Ontario.ca web content editing guide

Working with HTML

Do not use a word processor such as Microsoft Word. Try Sublime Text or Notepad++ or a text editor of your choice. If you can’t install software on your work computer, try using a portable version of Sublime Text or portable Notepad++ which can run without being installed.

Most text editors can:

• save work-in-progress
• format and indent HTML and CSS
• autocorrect some errors
• colour code HTML for easier reading

Quality assurance

Manually check that the code and content have no errors and that links are working before publishing.

Check that you are using the correct tags and formatting by reviewing the design guide.

Learn more at Ontario.ca: checking your work and quality assurance (QA) (InsideOPS internal link).

Validator

Copy and paste your HTML into the W3C HTML validator. You can’t validate ontario.ca HTML by URL because the content is generated by JavaScript. Instead, use Validate by Direct Input and select Validate HTML fragment. Select the “Check” button.

On ontario.ca content, you will get errors or warnings if you use the <onesite> custom elements. Skip those and address the other problems.

HTML guidelines

Follow standard HTML styles and conventions for tidy and consistent code. For example:

• use lowercase tag names
  • Do: <p>
  • Do not: <P>
• use quotation marks around attributes
  • Do: <span lang="en">
  • Do not: <span lang=en>
• include an end tag for all elements that are not listed below
  • Do: <p>This is a sentence.</p>
  • Do not: <p>This is a sentence.

Do not use certain HTML elements and attributes, and CSS classes listed with "do not use" in the following list.

HTML elements used on ontario.ca

• a
• abbr
• acronym — do not use
• aside
• b — do not use
• blockquote
• br
• caption
• cite
• dd
• div
• dl
• dt
• em — do not use
• figcaption
• figure
• h1 — do not use
• h2, h3, h4, h5, h6
• hr
• i
• iframe
• img
• li
• ol
• onesite-datatable
• onesite-fax
• onesite-phone
• onesite-ref
• p
• q
• small
• span
• strong
• sub
• sup
• table
• tbody
• td
• tfoot
• th
• thead
• tr
• u — do not use
• ul

HTML attributes

• allowfullscreen — for iframe only
• alt — for img only
• bullet-colour — for ol.fancy only
• class — can use anywhere
• dir — can use anywhere
• extension — for onesite-phone only
• frameborder — for iframe only
• headers — for th and td only
• height — for img only
• href — for a only
• hreflang — for a only
• icon — for onesite-phone and onesite-fax only
• id — can use anywhere but h2
• label — for onesite-phone and onesite-fax only
• lang — can use anywhere
• scope — for th only
• src — for img and iframe only
• summary — avoid; for table
• tollfree — for onesite-phone only
• tty — for onesite-phone only
• type
• width — for img only

Ontario.ca custom HTML

CSS classes

• alert
• button
• callout
• columns
• columns-x-large, columns-large, columns-medium, columns-small, columns-x-small
• end
• fancy
• full-width
• icon-name
• img-round
• inline-list
• large
• large-#
• left
• legal-list
• legal-list-parentheses
• medium-#
• medium-up-left, medium-up-right
• no-bullet
• no-stripes
• no-wrap
• non-numeric
• not-legal
• numeric
• org-chart
• parentheses, parentheses-right
• redacted
• right
• row
• show-for-sr
• small
• small-#
• smaller
• secondary
• summary
• text-left, text-right, text-center
• upper
• uppercase
• w-#

Abbreviations

Abbreviations are used to shorten lengthy terms. The <abbr> tag assures that the meanings of acronyms and abbreviations are clear to everyone. Use abbreviations sparingly.

Acronyms and initialisms are also considered abbreviations and are treated the same. The <acronym> tag is deprecated in HTML5.

Learn about abbreviations in the style guide.

ONTERM and Termium are great resources for many of the abbreviations used in the government.

Do and do not

Do

• use the <abbr> tag alongside the full version for the first time the abbreviation is used on a page, without the title attribute
• use <abbr title=""></abbr> every time after the first time
• use tags around whole words
  • Do: <abbr title="Chief Executive Officers">CEOs</abbr>
  • Do not: <abbr title="Chief Executive Officers">CEO</abbr>s

Do not

• use an abbreviation on a French page if there is no French equivalent (write out the full French word, even if the abbreviated version is used on the English page)
• introduce acronyms/abbreviations if you only use them one time (write out the full word)
• use <abbr> tags for abbreviations that are now used as words or abbreviations that are well-known and spoken as written
• use Title Case for the title attribute unless it is a proper noun

Accessibility

Screen readers do not recognize acronyms and abbreviations unless they are defined with markup. For example, a screen reader may say “The it manager” in the sentence “The IT manager has arrived,” instead of “The eye-tee manager.”

First time use

Use <abbr> alongside the full version for the first time, without the title attribute.

Subsequent use

After defining the abbreviation for the first time, use with the title attribute for every instance after.

