CLF 2.0 Theme

Overview

Project lead: Madeleine Daigle (@maddydaigle)

Benefits

  • Top tasks have been tested with users: contact us, search, return to home page, learn about us, stay connected through social media, navigate the site, read the terms and conditions, and toggling to the users official language of choice.
  • Conforms to the Standard on Web Accessibility and CLF 2.0
  • Conforms to WCAG 2.0 AA
  • Uses HTML5 semantic elements and WAI-ARIA to enhance accessibility
  • Groups most of the navigation after the content area
  • Validates to HTML5 and is XML conformant

Recommended usage

Use When

Transitioning to the latest version of the Web Experience Toolkit before moving to the GC Web Usability theme. Where possible, departments should move to the GC Web Usability theme at the same time as upgrading to the latest version of the Web Experience Toolkit in order to reduce costs.

Do Not Use When

This theme can only be used on Government of Canada websites.

Content

Content should focus on users' top tasks. Users tend to navigate through the content area first and then to the menus. They are looking for keywords that will help them meet their information need. Write in active voice and use verbs. Users will often scan the information looking for things that stand out - like links. Each link must be descriptive and representative of the content to which it leads. This is especially pronounced when users are accessing the site via a mobile device.

Implementation

General instructions

  1. Use the \theme-clf2-nsi2\*.html files to create your Web pages.
  2. Optional: Create and install one or more new CSS files (will be used for custom CSS)
  3. Optional: Create link(s) to the new CSS file(s) in between the following comments: 
    < !-- CustomScriptsCSSStart -->
< !-- CustomScriptsCSSEnd -->
  4. Correct all *.css, *.js, and *.gif file paths referenced in the installed *.html files
  5. Replace the page title (in between <title> and </title>,) and the content title (in between <h1 id="wb-cont"> and </h1>)
  6. Correct the metadata values
  7. Correct the footer links

Content page-specific instructions (cont*.html)

  1. Correct the menu bar links
  2. Correct the FIP signature
  3. Correct the site title
  4. Correct the breadcrumb
  5. Correct the side menu links (if any)
  6. Correct the Date modified/Date de modification

Welcome page-specific instructions (wp-pa*.html)

  1. Correct the English and French language links

Server message page-specific instructions (serv*.html)

  1. Replace the English and/or French messages.

Examples

Development

The code for the CLF 2.0 theme is located in several places within the source folder of WET:

Known Issues

  • CSS styling will not be entirely consistent across all browsers since many of them will interpret CSS syntax differently.
  • Usability testing is required on the styles in the CSS grid system.

Version History