ARCHIVED - Common Look and Feel Standards - Crosswalk Table Policy Requirements - Official languages

1. a name or acronym that represents the institution's primary purpose in both official languages, e.g. www.canada.justice.gc.ca, www.ic.gc.ca
2. 2 acronyms or names- one with the English first, the other giving prominence to the French, e.g. pco-bcp.gc.ca and bcp-pco.gc.ca and space-spatial.gc.ca spatial-space.gc.ca

Redundant with Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites

Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites

The institutional signature appears in both official languages on the welcome page.

Interpretation
Institutions are reminded that only the gc.ca domain names are to be used as the official identification of the departmental Web site(s). All other registered domain names must act as aliases or pathways to your site(s). To register gc.ca domain names, please contact registry@gc.ca

Deleted. Communications Policy of the Government of Canada

Communications Policy of the Government of Canada

If option (b) is adopted, the names or acronyms will appear on the URL line on the Welcome Page of a site in accordance with the principles set out under section 7.3 below.

The order of the official languages on a bilingual Welcome Page is determined by the location of the office or facility providing the service, as prescribed in Appendix A of the Federal Identity Program Policy, that is, French on the left for an office or facility located in Quebec, and English on the left for an office or facility located elsewhere in Canada. The prescribed order must be respected on the Universal Resource Locator (URL)

Institutions may also register equivalent unilingual English and French versions of a name, or the acronym thereof, if they wish or need to use those on unilingual content pages (i.e., pco.gc.ca on English content pages and bcp.gc.ca on the French content pages) or when publishing information in unilingual media, e.g., in English or French magazines or newspapers

Redundant with Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites

Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites

The domain name of the welcome page: includes elements or acronyms in English and in French that appear in the prescribed order [links to entry which reads: Domain name: When the two official languages must be used together, they appear in the following sequence: French first for an office or facility located in Quebec, and English first for an office or facility located elsewhere in Canada.

For example:
English - French: http://www.hrma-agrh.gc.ca
French - English: http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/]; or is a term with the same meaning and spelling in both official languages.

All GC Web sites must incorporate Welcome Pages at the main point of entry to the site.

The institution ensures effective initial communication, identification and navigation on Government of Canada Web sites through the incorporation of a Welcome Page at the main point of entry to the site. Where a Welcome Page is used at a sub site level, it must equally conform to this requirement. The Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites sets out requirements for the elements related to official languages that must appear on the Welcome Page and Appendix A of the Federal Identity Program policy specifies the order. This requirement specifies the presentation of these mandatory elements.

Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites

The greeting or other introductory text appears on the welcome page in both official languages in the prescribed order and navigation links marked "English" and "Français" are provided so that users can choose the official language in which to access content.

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 4 below).

The "Canada" wordmark must appear in the lower right display on Welcome Pages.

The institutional signature must appear in the upper left display on Welcome Pages. The order of the official languages is prescribed by the location of the office providing the service through the site in question, that is French on the left for an office or facility located in Quebec, and English on the left for an office or facility located elsewhere in Canada in conformance with the principles in Appendix A of the Federal Identity Program policy.

In accordance with the Federal Identity Program (FIP), institutions must be identified on all visual identity applications by either the signature of the Government of Canada or the institution, and the "Canada" wordmark. All institutional web pages and downloadable documents must display both symbols in accordance with FIP policy and standards and as prescribed in the Common Look and Feel Standards.

The order of the official languages on a bilingual Welcome Page is determined by the location of the office or facility providing the service, as prescribed in Appendix A of the Federal Identity Program Policy, that is, French on the left for an office or facility located in Quebec, and English on the left for an office or facility located elsewhere in Canada. The prescribed order must be respected on the Universal Resource Locator (URL) line and in the treatment of alternative text ("ALT text"). The language that is given precedence is to be set as the language type of the page. Language attributes (lang and xml:lang) must be used each time the language of the text is different from the language of the page.

Bilingual sites must provide links to "English" and "Français" that are represented as white text (#FFFFFF) as a default on a rectangular field of 120 by 30 pixels at the normal text size (100%) with a background colour of red (#FF0000) as a default and a 2 pixel border with the colour of #FF6666 for the top and left borders and the colour #CC3333 for the bottom and right borders. Effects must not be used to change the appearance or the behaviour of the text or cell. Detailed dimension drawings of bilingual Welcome Pages are provided in Appendix A.