Inside HTML tags

Abbreviations can be used as an inline element, meaning that it can be used within other codes.

Whole words

Always use the <abbr> tag around the whole word.

Plurals

When the abbreviation is a root word

Symbols

Use the appropriate character or HTML entities instead of abbreviations. Refer to the list of official list of character entities.

• if it’s a minus sign in an equation, use − or −
• if it’s an en dash, use – or –
• if it’s a multiplication, use × or ×

Common abbreviations

Find more commonly used abbreviations by the Ontario Government.

<abbr title="for example">e.g.</abbr>

<abbr title="par exemple">p.&nbsp;ex.</abbr>

<abbr title="et cetera">etc.</abbr>

<abbr title="et cetera">etc.</abbr>

<abbr title="versus">vs.</abbr>

<abbr title="contre">c.</abbr>

<abbr title="and others">et al.</abbr>

<abbr title="Incorporated">Inc.</abbr>

<abbr title="Incorporé">Inc.</abbr>

<abbr title="Limited">Ltd.</abbr>

<abbr title="Limitée">Ltée.</abbr>

Other abbreviations

Related: Ontario Ministry acronyms

<abbr title="Government of Ontario">GO</abbr> Transit

<abbr title="Gouvernement de l’Ontario">GO</abbr> Transit

<abbr title="Hypertext Markup Language">HTML</abbr>

<abbr title="langage de balisage d’hypertexte">HTML</abbr>

<abbr title="International Standard Serial Number">ISSN</abbr>

<abbr title="Numéro international normalisé des publications en série">ISSN</abbr>

<abbr title="Information and Information Technology">I&amp;IT</abbr>

<abbr title="information et technologie de l’information">ITI</abbr>

<abbr title="lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and more">LGBTQ+</abbr>

<abbr title="lesbien, gai, bisexuel, transgenre, queer et autres">LGBTQ+</abbr>

<abbr title="Ontario terminology">ONTERM</abbr>

<abbr title="Terminologie de l’Ontario">ONTERM</abbr>

<abbr title="Ontario Student Assistance Program">OSAP</abbr>

<abbr title="Régime d’aide financière aux étudiantes et étudiants de l’Ontario">RAFEO</abbr>

<abbr title="Portable Document Format">PDF</abbr>

<abbr title="Format de document portable">PDF</abbr>

Units

Units are written without periods and are the same form for both singular and plural. Refer to numbers.

<abbr title="kilograms">kg</abbr>

<abbr title="kilogrammes">kg</abbr>

<abbr title="centimetres">cm</abbr>

<abbr title="centimètres">cm</abbr>

<abbr title="square kilometres">km<sup>2</sup></abbr>

<abbr title="kilomètre carré">km<sup>2</sup></abbr>

<abbr title="cubic metres">cm<sup>3</sup></abbr>

<abbr title="mètre cube">cm<sup>3</sup></abbr>

<abbr title="degrees Celsius">°C</abbr>

<abbr title="degrés Celsius">°C</abbr>

Legal terms

Laws, acts, regulations and the names of other documents, such as the Budget or Fall Economic Statement, must use the <cite> tag. Do not use the <i> or <em> tag. Refer to italics.

Related: Titles of Ontario Public Service Corporate Directives, Operating Policies and Guidelines

Roman numerals

Do not use roman numerals unless they are legally required or used to refer to parts of other web pages or documents. Add abbreviation tags to roman numerals. Refer to numbers and roman-numeral ordered list.

When not to abbreviate words

Words that were previously abbreviations or acronyms that have been used so much that they become words themselves do not need to be abbreviated.

• fax
• scuba
• laser
• radar
• gym
• phone
• photo

Abbreviations that are well-known and spoken as written.

• i.e.
• RSVP
• ASAP
• a.m.
• p.m.

Charts, graphs and infographics

Charts and graphs

Charts are used to present data visually. Use a chart when the comparisons between values and data trends are more important to the user than the individual numeric values.

Do and do not

Do

• add a caption that describes the value comparisons and trends or add a table of the data below the chart
• use text and colours that have enough contrast
• use at least 12pt font for chart and graph labels
• label the axes of a chart or graph
• check that charts are readable in mobile devices (or resize your browser)

Do not

• use an image of a chart or graph if it can be built using HTML and CSS (learn more at infographics)
• use images of tables — build a table instead
• use text that has been rotated to display vertically instead of horizontally (it’s hard to read)

Accessibility

Accessible HTML graphs do not require alt text. If your graph is an image, write a detailed caption that conveys the same information a sighted user would have.

Alternative text isn’t sufficient for complex charts. Every browser has a limit to how many characters of alt text it will display. Avoid alt text longer than 125 characters as it may get cut off. Use figure captions to display longer text.

Use different line styles and weights, different shades of light and dark or different textures, in addition to colour, to differentiate data series and improve accessibility for colour blind users. Charts and graphs should be understandable if printed in black and white.

