Website Style Guide
Style and Content of and Responsibility for New and Ongoing Information on the Court's Website
2001 version; Table of responsibility amended 2020
General
Timeframes
New Information
Ongoing Responsibility
Contracting Out
Style Considerations
Series of Documents
Website Administrator
Email
Guidelines
Table of Responsibility
General
Information will not be placed on the Court's website unless it complies with the points set out in this
document.
If information when passed to the website administrator for inclusion on the website does not comply
with any of the points in this document, it will be returned to the author and/or person responsible for
amendment.
The site as a whole will be reviewed by the website administrator annually and persons responsible for
information contained in the various sections of the website will be contacted to verify that the
information provided is current and accurate.
However the
responsibility for keeping material up to date belongs to the staff
member identified in the table of responsibility.
Timeframes
The time at which information can be included in the website will depend on compliance with this
document, and size and complexity of the information.
The website administrator will include small amendments to the website within one day of receipt.
More complex amendments will generally be included within one week.
Authors of or persons responsible for new information should also take into account that:
Prior written approval must be gained from the Registrar before new material will be placed on
the website, and in some cases the Registrar may pass the information on to a Judge or Judges'
Committee for approval.
Urgent material will be fast tracked. However, authors or persons responsible for urgent information
should ensure that the information complies with this document prior to forwarding to the website
administrator in order to limit delay.
New information
Authors of or persons responsible for new information must gain prior written approval from the
Registrar. The Registrar may then decide to pass the information on to a Judge or Judges' Committee for
approval.
New information is information of a wholly new nature which is not already included in the subject
content, style or structure of the site.
Authors of or persons responsible for new information should:
provide the website administrator with a creation date
suggest a location in the website at which the new information is to appear. (It is the
prerogative of the Registrar or a Judge however, as to whether the information should be
included, where it should be included and in what format.)
supply the new information in Word (DOCX) format
ensure that the information complies with the style considerations listed below; and
nominate a person who will be responsible for the ongoing accuracy of the information. (The
nominated person should be made aware that vigilance is required to ensure that the pages
under their control are accurate and up to date.)
Ongoing responsibility for accuracy of
information
A table of responsibility showing the various sections of the site, their authors and the person(s)
responsible for ongoing accuracy is available as part of this document.
Unlike paper publications, the web is a relatively instant medium. The person nominated to keep the
information up to date and accurate should therefore regularly check the information for which they are
responsible, follow all hypertext links within the information to other parts of the site to ensure that the
information contained after following the hypertext links is also accurate, and should notify the web
administrator of any changes as soon as possible.
The person nominated to keep the information up to date and accurate is also responsible for ensuring
that this document is complied with.
Contracting out
Officers intending to contract out the authoring and/or design of web pages should gain prior written
approval from the Registrar. If approval is given, the officer
must in consultation with the website
administrator, provide the contractor with a written brief which details the specific requirements of the
Court.
The written brief should include, but not be restricted to the following requirements:
The overall presentation must project the values of "courtesy and promptness, independence
and accountability, quality, accessibility, timeliness, public trust and confidence"
Primary focus should be on simplicity, speed, accessibility and ease of access to information
supported by clean, simple design.
Design should not drive style and presentation. End user needs and expectations should be the
key driver.
Design should work across a wide range of platforms, be accessible to people who use older
technologies and to people with disabilities.
Content should account for 80% of the available space of the page, navigation should be kept to
20%.
The design should have a consistent feel and theme and unless the site is to be completely re-
designed, should be consistent with the existing site.
Alternatives to multimedia, e.g.. scripts of audio visual presentations should be provided.
Images for navigational purposes should be avoided or kept to a minimum. If images are used
for navigational purposes, a text alternative should be provided.
All pages should comply with specific Commonwealth and other guidelines for authoring,
accessibility and usability. The WCAG 2.00 Guidelines (AA) should be complied with.
Pages must be supplied in a form which is easily integrated with and supported by the software
currently used to manage the site.
Disruption to ongoing site maintenance should be kept to a minimum.
Selection of the contractor should not lock the Court into any ongoing monopoly by the
contractor.
IP rights should be vested in the Court as part of the contract or arrangement.
Performance requirements including those listed above should form the basis of delivery,
acceptance and payment.
Style considerations
Unless contracting out, information for inclusion in the website (whether new information or an
update/amendment) should be provided to the web administrator in Word (DOCX) format, should be
consistent in style and should be capable of easy conversion to HTML.
Authors or persons responsible should note that because many documents are not originally authored
for the website, they may have to be edited appropriately (as below) in order to be of a consistent style
and be capable of easy conversion to HTML:
Generally follow principles espoused in Australian Government's Style Manual.
