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Standards

All California departments and agencies reporting to the Governor must comply with CA.gov design, accessibility, and usability standards and best practices. The standards below bring together a wide array of research and studies, including recommendations made by the State CIO and various interagency committees and boards.

Accessibility

State Web sites must meet both the Web accessibility standards in California Government Code 11135, which adopted the Section 508 standards issued by the United States Access Board, and the Priority 1 and 2 level checkpoints of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0 "AA" Conformance Level) developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). In addition, State agencies subject to this policy must:

  • Avoid using small images or text as links.
  • Avoid using frames.
  • If a downloadable document cannot be provided in an accessible electronic format, provide information on how to request an alternate format. 
  • Provide contact information. 
  • Test for accessibility.

These additions increase the level of accessibility and empowerment to a web site visitor or employee with a disability without difficulty or major expense.

State agencies subject to this policy must take reasonable steps to design and develop web sites that are accessible to people with disabilities as well as those without disabilities. Web page developers, designers, programmers, and content providers should become familiar with the standards and guidelines for achieving universal Web accessibility and should apply these principles in designing and creating any official state web sites.

California Accessibility Standard (PDF)

Design

The CA.gov design has been created following usability guidelines to create a strong brand presence for the State of California. At the same time, the design provides flexibility for State agencies to create their brand identity alongside the California brand. The CA.gov standards require use of the standard template as contained in the on-line WebTools. WebTools defines guidelines and standards for look, feel, and navigation to promote consistency while also improving the overall user experience. These standards are provided to facilitate the creation of consistent, recognizable, and usable page layouts on all California web sites. Key components of the design include:

  • Navigation – Tabbed navigation with a rollover effect has been developed for the design. Agencies can choose colors from a color palette.
  • Header – The header is important to the State’s goal of providing a consistent, seamless look-and-feel to the State’s web presence. Key elements of the header include the CA.gov logo, agency branding, skip-to-navigation, and search box.
  • Agency Content Area – Agencies are free to use this area as they feel appropriate, within the constraints of California’s web standards. However, they must include: Governor’s picture at the top of the content area, Amber Alert's banner and link to California Highway Patrol website, and the Flex Your Power banner and link to its site.
  • Footer – The footer must appear at the bottom of all State web pages, and the color scheme must correspond to the logo and the navigation. The footer includes such information as links to the policies of CA.gov, contact information, and other information.
  • Overall Design – The layout of the page must follow the template. Agencies can choose from a palette of ten predefined colors within the color palette. The variety of colors in the palette allows agencies the ability the distinguish themselves, while at the same time, being cohesive with the overall CA.gov brand. Each color combination was carefully selected, and has been tested for accessibility and contract, and the colors should not be modified. The logo, navigation, and footer must use the same color scheme.

State Template Design and Layout  

Separation of Presentation and Content

The ca.gov standards require the use of Cascading Style Sheets to apply style, formatting, and positioning to web pages. In addition to Cascading Style Sheets, departments with large or complex websites may opt to use Cascading Style Sheets in conjunction with master templates and/or a content management system to further separate HTML design elements from content for ease of maintenance and to simplify web authoring. The State has developed ready-to-use templates that use Cascading Style Sheets to improve consistency across departments, lessen the burden on department resources, and help address the issue of varying skill sets across department web developers. These templates are available in WebTools located at http://www.webtools.ca.gov/.

California Separation of Presentation and Content Standard  (PDF)

Usability

All State web sites must practice good usability principles, and must adhere to California’s usability standards for web site development. The purpose of usability is to design websites that allow visitors to the site to complete a task, solve a problem, express an opinion, or find an answer to a question quickly and easily. Poor web page design leads to wasted time, reduced productivity, increased frustration, loss of confidence, inaccuracies, and loss of repeat visits.

California Usability Standard (PDF)