Learn more at Complex Graphics and Long Text Descriptions (InsideOPS internal link).

Organizational charts

Images of organizational charts are not accessible, they create barriers for those using a screen reader. They are also hard to read for those that have low vision or are using a mobile device.

Instead of using an image, create a simple unordered list with the class .org-chart and include nested sub-lists to show the hierarchy of your organization. Wrap each list item with a <div></div> tag to apply the styling. Link to the original image as a "printer friendly" version.

Below is a version of organizational chart for the fictional Ministry of Chocolate. The chart shows the following hierarchical structure with the top level assigned to the Minister of Chocolate.

Bar graph

Construct bar graphs row by row. Each bar can have a maximum width of 100%.

If you wanted to display the following data:

• 2,000
• 3,500
• 560

Use the highest value (3,500) as your 100% and calculate the other values from that. An online percentage calculator can help. To change the size of each bar, adjust the span class="amount w-##" to the appropriate percentage.

Your bar chart row values will be:

• w-57
• w-100
• w-16

You will put the actual values inside the span class="number"

The following example aligns the description to the right of the graph.

Stacked bar graph

Adding another span class="amount w-##" will stack another bar on top of a bar.

The following example is a stacked bar graph with descriptions aligned to the left.

Infographics

An infographic combines information and graphics to present content in a visually interesting way. They combine text with images and sometimes charts or graphs — often in one large graphic.

The purpose of an infographic is important when deciding how to present it online. Infographics may be used for marketing as “shareables,” which are suitable for posting on social media.

If the infographic is intended to supplement the web content, it must be created as accessible mobile-friendly HTML and CSS. These are time consuming to make and must be supported by a government or marketing priority and approved by the Cabinet Office Digital if they will be posted on ontario.ca.

Do and do not

Do

• distribute shareables through social channels only
• link to printable infographics using the text “Download printer-friendly <title of document> (PDF)” instead of embedding them on the page
• describe printable infographics using a text alternative of the information contained in the infographic

Do not

• insert full size infographics onto a page — they are not accessible or mobile friendly

Contact information

Do and do not

Do

• use contact icons only on landing pages and place the icons before the phone and fax numbers, email address, social media accounts, and website addresses

Do not

• use icons if the contact information spans more than one line with the icon
• link to non-government social media accounts

Phone and fax numbers

Phone numbers

Fax numbers

Multiple numbers

Icon and labels

Email addresses

If there is a single email address to contact for everything on a page, do not include the address on the page. Instead, use the contact link in the footer.

Addresses

Avoid abbreviations.

Highlight organization name

The heading level will need to be adjusted to fit your context.

Websites

Related: linking

Social media

Do and do not

Do

• link to official government social media accounts that are actively maintained (for example, a ministry’s account, a government marketing campaign, etc.)
• place social media links before other contact information

Do not

• link to more than one social media account of the same type per service (for example, do not link to two different Twitter/X accounts)

Combining contact information

Hours of operation

Include all days of the week. You may group days that have the same hours if they are consecutive.

Content highlighting

Asides and callouts

Do and do not

Do

• keep text brief and aim for a maximum of 280 characters
• minimize the use of callouts and asides — avoid having multiple per page if possible

Do not

• use asides to change the background colour of text — they have a semantic meaning
• use asides to highlight important content (refer to page alerts)
• put an entire block of content (rather than a short excerpt) in a callout or aside

Asides

Asides should include content that is not directly related to surrounding content on the page. Content in an aside could be considered separate from the rest of the page content. Asides are coded differently from callouts so they do not interrupt the flow of content for screen readers.

You can use asides when the content:

• can be skipped over without affecting the natural flow of the rest of the content
• is policy-related or niche information for stakeholder audiences

Use blockquotes if the content is quoted from another source and is still part of the main content.

Adjust the heading level to fit your content.

Callouts

A callout is used to emphasize an important snippet of information within the flow of a page. Content in a callout should be something on the page that you want to highlight, but that is not critical information.

Use blockquotes for quoted content or asides for content that is less important than the main content or task and do not need to be highlighted.

You can use a callout:

• to highlight interactive content such as a form, a search field or a calculator
• in the related links sidebar or in the body
• within infographics

Adjust the heading level to fit your content.

Page alerts

Page alerts contain time-sensitive pieces of information and typically appear at the top of a page to capture the user’s attention.

Use page alerts to:

• highlight content that notifies users about service interruptions and changes
• bring attention to safety warnings
• communicate the result of a user action (for example, error or success)

Do and do not

Do

• try to limit to one alert per page — users will start ignoring them if overused
• write concise headings and copy totalling a max of 280 characters
• include a heading that clearly convey the purpose of the alert (for example, “Warning”)
• adjust the heading level to fit your content

Do not

• use page alerts just for styling regular content (for emphasis or highlighting)
• include alerts that are not related to the user’s current goal
• blame the user when writing error messages (instead of “You entered an invalid postal code”, try “Please enter numbers and letters only”)

Archive labels

Archive labels are used for online content that is out of date or inaccurate, but needs to be kept online for research or archival purposes. Archived content should link to the current version of a document, if it exists.