Avoid underlining unless the underlining denotes a hypertext link.
Use paragraph styles in preference to character formatting. Simple local paragraph formatting is
acceptible within paragraphs, eg. bold, italic. However, heading levels should be styled using the
appropriate paragraph format eg. Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, normal etc. Do not use font
point sizes.
Heading levels should cascade correctly - eg. Heading 1 is followed by Heading 2, Heading 2 is
followed by Heading 3 etc.
Use standard conventions such as: "Court" when referring to the Federal Court; "court" when
referring to a court other than the Federal Court; "judge" rather than "Judge" when referring to
any judge, except when referring to a particular judge; italics when citing primary legislation,
e.g..
Federal Court of Australia Act 1976, Federal Court Rules; "judgment" when referring to
court decisions; "judgement" in any other case; "registry" rather than "Registry" except when
referring to a particular registry; and generally ensure that words in which the first letter is
capitalised or in lower case are consistently rendered throughout the document, and that any
word is spelt consistently throughout the document.
Avoid using tabs - use tables to layout content
Replace internal page or other references (e.g.. see p. 3) with hyperlinks to relevant points of
the document (or indicate where they should be). Hyperlinks can be applied using the "insert
hyperlink" function in Word.
Add hyperlinks (or indicate where they should be) to external references to provide additional
information.
Hypertext links must be descriptive of the content being linked to. The use of "Click here"
statements should be avoided. eg.
Click here to go to Contacts page.
Do not rely on the spell check feature of your word processor. Ensure that the document is
manually proofed, ideally by an officer other than the author. Spel ing should be checked in an
approved Australian dictionary.
Punctuate dot points only if they are ful y self contained sentences (upper case to begin and full
stop at the end).
Use single quotation marks. Do not use "Special characters" in the "Symbols" function of Word.
eg. Long dashes and curly quotes do not convert correctly to HTML.
Capitalise the first letter of each word in the title
Section or paragraph headings should be in lower case, except for the first letter of the first
word and proper nouns.
Series of documents
Where the same type of document or series of documents, e.g. Practice Notes, Media Releases, etc., are
issued as a series or across registries, ensure that the formatting of the series or between registries
matches as closely as possible.
If a document which is part of a series of documents is supplied to the web administrator which is
formatted differently to others in the series, it will either be amended in line with the others in the series
(with the permission of the author); or returned to the author for amendment.
If the formatting style, contact details, etc., are changed, documents published earlier in a series should
also be amended by the author or person responsible in line with the new style or details.
Responsibility for answering email addressed
to the Court through the website
The website administrator is responsible for answering email queries which come through the website.
The website administrator will either respond or forward to the appropriate member of staff for reply.
The staff member to whom the email is forwarded should then reply to the originator of the email
directly. If a query is forwarded on, the website administrator will inform the originator of the email that
their query is being passed on to the appropriate person and that an answer can be expected from that
person.
Website administrator
The website administrator is the Manager, Electronic Information Systems, Corporate Services, Sydney.
Ph. (02) 9230 8542.
Email
xxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Commonwealth and other guidelines
Digital Transformation Agency, Digital Service Standard
Australian Government Style Manual
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (2.0)
Table of responsibility
Title/Description
Author/Origin
Responsibility for
updating/accuracy
About Us - Jurisdiction
Annual report
Registrar / Senior Deputy
Registrar
About Us - Judges
Annual report/Judges'
Executive Support Officer
Biographies
About Us - Registrars
Annual report
Executive Support Officer
About Us - Court and
Registrars of each tribunal
Registrars of each Tribunals
Tribunals administered by
the Federal Court
About Us - Annual reports, National Communications
National Communications
Corporate Plan
Manager
Manager
About Us - Reconciliation
Executive Director, People,
Executive Director, People,
Action Plan
Culture & Communications
Culture & Communications
About Us - Organisational
Annual report
Web Administrator
Chart
About Us - Agency
Director, Policy and Planning Director, Human Resources
Multicultural Plan
(former)
About Us - National Court
NOR
NOR
Framework
About Us - IRCA
