Accessible website
Our website needs to be accessible to everyone and used by as many people as possible.
When you are reviewing and planning your content. Please follow our Web content style guide and our Making your content accessible guide. We ask that these standards are met before we publish.
If your content does not meet these standards, the Web Content Team may not be able to publish it.
If you have any queries about your publishing needs, please contact the Web Content Team through the HelpMe Portal.
If you need to scope out larger and complex web projects, please send your request to the Web Content Team through the HelpMe Portal. We will arrange a meeting with you to discuss requirements.
Submitting a web content request
Help us get your message delivered accurately and on time. Please follow these processes when you request a content update for the LJMU website.
The Web Content Team receive a high volume of requests from all departments, faculties and schools across the university. At certain times of the year institutional priorities will need to take precedence.
Submit all changes as a helpdesk request through the HelpMe Portal and selecting 'Website content requests'.
Please do not leave your request to the last minute.
Delivery times
We will endeavour to turn basic requests around by the following working day. However, please allow up to three working days for us to complete or contact you about your requests.
The Web Content Team will always contact you if we need further information to complete the task.
We will advise about potential timescales, especially when helping you scope large and complex projects.
Approval process
It is important that you have the correct approval to publish your content. The Web Content Team is not able to fact-check all the content for each department and faculty. Content authors are responsible for ensuring that their content is accurate and appropriate.
Amends to existing pages
A high proportion of our publishing tasks are amending existing pages. These may range from correcting a small typo error, to adding or removing large chunks of content.
To avoid ambiguity, we prefer you to provide large or complex amends on Microsoft Word documents with tracked changes. This helps us to accurately understand your needs and quickly deliver the updates.
When using a tracked Word document, and for each page that you want to amend, please can you:
- provide the page’s web address (URL) - you can copy and paste this from the address bar at the top of your web page
- copy the contents of the page and paste it onto a Word document
- use the Track Changes tool on the Word document to clearly show all the required additions and deletions
- provide clear instructions for any further changes
See the Web content style guide for guidance about writing for the web and providing accessible content.
See the Making your content accessible guide for guidance about accessible file formats and when to use them.
Links
If you are adding or amending links on the page, please provide the URLs that you want to link to.
Images
Please provide the original high resolution image file. We cannot guarantee the quality of images that are provided as PDFs or copied into Word documents and other formats.
You must have copyright approval for the use of an image.
If your image includes people, you must use our consent form to gain permission from the persons involved.
See the Web content style guide for how to use an image.
Final draft of amended pages
Please note that we only need the final and accurate drafts.
Keywords and search terms
We add keywords and search terms to the background of the page. The search engine uses them to help the user find your page.
Please consider if your page amends also changes the keywords and search terms. You will need to provide us with a short list of the relevant terms for each page.
For example, a policy is retitled. You decide to keep the old policy name as a keyword to help the users that are still using the old name to search for it. And, you add the new policy title to the list.
'Summary' or 'Synopsis'
The summary or synopsis appears in search results as the text beneath the page title. It gives a description of the page's content. Please check and update this so that it accurately summarises your amended content.
If a summary is too long, then Google can cut it short.
Summaries should:
- be 160 characters or fewer
- end with a full stop
- not repeat the title or body text
- be clear and specific
Publishing new pages
If you need several new pages, or a bespoke microsite, please contact the Web Content Team through the HelpMe Portal to arrange an initial meeting and discuss your requirements.
All new pages should be provided:
- as Word documents
- as final drafts
- with a clear understanding of where the new content belongs
- with any necessary image files – see 'Images' for guidance on providing images
- with significant keywords and search terms
- with a synopsis
The navigation should be discussed in the initial scoping meetings.
Please make yourself familiar with the Making your content accessible guide and the Web content style guide.
Links
All links within the new content must also have the URLs of the pages that they are linking to.
Images
When adding an image, please provide the original high resolution image file. We cannot guarantee the quality of images that are provided as PDFs or copied into Word documents and other formats.
You must have copyright approval for the use of an image.
If your image includes people, you must use our consent form to gain permission from the persons involved.
See the Web content style guide for how to use an image.
Final draft of new pages
Please note that we only need the final and accurate drafts.
Keywords and search terms
We add keywords and search terms to the background of the page. The search engine uses them to help the user find your page.
Please consider and provide keywords and search terms from the users' point of view. Think about what you believe your user would use when searching for your page.
Keep them unique to the page. Include nicknames or phrases that are commonly used but may not be in the actual text. It shouldn't be a long list, just relevant words and phrases.
'Summary' or 'synopsis'
The summary or synopsis appears in the search results as the text beneath the page title. It gives a description of the page’s content. Please provide this.
If a summary is too long, then Google can cut it short.
Summaries should:
- be 160 characters or fewer
- end with a full stop
- not repeat the title or body text
- be clear and specific
Attached documents
We strongly recommend that content is presented as a webpage, so that the content is searchable, accessible and version controlled.
If you need to upload and link to a Word, Excel, PowerPoint or PDF document, then you must ensure it is the final draft and accessible before you provide it.
The Making your content accessible guide provides further guidance for accessible file formats.
Submitting a Staff profile request
All staff profiles are completed on the Symplectic platform, and this is set up for you by HR when you join the university.
Staff profile details
You are responsible for making sure your details on the Symplectic platform are accurate and up to date.
Any information you add to your Symplectic account automatically cascades through to the website and appears on your Staff profile.
Staff profile photograph
The university arranges regular photo sessions, and you will be notified when the next session is available.
If you prefer, you can use your own photograph - all submitted photos must have a plain background and be a clear heads-and-shoulders pose without any distracting details.
To add your photo to your staff profile you must:
- raise a helpdesk request through the HelpMe Portal
- select 'Website content requests'
- select ‘Request website content changes’
- fill in the request form with details of your request
- use the ‘Update’ button and follow the form instructions to attach your photo to the request
You will receive a notification that the request has been logged, and the Web Content Team will contact you through this to let you know when the photo has been uploaded.
Change of title on the Staff profile
Change of titles (for example, from Doctor to Professor) must be completed by HR.
You will need to contact your HR Business Partner with proof of your qualification before the HR system can be updated.
When you receive confirmation from HR that the HR system has been updated, please:
- raise a helpdesk request through the HelpMe Portal
- select 'Website content requests'
- select ‘Request website content changes’
- fill in the request form with details of your request and confirmation that HR have approved the change
The Web Content Team will then be able to republish your profile with your updated details.
Missing staff profiles
If you have completed your Symplectic profile, but your Staff profile isn’t showing on the website, please let the Web Content Team know by:
- raising a helpdesk request through the HelpMe Portal
- select 'Website content requests'
- select ‘Request website content changes’
- fill in the request form with details of your request