Content is not current

Content that has been replaced by more recent, relevant content.

Content is not accurate

Content that is not accurate and could mislead the public if not labelled appropriately.

Previous government

Content that is from a previous government and doesn’t reflect the current government’s views, policies or communications. There is no associated pointing URL in this scenario.

Button links

Do and do not

Do

• ensure button text is clear, descriptive and action-oriented (for example, “Apply for OSAP” or “Download your receipt”)
• use sentence case (capitalize only the first letter of the first word)
• use a maximum of 25 characters including spaces

Do not

• change button colours
• underline text for primary or secondary buttons
• use multiple primary and secondary buttons unless absolutely necessary

You can use buttons to help the user carry out an important action such as downloading a PDF. Use a specific call-to-action rather than a generic one. For example: “Complete our survey” instead of “Share your feedback”.

Images, maps and videos

Images

Do and do not

Do

• use images to illustrate concrete things (for example, animals, I.D. cards, licence plate sticker), not abstract concepts (for example, light, holistic, synergy)
• use branding from the Ontario Visual Identity (approved logos and marketing campaign graphics) and approved Ontario brands (for example, ServiceOntario)
• use images to illustrate the hierarchy of content by using tall banners on entry pages (home pages, the landing page for a marketing campaign), narrow banners on top-level topic landing pages and no banners on sub-topic or article pages
• optimize images for the web to reduce the file size as much as possible while maintaining a reasonable quality (read Compressing image files in the design system)

Do not

• put text on images
• use images of text except for logos where preservation of the font face is critical, or for maps and charts — images of text create barriers for mobile device users and people with low vision
• use photographs to set the mood or decorate a page
• develop a new brand for a program or page — use the Ontario Visual Identity instead
• heavily-distort or edit images associated with the Ontario Visual Identity
• use images that are unrelated to the page’s subject matter
• use images that are too small to show important details, especially if viewed on mobile devices

Alt text and image accessibility

Images can make content easier to understand for those with cognitive and learning disabilities. It also serves as a visual cue for those with low vision. Inaccessible images can be a barrier to some people.

Consider inclusion and diversity when selecting photographs. Think about what age, gender, race, culture, religion, sexual orientation, abilities, family structure, income and location you are representing with your choices. Learn more about photography usage in the design system.

Images must have text alternatives (alt text) that describe the content of the image, unless purely decorative. In addition to alt text, check how your images appear to colour-blind users and in black and white.

Learn more at Complex Graphics and Long Text Descriptions (InsideOPS internal link).

When to add alt text

Alt text provides a text alternative to images, photography and other non-text content.

If an image is decorative and provides no added information, the alt attribute should be blank. One way to determine if an image is decorative is to write the alt text, and then see if the alt text adds any extra value for the user.

Examples of alt text:

• alt text that adds value: the Minister of Health shakes hands with a conference attendee
• alt text that adds no value: “blue square” (the image is decorative)

Visit WebAIM for more examples.

When writing alt text

Do

• be accurate when describing the image
• write what’s needed to cover the information and meaning that the image provides
• describe the function, content and context of the image
• include details that are important to the page’s narrative and subject matter
• keep it short — a short sentence is often enough, but if needed, keep it to a maximum of two sentences
• limit the text to 125 characters as every browser has a different alt text character length limit (this also accounts for the fact that the French translation will typically be longer than the English)
• add a caption to your image if you cannot describe the image sufficiently with just alt text

Do not

• repeat information in the alt text if there’s content around the image that already offers the same information — this is redundant and adds informational “clutter” for assistive technology users
• use phrases like “image of …” or “graphic of …” — users will already know they are focused on an image element

Banners

Use a banner to add visual interest to the landing page for:

• your ministry
• a paid marketing campaign
• a key high-profile government initiative

Images must be:

• exactly 760×560px
• no more than 1 MB
• a PNG, JPG or JPEG

Do and do not

Do

• choose a single image (versus a multi-image panel) that represents an aspect, idea or interpretation of the page topic
• use an image that is impactful and focused
• ensure that the title and lead area that overlays the banner will not cover the primary subject matter, such as people’s faces.
• credit banner images if required by using a <small> tag in the summary or at the bottom of the page.

Do not

• add borders around banners — banners span the full width of the users screen

Thumbnails

Thumbnails are placed to the right of the title and lead of article pages. Thumbnails must be:

• a minimum width of 352px
• no more than 50 kb
• a PNG, JPG or JPEG

Try to match thumbnail images to the height of the lead. For example, on desktop, a page lead with:

• 1 to 2 lines, use a 16:9 image ratio or a 352×198px image
• 3 to 5 lines, use a 4:3 image ratio or a 352×264px image
• 6 lines or more, use a 1:1 image ratio or a 352×352px image

Include clear space inside the image boundary for official wordmarks and logos — otherwise the logo will stretch to the edge of the boundary.

