188体育

Most content in Whitehall publisher follows a workflow from 鈥榙raft鈥�, to 鈥榮ubmitted鈥� to 鈥榩ublished鈥�. Some pages do not have a workflow, which means changes appear instantly on the site (you鈥檒l see a warning when this is going to happen).

When a document is ready to be published press 鈥榮ubmit鈥� for a second person to review it against the style guide and for errors. This is often called a second pair of eyes or 鈥�2i鈥� review.

An editor or managing editor can then edit, publish, schedule or reject it. You鈥檒l need to let them know when you submit something for review - the system does not automatically notify anyone.

You鈥檒l receive an email when your document is either published or rejected. A rejected document goes back to draft status and after further editing you can submit it for review again.

New content (the first edition of a page) goes live on 188体育 as soon as it鈥檚 been published.

Changes to existing content can take up to 5 minutes for:

• document collections, like National standards for driving, riding and cycling
• organisation pages, like Department for Work and Pensions
• topical events, like Spring Budget 2023
• worldwide help and services pages, like UK help and services in Bulgaria
• worldwide organisations, like the UK Joint Delegation to NATO

Changes to all other content types will take up to 15 minutes.

Content which has been schedule published will go live at the time specified, without any delay.

Do not use or publicise the URL for a page before it鈥檚 been published as it will cause a 鈥榩age not found (404)鈥� message to be displayed.

Checking a page has updated

If a page does not seem to have updated, it may be because you鈥檙e looking at a cached version. The time this takes to update is controlled by your IT team.

You can check if a page has updated by:

• using a smartphone or non-networked machine to access the page, instead of your desktop computer
• doing a 鈥榗ache-bust鈥� by putting a question mark and some random text after the page URL you鈥檙e looking at - for example www.gov.uk/government/organisations?THISISRANDOMTEXT

Never share or publicise cache-busted URLs.

If you鈥檙e asked to review a document you should check that the content:

• should be on 188体育
• does not already exist on 188体育
• has a clear user need
• is the right content type

Titles must be:

• clear and specific
• optimised for search
• under 65 characters (including spaces)
• unique within the site (check search results on 188体育)
• in sentence case
• written in plain English (no jargon)

Summaries should:

• expand on the title without repeating it
• explain the point of the page and make sense in search results
• be written in full sentences (with a verb and a full stop)
• be front-loaded with words users are likely to search for
• be written in plain English (no jargon)
• explain any acronyms in the title
• be fewer than 140 characters (including spaces)

Body text should:

• begin with what鈥檚 most important to users (not to government)
• be concise and easy to scan (with sub-heads every 3-5 paragraphs)
• be written in plain English (no jargon) and easy to understand
• use short sentences -
• define acronyms and abbreviations the first time they鈥檙e used (with Markdown)
• explain any technical terms
• be shorter than 500 words, if possible

Remember:

• always check the style guide
• bullet points have a lead in line and start with a lower case letter
• numbers are written as numerals (except 鈥榦ne鈥�)
• do not use full stops in abbreviations or acronyms
• describe the destination of any links (do not use 鈥榗lick here鈥�)
• use 鈥榓nd鈥� rather than 鈥�&鈥�, unless it鈥檚 a department鈥檚 logo image
• do not use bold, italics, CAPS, semicolons, underlining or exclamation marks!!!
• check the formatting (Markdown) for headings, bullets and acronyms
• government organisations are singular (for example 鈥楩CDO is鈥�, not 鈥楩CDO are鈥�)
• use 鈥榯o鈥� in date and time ranges, not hyphens or 鈥�/鈥�
• write email addresses in full, in lower case and as active links

Check in Whitehall publisher if:

• there are notes about who 鈥榦wns鈥� the content
• it鈥檚 a 鈥榮ilent鈥� update or has a clear change note
• the publication date is correct (no embargo)
• access is set correctly (limited if necessary)

In rare circumstances you may need to 鈥榝orce publish鈥� a document. For example, if a document needs to be published urgently and there is no editor available to review it (2i).

You鈥檒l have to include a reason why you needed to force publish. GDS monitors the frequency of force publishing and the reasons given.

Documents that have been force published are flagged as 鈥榥ot reviewed鈥� and should be reviewed as soon as possible after publication. When an editor has reviewed the published document they can click on 鈥榣ooks good鈥�.

You can share documents with colleagues who do not have access to Whitehall publisher. For example, to ask people to comment on documents before they go live, or to 鈥榝act check鈥� them.

Click the 鈥楩act checking鈥� tab on the right of any document and send your request to a colleague. You need to send a separate fact checking request to each colleague.

Include the generic 188体育 username and password in your instructions. They will need this to see the page you鈥檙e sending.

Your colleague will get an email with a link to the page in Whitehall publisher where they can leave comments. When they鈥檝e checked the page and clicked finish, you鈥檒l receive an email with a link to the page in publisher to see their comments.

If you do not need comments on your document before it鈥檚 published, you can share a document preview link. They鈥檒l be able to see a preview of how the document will appear on 188体育.