporate another site's content is by linking to it.

Only IRweb, the IRS intranet home page, may have a search feature with a scope that covers the entire intranet. The scope of search engines on other intranet sites or applications must be limited to the content of those particular sites.

Content must be accurate. After ensuring accuracy when content is first posted, site officials should periodically review content for accuracy and update or delete content as needed. In certain cases, outdated content may remain on a site for reference purposes but only if the old content is clearly marked as being of "archival" status. When a site no longer carries accurate or useful information, it should be removed from the server and the site's registration record should be revised to indicate that the site is no longer active.

Copyrighted material may not be published to IRS intranet sites without permission. This includes, but is not limited to, news stories, articles, and images.

Include information on content that clearly indicates the office that owns it, the date it was posted or updated, and contact information about how to get help or submit feedback.

Arrange content to make it easy to read and use. Lay out pages to suit how users typically scan a page for relevant and important information. Put important content at the top and make it easy to find and understand at a glance. Avoid using text that is too large, too small, or mixes too many varieties and sizes of fonts. Select an appropriate length for pages based on purpose and ease of use. Use short page lengths for home pages and other pages that need to be quickly scanned or read online.

Design text material for easy reading and internal navigation. Use shorter sentences and paragraphs than typically used in hardcopy documents. For large documents, break them into sections with headings that help users quickly scan a page to identify the meaning and relevance of the following text. Include navigation helpers at appropriate intervals so readers do not have to do extensive scrolling to move within the document.

Use graphics sparingly. Include graphics to provide information or clarity, not to amuse. Avoid or reduce the size of images that take a long time to load to the screen. Include a text equivalent for all images.

Content must be accessible. Information should be arranged in a logical, hierarchical manner. If content must be published in a format that is not accessible, provide a text-only version as well. Images, sound, or other non-text content must be coded to include a text equivalent. Detailed policy and guidance on accessible intranet content is at IRM 2.25.5, Accessibility Guidelines for the Web.

Sites should use a design and navigation scheme that is easy to understand and is consistently repeated throughout the site. Elements that typically should be repeated throughout a site include site branding, navigation, and contact information. Navigation tools should be designed and grouped so they are easy to identify and use. Navigation tools should normally appear at the top of a page and/or down the left side.

Align page elements to improve ease of identification and use. Groups of navigation or similar page elements normally should be aligned flush left when arranged vertically. Text should always be arranged flush left.

Show hyperlinks clearly. Format hyperlinks within standard text to appear underlined and blue. The reverse is true: do not underline text that does not include a hyperlink since such text could mislead users about what is or is not a link. A text phrase that is used as a hyperlink should be worded so as to have a meaning of its own apart from its surrounding text. Navigation links do not have to follow the blue underlined requirement if those links are grouped so as to clearly indicate that they represent a menu of hyperlinks.

Links to sites outside the IRS intranet should be focused on business need and should include an intermediate notification about privacy. (See IRM 11.2.1.5, Intranet Web Site Privacy Notices and Data Collection.)

Code pages and documents with informative page titles and other meta data. Page titles should briefly state the name or purpose of the page. Include "description" and "keyword" meta data that identify the goals and elements of the site so that the IRweb search engine can properly prioritize and list that content in search results. Guidance on how to code pages in this manner is at http://cl.no.irs.gov/intranet/policies/Search.htm#improvesearch.

Avoid links that open new windows, including those known as " pop-ups" and "pop-unders. " Links should take the user to a different web page within the same browser window. In rare cases, the opening of a new window may be suitable, such as for small help screens in a training application.

Use frames sparingly. Do not build pages that use a frames design unless other design solutions cannot meet your requirements.

For questions about this policy or to request an exception, please contact C&L Intranet Management Staff by sending an e-mail to *CL Technology.