Page body

Do and do not

Do

• use JPEG format for photographs
• use PNG for non-photographic images (icons, drawings)
• embed images that fit the page width
• use multiple images targeted for various screen sizes, if necessary

Do not

• embed images larger than 900px wide such as maps — instead, link to the image
• use images that aren’t recognizable when viewed on small screens

Maps

Maps, even if they are images, should be brought to Cabinet Office Digital for approval because there are special accessibility and mobile considerations. We may recommend a map be presented in these formats:

• ArcGIS or ArcGIS Online map
• Text description and accessible PDF

All images of maps must have descriptive text that clearly describes the content, including:

• the data coordinates or addresses in a table below the map
• a description of what the map shows
• a description of any key boundaries

The size of the map embedded on the page cannot be wider than the body content area. You may link to a full-sized PDF version for print purposes.

Map accessibility

The descriptive text must be visible to all users and located above or below the map (or linked to from above or below the map).

Accessibility is inclusive of many assistive technologies and techniques used by people with disabilities, including screen readers, screen magnifiers, browser text contrast increases, zooming and more. Anyone with poor vision and/or colour blindness could benefit from a text description of a graphic.

Alt text is not sufficient for a map for two reasons:

1. Every browser has a different alt text character length limit. We recommend up to 125 characters in alt text. This accounts for the fact that the French translation will typically be about 1/3 longer than the English. 125 characters is usually not sufficient to describe a map.
2. Alt text is not always used by people with poor vision and colour blindness.

When linking to a larger version of the map, use a high-resolution PDF with vector shapes and text instead of a high-resolution image, because the PDF can be printed at a higher quality.

Videos

Videos can be useful to convey instructions or information to users, but can also be a barrier to some users if they aren’t made accessible.

Do and do not

Do

• use videos only if the content is easier to understand with moving images
• caption videos
• include both a transcript and audio description

Accessibility

Captions

Videos with audio require captions that are synchronized with the audio track. Everything said in the video must be included in the captions. It must also include names, sounds and descriptions.

There are two types of captions: open and closed. Open caption means that the caption is embedded into the video itself, and cannot be turned off. Closed captioning means that the caption can be turned on and off.

Audio description

Audio descriptions speak out what is happening in the video so that it’s accessible to people with low vision. There are two ways to create audio descriptions:

1. a narrator describes all the visual information
2. add a separate audio track that describes the visual information, where possible

Vertical videos

• Use class flex-video--shorts on videos that are vertical or 9:16.
• Applying a grid will help determine what size it needs to be at in varying screen sizes.

Languages

Use the lang attribute to declare changes in language on a page. This includes English text on French pages and vice versa.

Do and do not

Do

• declare the primary page language of each page
• use lowercase ISO 639-1 codes for the lang attribute unless one doesn’t exist (use the ISO 639-2 codes instead)
• use lang="XX" in a <span>, <div> or <p> element that contains text written in another language

French characters

English links on a French page

If there is no French version of the page, set the lang and the hreflang attributes since the text of the link is also in English.

Non-breaking spaces

A non-breaking space (in HTML as  ) prevents text from wrapping to a new line at that point. It is important to include non-breaking spaces rather than regular spaces in certain specific circumstances in French.

Quotation marks

These need non-breaking spaces after the opening mark and before the closing mark.

Colons

These should be preceded by a non-breaking space.

Dashes

Any dash (hyphen, en dash or em dash) that is preceded by a space should be using a non-breaking space.

Numbers, dates and times

The space after any digit (or fraction character) should be a non-breaking space, unless it is a year.

If a month or season (or “de”) and a year are separated by only a space, that space should be a non-breaking space.

The “h” used to separate hours and minutes should also be followed by a non-breaking space.

Other circumstances

There may be other circumstances in which non-breaking spaces should be used rather than regular ones to maintain readability. Read the text and think to yourself, “Would it be odd if the line of text wrapped at this spot?”.

Non-breaking spaces tool

Link to multilingual versions of content

Use the name of the page or document in the language the content is in, followed by the language in English in brackets. This makes content accessible to two audiences:

1. people with a lower understanding of English
2. English speakers looking for alternative language content for other people (for example, children of elderly parents and health care workers)

Layout

Alignment and wrapping

Use the .no-wrap class to prevent text from being split across multiple lines. Changing how text wraps can have a significant impact on the layout on mobile devices. Learn how wrapping is used with French copy.