Registrar IRCA/ IRCA annual Website Manager
report
About Us - International
Director, International
Director, International Programs
Programs
Programs
About Us - Freedom of
Senior Deputy Registrar
Registrar, General Law and
Information
Practice
About Us - Audit Committee Chief Finance Officer
Chief Finance Officer
Charter
About Us - Current
Director, Procurement and
Director, Procurement and
Contracts
Property
Property
About Us - Executive
Director, Human Resources
Director, Human Resources
Remuneration
About Us - Gifts and
Chief Finance Officer
Chief Finance Officer
Benefits Registrer
About Us - Legal Services
Senior Deputy Registrar
Senior Deputy Registrar
Expenditure
About Us - Senate File Lists Assistant Director
Assistant Director Information
Information Management
Management
Services - Access to Court
Director, Policy and Planning NOR
Files and Transcript
(former)
Services - Public Interest
Director Public Information
Director Public Information
Cases
Services - Check progress
Website Manager
Website Manager
of a case
Services - Research
Director, Policy & Planning
Senior Deputy Registrar
Requests
(former)
Services - What Registries Director, Policy & Planning
Executive Director, Court and
can and cannot do
(former)
Tribunal Services
Services - Interpreters
Director, Policy & Planning
Executive Director, Court and
(former)
Tribunal Services
Services - Help for people
Director, Policy & Planning
Executive Director, Court and
with disabilities
(former)
Tribunal Services
Services - Technology and Senior Deputy Registrar
NOR
the Law
Services - Powers of a
Senior Deputy Registrar
Senior Deputy Registrar
Registrar
Services - ADR
NOR
NOR
Law and practice - National NOR
Convenor of each NPA
Practice Areas
Law and practice - Practice Chief Justice
NOR
Notes
Law and practice - Court
Senior Deputy Registrar
Senior Deputy Registrar
Rules, Acts & Regulations
Law and practice - Class
National Registrar, NOR
National Registrar, NOR
Actions
Law and practice -
NOR/Senior Deputy Registrar NOR/Senior Deputy Registrar
Consultation and Liaison
Law and practice - Appeals National Judicial Registrar
National Judicial Registrar
Law and practice - Guides
NOR
NOR
Law and practice - Use of
Registrar
NOR
communication devices
Law and practice - Law
Senior Deputy Registrar
Senior Deputy Registrar (consult
Case Management
with Chief Justice)
Handbook
Forms, fees and costs - Al Senior Deputy Registrar
Senior Deputy Registrar
forms (except NCF forms)
Forms, fees and costs - NCF NOR
Forms
NOR
Forms, fees and costs -
Senior Deputy Registrar
Senior Deputy Registrar
Differences between fees &
costs
Forms, fees and costs -
Senior Deputy Registrar
Senior Deputy Registrar
Fees
Forms, fees and costs -
Senior Deputy Registrar
Website Manager
Payment
Forms, fees and costs -
Executive Director, Court
Executive Director, Court and
Filing
and Tribunal Services
Tribunal Services
Forms, fees and costs -
Senior Deputy Registrar
Senior Deputy Registrar
Legal costs allowable
Forms, fees and costs -
Senior Deputy Registrar
Senior Deputy Registrar
National guide to counsel
fees
Forms, fees and costs - Bills Senior Deputy Registrar
Senior Deputy Registrar
of costs
Forms, fees and costs -
Senior Deputy Registrar
Senior Deputy Registrar
Interest rates
Court calendar - Daily court Each registry List Clerk
Each registry List Clerk /
lists
National List Coordinator
Court calendar - Court
NOR
NOR
sitting dates / Full court &
appellate sittings
Court Calendar - Future
Website Manager
Website Manager
Listings
Digital Law Library - Library Manager, Library &
Manager, Library & Information
Information Services
Services
Digital Law Library - Judges' Judges / Website Manager
Judges / Website Manager
speeches / Seminars
Digital Law Library -
Judgments Coordinator
Judgments Coordinator /
Judgments
Website Manager
Digital Law Library -Videos Website Manager /Director, Website Manager /Director,
Public Information
Public Information
Digital Law Library -
Annual report
Annual report
Glossary
Going to Court - I m a party NOR
NOR
Going to Court - Jury
Judicial Registrar – Federal
Judicial Registrar – Federal
Services
Criminal Jurisdiction &
Criminal Jurisdiction & Deputy
Deputy Sheriff
Sheriff
Going to Court - I am a
NOR
NOR
practitioner
Going to Court - I am a
NOR
NOR
witness
Going to Court - I have
NOR
NOR
been subpoenaed
Online Services
Applications Manager
Applications Manager
Online Services - Online
Registrar, Digital Practice
Registrar, Digital Practice
hearings
Online Services -
Registrar, Digital Practice
Registrar, Digital Practice
Technology Assisitance
Online Services -
?
?
Videoconferencing
Online Services - Preparing ?
?
documents for the Court
News & Events
Website Manager
WNORebsite Manager
Contact Us
Each DCS / Website Manager Each DCS / Website Manager
Employment
Director, Human Resources
Director, Human Resources
Senior Deputy Registrar
Senior Deputy Registrar
Complaints and Feedback
Privacy
Security
Copyright
Disclaimer
Translations Services
Accessibility
Website Manager
Website Manager
Subscribe
Website Manager
Website Manager
Document Outline