Unilingual sites must provide a link to "Enter" on a unilingual English site and "Entrer" on a unilingual French site. This link must be represented as white text (#FFFFFF) as a default on a rectangular field of 120 by 30 pixels, at the normal text size (100%), with a background colour of red (#FF0000) as a default and a 2 pixel border with the colour of #FF6666 for the top and left borders and the colour #CC3333 for the bottom and right borders. Effects must not be used to change the appearance or the behaviour of the text or cell. In addition, the mandatory bilingual message required by the Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites, informing site visitors that the site provides information in only one language must be placed directly below the "Enter" or "Entrer" link. Detailed dimension drawings of unilingual Welcome Pages are provided in Appendix B.

If Welcome Pages are used at a sub-site level, they must conform to the above requirements.

The institution ensures effective initial communication, identification and navigation on Government of Canada Web sites through the incorporation of a Welcome Page at the main point of entry to the site. Where a Welcome Page is used at a sub site level, it must equally conform to this requirement. The Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites sets out requirements for the elements related to official languages that must appear on the Welcome Page and Appendix A of the Federal Identity Program policy specifies the order. This requirement specifies the presentation of these mandatory elements.

All elements of each Welcome Page must be viewable without scrolling in a 640 by 480 pixel screen.

All content must be visible at 800 pixels by 600 pixels resolution without scrolling.

All Web pages on all GC Web sites must incorporate the "Canada" wordmark and the institutional signature using high quality reproductions in terms of accuracy, colour and resolution.

1. The "Canada" wordmark must appear in the lower right display area on Welcome Pages and in the upper right display area on Content Pages.
2. The institutional signature must appear in the upper left display on both Welcome and Content pages. On the Welcome page of a site, the order of the official languages is dictated by the location of the office providing the service through the site in question, i.e., English on the left for offices located outside of Quebec and French on the left for offices located inside Quebec.

The "Canada" wordmark must appear in the lower right display on Welcome Pages.

The institutional signature must appear in the upper left display on Welcome Pages. The order of the official languages is prescribed by the location of the office providing the service through the site in question, that is French on the left for an office or facility located in Quebec, and English on the left for an office or facility located elsewhere in Canada in conformance with the principles in Appendix A of the Federal Identity Program policy.

In accordance with the Federal Identity Program (FIP), institutions must be identified on all visual identity applications by either the signature of the Government of Canada or the institution, and the "Canada" wordmark. All institutional web pages and downloadable documents must display both symbols in accordance with FIP policy and standards and as prescribed in the Common Look and Feel Standards.

The dimension and page structure of the Welcome Page must follow the specifications described in requirements 1.2.1 to 1.2.12.

1. The "Canada" wordmark must appear in the lower right display area on Welcome Pages and in the upper right display area on Content Pages.
2. The institutional signature must appear in the upper left display on both Welcome and Content pages. On the Welcome page of a site, the order of the official languages is dictated by the location of the office providing the service through the site in question, i.e., English on the left for offices located outside of Quebec and French on the left for offices located inside Quebec.

All Web sites under the responsibility of the institution are identified in strict accordance with the Federal Identity Program. The Canada wordmark must appear in the upper right position on all content pages. The Government of Canada signature or the institution's signature must appear in the upper left position. Under no circumstances may the official symbols of the Government of Canada be hyperlinked.

Where Web sites are produced by institutions that have been exempted from the Federal Identity Program, or sites represent collaborative or partnering arrangements with institutions, organizations or other jurisdictions, guidance on the use of official symbols must be sought from the institution's head of communications or designated Federal Identity Program coordinator.

Unilingual GC Welcome Pages must include a bilingual message indicating that under the Official Languages Act, the office provides services to its clientele in only one official language. This message must also inform users of a hyperlink to a site where users have access to general information in both official languages. The Policy on using the official languages on electronic networks contains a model Welcome Page showing the message that must be used. As well, the Policy indicates what disclaimer statements must be used in the case of bilingual sites that post unilingual content that belongs to entities not subject to the Official Languages Act.

Unilingual sites must provide a link to "Enter" on a unilingual English site and "Entrer" on a unilingual French site. This link must be represented as white text (#FFFFFF) as a default on a rectangular field of 120 by 30 pixels, at the normal text size (100%), with a background colour of red (#FF0000) as a default and a 2 pixel border with the colour of #FF6666 for the top and left borders and the colour #CC3333 for the bottom and right borders. Effects must not be used to change the appearance or the behaviour of the text or cell. In addition, the mandatory bilingual message required by the Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites, informing site visitors that the site provides information in only one language must be placed directly below the "Enter" or "Entrer" link. Detailed dimension drawings of unilingual Welcome Pages are provided in Appendix B.

Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites

The welcome page includes a bilingual message indicating that, under the OLA,the site provides information in one official language only. This message also informs users of a hyperlink to another site of the same institution that provides general information in both official languages.