Do and do not

Do

• use .no-wrap sparingly, for 5 words or 20 digits or less
• use centre and right alignment if necessary when building infographics and visualizations

Do not

• use the .no-wrap class or   for phone numbers, use phone number markup instead
• use centre and right alignment for paragraphs and lists of content

To prevent some text from being split across multiple lines, use the .no-wrap class.

You can also replace a space with a non-breaking space to prevent wrapping at that position.

Margin and padding

Refer to the full description of margin and padding classes to help modify spacing within your layout.

Please note that all spacing classes have been modified for the ontario.ca theme. The Ontario Design System’s use of namespace ontario- has been removed from each class name for ontario.ca. For example:

• ontario-margin-top-0-! has been changed to margin-top-0-!
• ontario-padding-top-0-! has been changed to padding-top-0-!

Grids

If you use columns anywhere on an ontario.ca page, make sure all content in the body field is laid out in columns, otherwise the text will not align. Text inside columns will indent because of padding. Use a row with .small-12 .columns for any content that is not part of the multi-column layout.

Learn more about grid column options in the design system.

Source ordering

Using these source ordering classes, you can shift columns around between our breakpoints.

Block grid

Block grids are a shorthand way to create equally-sized columns. Add a class of the format .[size]-up-[n] to change the number of columns within the row. By default, the max number of columns you can use with block grid are 8.

Smarties

The Smartie design element uses the block grid with the additional HTML for captions, font styles and background colours. Use Smarties to display numbers and statistics, capturing the high level statistics of the content.

Do and do not

Do

• limit the number of Smarties that can be used per page to a maximum of two sets, with three smarties per set
• use abbr tags where necessary. Refer to abbreviations.

Do not

• have more than one line of content within a Smartie; if a preposition is needed, choose to use “+” to represent “over”, “~” to represent “approximately”, etc.
• use icons within a Smartie
• override the default font size

Colour options

We currently have 6 options for smartie colours:

1. red-bg
2. orange-bg
3. green-bg
4. blue-bg
5. purple-bg
6. magenta-bg

Blue is the default smartie colour.

Horizontal rules

Use a horizontal line (<hr aria-hidden="true">) to separate discrete chunks of content.

Indenting

Legal text

Laws, acts, regulations and the names of other documents, such as the Budget or Fall Economic Statement

Redacted text

Include a message in an alert box at the top of the page or section.

Legal list

Links

Links lead users to a different page or more information on the same page. They are always underlined, except within navigation and lists of links. Learn more about writing descriptive links in the style guide.

Do and do not

Do

• use meaningful and concise text for links
• describe the target of the link with unique wording
• use relative links for content on the same domain (ontario.ca)
  • ServiceOntario <a href="/page/serviceontario">
• use absolute links for content on other domains
  • Destination Ontario <a href="https://www.destinationontario.com">
• add https:// to the beginning of absolute hyperlinks
  • instead of <a href="www.destinationontario.com"> use <a href="https://www.destinationontario.com">

Do not

• use URLs as link text
  • instead of Visit www.ontario.ca/osap for more details, use Visit OSAP for more details (and do not forget to include an abbreviation tag!)
• use repeated phrases like “Click here” or “More information.” It makes it difficult for users to scan the page.

Accessibility

Users should be able to:

• use the tab key to navigate between links
• follow a link by pressing the “Enter” key

Alert users when opening new windows by including a notice within the link text.

Anchor links

To link to another section on the same page or a specific place on a different page, use the id attribute as your anchor.

Do and do not

Do

• add a descriptive id to the closest element to create a new anchor
• use an existing id — for example, the second level 2 heading of a page always will be #section-1 as level 2 headings have id automatically assigned once published, starting from #section-0

Do not

• use empty <a> tags for anchors such as <a id="january" name="january"></a>
• add id attribute to level 2 headings, use <span> or another existing element instead
• repeat id attributes on the same page as each id must be unique

id and anchor links

id attribute values must:

• begin with a letter
• contain only non-accented letters, numbers, hyphens or underscores

Email addresses and phone numbers

Refer to contact information.

Opening new windows

Generally, do not use "target="_blank" to open links in a new window. Only use this on pages with forms where user data would be lost by opening a link in the same window.

Other languages

Learn about linking to content in other languages.

Linking to non-HTML content

List of links

Refer to lists of links and list of links displayed in a single line.

Prominent links and calls to action

If there is one or several links on a page that need to stand out, you can style them to look like a button.

Broken links

It is important to review every link on a page regularly to ensure that it is still works. Broken links limit access to information and can make our user lose trust in our content.

Related content

When linking to related content on a full-width landing page, place the links at the end of your content in the body, instead of the Links sidebar.

Lists

Lists are a great way to organize related information. Lists add structure to your content, making it more accessible and easier to understand.

Unordered lists

Use unordered lists to group related items that do not have a specific order. Learn more about bulleted lists in the style guide.

Links

Nested lists

Additional <ul>s can only be nested within <li>s.

Hide bullets

Note that the list will not be indented.

