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CLF for the Internet - Official Languages
All GoC Web sites must incorporate Welcome
Pages at the main point of entry to the site. Each Welcome Page must incorporate three key
elements: the "Canada" wordmark, the institutional signature and the language choice buttons except on unilingual Web sites
where a content button must be provided. See Policy on using the official languages
on electronic networks, which sets out requirements for bilingual sites as well as for
unilingual sites, with a special disclaimer and hyperlink requirement for the latter, see
Standard 7.4.
If Welcome Pages are used at a sub-site level, they must conform to the above requirements.
All elements of each Welcome Page must be viewable
without scrolling in a 640 by 480 pixel screen.
Rationale
Welcome Pages are key to initial communication, identification and navigation on all
GoC Web sites, and must therefore be designed to
facilitate these functions. The standard single screen size ensures all necessary elements are
viewable without scrolling and provides immediate access to the full content of any Welcome Page.
While the centre area of any Welcome Page is left open for customisation to suit the needs of the
institution (or its programs and services), standardization of the screen size and placement of
mandatory elements will enhance visual consistency across all GoC sites.
Interpretation
The official languages requirements applicable to welcome pages are located within the
Treasury Board's Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites (Implementation Procedures). Specifically, for the welcome pages of
sites of offices designated as bilingual, see section 6.1.1. b) and c) and Appendix A. For
the welcome pages of sites of offices that are unilingual, see section 6.1.2 a) and Appendix B.
The sites of the offices of institutions subject to the Official Languages Act must
reflect the official language obligations of the offices that use the sites. The standards ensure
that these obligations are taken into account at the level of the Welcome page, which is, within the
official languages perspective, an office's electronic service "wicket".
The standards set out above take into account the following factors:
- Offices designated as bilingual under the Official Languages Act
are obligated to make an "active offer" in both official languages of their services
and communications to the public. At a traditional service counter or wicket, or on the telephone,
an active offer is normally achieved through the use of a bilingual greeting that lets members of
the public know that at the office in question they have the right to be served in the official
language of their choice.
- The English / Français buttons required on the Welcome page achieve the same purpose:
they inform visitors to the site that it provides its services and communications in both official
languages and offers them the choice of official language. Once the user has chosen the official
language, the site gives access to content in that language.
- The Web sites of unilingual offices or facilities are not required to post their content in both official languages as long as this is intended
exclusively for the public served by that office or facility. That requirement may change if they post
directly on their site content that is intended for the public in general; see
Treasury Board's Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites.
In practice, it is highly recommended that a unilingual office wishing to post content which is
intended for the public everywhere in Canada, to locate it on the institutional site, or on another
bilingual site, and to refer to it via a hyperlink, rather than posting it directly on its own site.
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