If the welcome page of a unilingual site contains a navigation link, the link is labelled with a term such as "Content" or "Access" and not with the name of the official language of the office or facility using the site (i.e., "English" or "Français").

The greeting and other introductory text appearing on the welcome page are in the official language of the site.

All Web pages on all GC Web sites must incorporate navigational buttons that allow users to proceed through the site in the language of their choice or to access identical information in the alternate official language, except where the office providing the Web site is not designated bilingual.

a) Language buttons on Welcome pages must be displayed in the manner indicated to ensure visual equality and continuity.

The language choice links (as specified in requirement 1.4) are positioned 30 pixels below the institutional message space, presented side by side with a 30 pixel separation at the normal text size (100%) and to the left of the "Canada" wordmark.

On bilingual Web sites, the menu bar must contain six links arrayed from left to right in the following order on English language pages: Français, Home, Contact Us, Help, Search, canada.gc.ca; and in the following order on French language pages: English, Accueil, Contactez-nous, Aide, Recherche, canada.gc.ca. Detailed dimension drawings of bilingual content pages are provided in Appendix D.

On unilingual Web sites a button is provided in the manner indicated to give access to the first page of the content part of the site, instead of the a language option (see the Policy on using the official languages on electronic networks for a formal statement of these requirements, along with illustrations).

Unilingual sites must provide a link to "Enter" on a unilingual English site and "Entrer" on a unilingual French site. This link must be represented as white text (#FFFFFF) as a default on a rectangular field of 120 by 30 pixels, at the normal text size (100%), with a background colour of red (#FF0000) as a default and a 2 pixel border with the colour of #FF6666 for the top and left borders and the colour #CC3333 for the bottom and right borders. Effects must not be used to change the appearance or the behaviour of the text or cell. In addition, the mandatory bilingual message required by the Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites, informing site visitors that the site provides information in only one language must be placed directly below the "Enter" or "Entrer" link. Detailed dimension drawings of unilingual Welcome Pages are provided in Appendix B.

b) Language navigation buttons on all Content Pages of bilingual Web sites must be incorporated in the common menu bar. The language button must hyperlink directly to the identical content in the alternate official language.

On bilingual Web sites, the menu bar must contain six links arrayed from left to right in the following order on English language pages: Français, Home, Contact Us, Help, Search, canada.gc.ca; and in the following order on French language pages: English, Accueil, Contactez-nous, Aide, Recherche, canada.gc.ca. Detailed dimension drawings of bilingual content pages are provided in Appendix D.

In the case of unilingual Web sites, there will be no alternate language button displayed in the mandatory menu bar.

On unilingual Web sites, the language selection link is replaced with "Avertissement" on English pages and "Notice" on French pages. All other links are supplied as listed in requirement 5.1. Detailed dimension drawings of unilingual content pages are provided in Appendix E.

All messages generated by GC Web servers, including instructions, permissions, confirmation and errors, must comply with official language requirements, meaning the content of the message must appear in the language of the Web page in which they are embedded or in a bilingual format giving priority to the language of the page, as technology evolves and permits.

The institution must notify site visitors of problems on Web servers by implementing customized Server Message pages. Pages containing server messages must conform to the requirement regarding the language of the message prescribed by the Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites. The Federal Identity Program institutional signature must appear in the upper left corner and the "Canada" wordmark in the upper right corner on Server Message pages. The order of the official languages is dictated by the location of the office or facility providing the service through the site in question, that is, French on the left for an office or facility located in Quebec, and English on the left for an office or facility located elsewhere in Canada as set out in Appendix A of the Federal Identity Program Policy.

On bilingual Server Message pages, the text of the server message, including instructions, permissions, confirmations and errors must be presented in two columns. The first column must be left aligned under the institution's applied title. The footer must consist of a colour strip as specified in requirement 13.1, a content date indicator in the form of "Date Modified: YYYY‑MM‑DD" and "Date de modification : AAAA‑MM‑JJ" and corresponding links to "Important Notices" and "Avis importants" aligned below each content date indicator. The order of the official languages is dictated by the location of the office providing the service through the site in question, that is, French on the left for an office or facility located in Quebec, and English on the left for an office or facility located elsewhere in Canada as set out in Appendix A of the Federal Identity Program Policy.

On unilingual Server Message pages, the text of the server message, including instructions, permissions, confirmations and errors must be left aligned under the institution's applied title. The footer must consist of a colour strip as specified in requirement 13.1, a content date indicator in the language of the page in the form of "Date Modified: YYYY‑MM‑DD" or "Date de modification : AAAA‑MM‑JJ" aligned with the left margin of the page and a link to "Important Notices" or "Avis importants" in the bottom right corner and aligned with the content date indicator.

Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites

Server messages are in the language of the page consulted on a Web site or, if the technology cannot offer a language choice for server messages, the messages are in both official languages.

All text equivalents must be given in the language of the Web page in which they are embedded.

... Institutions must consult the Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites for direction regarding the application of official languages requirements to text equivalents and other non-textual elements.

Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites

The text equivalents and other non-textual elements used to describe the purpose and functions of images and graphics displayed on a page of a Web site are in the language of that page.

The mandatory elements that make up the metatag for any given Web page must correspond to the page's official language.

Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites

Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites

The values of metadata elements and attributes for any given Web page are expressed in the official language(s) used on the page. Optionally, other languages may also be used. This requirement does not apply to element names, attribute names or any values expressed as standardized codes.

Federal institutions must ensure that their content posted on a site that represents a collaborative arrangement complies with the official language requirements that would apply if the site were strictly the site of the office in question.

Directive on Partnering, Collaborative Arrangements and Sponsorship

All GC electronic mail administrators must provide all public servants with email addresses that demonstrate compliance with official language requirements by applying the email address format that reflects the institution's chosen domain name. See section 1 above for questions regarding the order of the official languages in the domain name.

To facilitate access to government employees, the institution must implement the following email address naming convention:
givenname.familyname@institution.gc.ca, where the text following the @ sign reflects the institution's primary domain name, as specified in requirement 1.2. The resolution of naming conflicts in the local-part (that is, the portion of the address string preceding the @ sign) is left to the discretion of the institution's electronic mail administrator, with a preference for inserting the employee's middle initial to the local-part. In exceptional circumstances, an alternate naming convention may be used to meet security objectives.

It is recognized that some institutions will face technical challenges with implementing this naming convention. For that reason, and as an interim measure, the institution is permitted to create email addresses using its current naming convention as it develops a suitable technical solution. This interim compliance measure expires on December 31, 2008, by which date the email naming convention specified above must be in effect.

To help protect the unique identity and integrity of Government of Canada email systems, the institution must register and maintain the registrations for its primary email domain in the gc.ca sub domain. The institution's electronic mail administrators must provide email addresses that demonstrate compliance with official languages requirements by applying the email address format that reflects the institution's primary domain name. Consult Appendix A of the Federal Identity Program policy for the prescribed order of presentation for the two official languages.

Where the institution also registers equivalent unilingual English and French versions of a domain name to be used for email, these must only be used in conformance with the Directive on the Use of Official Languages in Electronic Communications. The use of separate official language versions of email addresses are to be seen as short forms to facilitate the public's contact with employees. They must not substitute for the bilingual email addresses used in response to emails.

URLs (August 2002)

Another important issue related to CLF Standard 7.1 is the naming of folders and files that appear in URLs, and the language of the querystrings that may appear in URLs that are dynamically generated by such applications as ASP (Active Server Pages), e.g. http://www.goc-gdc.gc.ca/govscripts/ docs/wn-qn_f.asp?who-qui=/abc-cba/forum/.

The institution gives equal treatment to both official languages when naming folders and files that appear in Universal Resource Locators (URLs) and when displaying the content of query strings in URLs that are dynamically generated by such applications as ASP (Active Server Pages).

Where an institution is not deploying two distinct navigation structures based on official languages, it must include a suffix on the filename and choose from the following naming options for directories, sub directories and filenames:

1. one word spelled the same in both official languages (for example, /options/ that could have menu-eng.htm and menu-fra.htm within it);
2. naming with both official languages (for example, /links-liens/ that could have fip-pcim-eng.html and pcim-fip-fra.html files within it); and
3. language neutral, such as numbers (for example, /100/ that could have 123-eng.htm and 123-fra.htm within it); alphabetic characters (for example, /aaa/ that could have abc-eng.htm and abc-fra.htm within it) or an alphanumeric combination (for example, /10aa1/ that could have 34de1-eng.htm and 34de1-fra.htm within it).

The suffix must reflect the three-letter ISO 639‑2/T code for the representation of names of languages. Refer to ISO 639-2/T for the Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages.

For pages in languages other than English and French, an institution must either deploy an additional distinct language structure or use a language neutral filename with suffix structure.

Where an institution chooses option b), the order in which the languages appear is determined by the location of the office or facility providing the service, as prescribed by Appendix A of the Federal Identity Program policy.

It is acknowledged that the query language portion displayed in some URL paths that are dynamically generated could require significant programming effort to comply with this requirement. Where feasible, this portion of the URL must follow the naming options above.

Domain Names (July 2000)

No longer relevant.

No longer relevant.