Horizontal list

Horizontal link list

Ordered lists

Use ordered lists to group related items that have a specific order. Learn more about numbered lists in the style guide.

Nested list

Alphabetical list

Roman numerals list

Interrupted list

List with parentheses

Multi-column lists

For long lists with short items, you can have the list display in columns. Use the class columns-x-large to get very wide columns, or columns-large, columns-medium, columns-small, and columns-x-small for narrower columns. They will automatically adjust for the screen size.

Definition lists

Use definition lists to associate terms with their meaning or a description.

Numbers

Write numbers greater than nine with digits rather than words. If the number is at the beginning of a sentence in a paragraph, write it out. Learn more about numbers in the style guide.

General numbers

Use a comma (non-breaking space in French) in numbers with four digits or more, except for years, addresses, and currency.

Use “%” (percentage symbol) to show percentages. Do not spell out “per cent” unless it follows a spelled-out number at the beginning of a sentence.

Number ranges

Use an en dash, not the hyphen-minus character on your keyboard.

Ordinal numbers

Use superscript when not writing ordinal numbers in full.

Roman numerals

Do not use roman numerals unless they are legally required or used to refer to parts of other web pages or documents. Add abbreviation tags to roman numerals. Refer to abbreviations and roman-numeral ordered list.

Fractions

For common fractions such as ½, use fraction characters.

Do not include a space between numbers when using fractions.

Do not use “th” after fractions expressed in numerals

Do hyphenate ages if they contain fractions.

Ages

The above example uses non-breaking hyphens.

Money

Money should have either two decimal places (i.e. cents) or be rounded to the nearest dollar (or thousand, million, or billion dollars). Learn more about money in the style guide.

Dates and times

Learn more about dates and times in the style guide.

Related: hours of operation.

Quotes and references

Quotes

Quotations can be from people or other sources, for example, web pages and other documents. Do not use quotation marks. Use <q> for short quotes within a sentence and <blockquote> for one paragraph or longer quotes.

Blockquotes

Blockquotes are used to indicate that a piece of content is a quotation from a source or speaker. This often includes a cite attribute for the URL of the quote’s source or the speaker’s name, to provide context.

You do not have to include quotation marks in the copy of your blockquote, because the blockquote style will add them for you.

Quotation marks

Use quotation marks if not using the <q> or <blockquote> elements, for example, when referring to a word. Use curly quotation marks instead of straight quotation marks. The HTML entities are “ for the opening quotation mark and ” for the closing quotation mark.

Footnotes

Footnotes should only be used when there is a legal reason for the website to match a print publication with footnotes. If the information is very important, add it into the body text where it makes sense rather than using a footnote.

Do

• include <onesite-ref number="#">Footnote text</onesite-ref> where you want the footnote reference to appear
• use numbers, letters or roman numerals in the number attribute
• within a single page, to reuse a footnote, repeat the number while omitting the footnote text, for example <onesite-ref number="#"></onesite-ref>
• use continuous numbering for the footnotes throughout the pages of a book, since they can be joined when printing

Do not

• add a space before the tag
• repeat the footnote text in the page body
• restart numbering on each page in a book

Tables

Use tables to present data in a grid or matrix that makes it easy to compare or contrast values.

Do and do not

Do

• use tables for tabular information and to quickly contrast detailed data and precise values
• describe the content of your table in a heading above it or using a caption (refer to caption vs. summary)
• format dates within tables using ISO 8601 format: YYYY-MM-DD
• use abbreviated months (such as Jan, Feb, Mar) in tables only, if needed to save space
• mark up header cells with <th> and data cells with <td> (refer to table structure)
• mark up abbreviations and acronyms used in tables
• include units of measurement in the column headers ($, cm, kg, etc.)
• use sentence case for table headings

Do not

• use tables for layout
• use tables if you only have a few rows or few columns — use a list instead
• leave cells in a table header empty
• leave data cells empty — use “N/A” (for “not applicable” or “not available”; wrapped in an <abbr> tag with title="not applicable" or "not available"), “null” or “0”
• create complex tables where cells span multiple rows or multiple columns
• include headers within a table — use multiple tables instead
• repeat units of measurement in individual data cells

Table structure

Every table:

• begins and ends with a <table> tag
• has a header <thead>, which contains only the header cell information of the table, not the data. The header contains:
  • one row <tr></tr>
  • header cells (visually bolding the text) <th></th>
• has a body <tbody>, that contains the data within:
  • rows <tr></tr>

Accessibility

With the proper HTML markup, visually impaired users can navigate and read out your data one cell at a time by using their keyboard and the use of an assistive technology, such as a screen reader.

Describe tables with either a heading, brief descriptive text before or after the table that detail the table’s contents, or with a <caption>.

Do not use complex tables that require both header and id attributes for accessibility. Instead, use multiple tables with the scope attribute to make the table accessible to screen readers.

Using the scope attribute

For simple tables that have only the row header or column header, use the <th> elements without scope.

Otherwise, all <th> elements should have the scope attribute, which allows screen readers to detect column headers and row headers. The scope attribute tells the browser and screen reader that column cells with the scope="col" are column headers and row cells with scope="row" are row headers. When navigating through the table, screen readers read out one cell at a time and reference the associated header cells.

Caption vs. Summary

Captions help readers understand the context of the table. Captions can be the table’s title and/or description.

Summaries helps readers understand the structure and organization of the table. The summary attribute is used with complex tables to convey information about what content can be found in which column or row. Tables of this complexity should be avoided and few screen readers read out the summary attribute. Instead, break them up into simpler tables.

Examples

Table with a caption

Add the <caption> tag immediately after the <table> tag.

Table with row and column headers

All <th> elements use the scope attribute. Column headers use scope="col". Row headers use scope="row".

Table with column headers

Use the <th> elements without scope.

Table without zebra striping

By default, tables are styled with alternating white and light coloured backgrounds for each row. This helps users to better differentiate the values of one row from another. If you wish to turn it off, use the .no-stripes class on the <table> element.

Numbers and summary / total rows

If your table has one or more columns of numbers, use the .numeric class. It aligns the numbers, making them easier to compare.

Remember to add the .non-numeric class to all <td>s in non-numeric columns (and <th>s in the <thead>) to remove number formatting.

Subtotal and total rows

Make tables accessible by creating multiple tables instead of combining multiple subtotal and totals in one table. This avoids complex header and id markup and ensures the table is accessible to the widest possible audience.

Multiple tables

Break complex tables into multiple simple tables.

Multiple tables on the same page with the same headers should have consistent widths. Use the .full-width class on the <table> and the w-# class on <th>s, where # is a percentage of the overall table width.

Wide tables

Use .full-width to make the table as wide as the page. A table causes horizontal scrollbars to appear on small screens because it is wider than the content area.

Long tables (interactive tables)

For tables with more than 20 rows, adding a sort and/or search function can benefit users if they are looking for specific information.

Ontario’s Open Data Directive requires all government data, including data used in interactive tables, to be listed in Ontario’s Data Catalogue as open data unless exempt for legal, privacy, security, confidentiality or commercially-sensitive reasons. Learn more in the Open Data Guidebook.

Learn more at Ontario.ca: Interactive tables (InsideOPS internal link).

Example

Typography

All-caps

All caps are considered the written equivalent of “shouting” at a user.

Do and do not

Do

• write the text in proper case or lowercase and use the .uppercase class to have it display as all-caps.

Do not

• use all-caps text unless it is part of a brand/program name (like Presto), it is legally required or it is an abbreviation

Accessibility

All-caps reduces readability for all users. Some screen reader software will read all-caps text letter-by-letter.

Bold and italics

Learn how to add emphasis in the style guide.

Related: Laws, acts, regulations and the names of other documents, such as the Budget or Fall Economic Statement

Do and do not

Do

• use <cite> for laws, acts, regulations, media such as a books, films, etc., and documents such as Budget or Fall Economic Statement
• use <strong> to make text bold
• use <i> for the genus of organisms and scientific names of species
• use sparingly: bolding everything is the same as bolding nothing
• highlight a whole paragraph or section with a callout instead of <strong> tags
• highlight multiple words or phrases you are describing with a definition list

Do not

• use <i> except for for the genus of organisms and scientific names of species
• use <em> or <u>
• use <b> or bolding
• use <strong> for titles, instead use headings
• use italics or all-caps when the text is bolded

Accessibility

<b> is a style tag — it bolds text only visually. Screen readers do not parse it, making the emphasis inaccessible.

<strong> is a semantic tag — it bolds text visually and flags for accessibility software that the text is emphasized, making this the accessible option.

Avoid italicizing text because it is difficult for people with visual or cognitive impairments to read. If you need to emphasize text, use the <strong> tag.

Scientific names

For the genus of organisms and scientific names of species.

Font size

Do and do not

Do

• change font size if necessary when building infographics and visualizations

Do not

• change font size in paragraphs or lists
• use these styles for headings, refer to headings

Headings

Headings are used to break content up into smaller chunks. They help you organize sections and subsections. Learn how to write a heading in the style guide.

Do and do not

Do

• use h2 to h6 headings (in order) to further structure your page
  • for example, use an h3 under an h2, an h4 under an h3, etc.
• resize headings on content laid out in columns on landing pages by adding class="h4"

Do not

• use h1 in the body as it is reserved for the page title
• skip heading levels
  • for example, do not put an h3 under the page title without an h2 in between
• resize headings within the body of content

Paragraphs and line breaks

Learn how to write paragraphs and sentences in the style guide.

Super and subscript

Used for some chemical formulae. Learn about ordinal numbers and units for use of superscript.