Steps for contributing to the 2024 content redesign

Here’s how CivicActioners can contribute to the content redesign of accessibility.civicactions.com.

1. Find a page to edit

• Visit the Content redesign sheet to find a page to update on the 🗺️ Content plan tab.
• Click over to the 🧑‍💻 Editors tab and insert a row to your name (Ctrl + click → Insert 1 row above/below → @yourname).
• Back on 🗺️ Content plan select your name in the Editor column for the page you want to take (the row will turn yellow).

2. Prepare for editing

• Open the page you've chosen from the Audit address column
• Scroll to the bottom and click “Help improve this page”
• Review the Recommendations column to for suggestions on how to improve the page. Note: Most recommendations suggest a format of Guide or Topic for your page. Learn more about what we expect for each format, and find example pages, in the Accessibility site content style guide.

GitHub workflow

Follow this workflow when the page requires few, objective fixes (updating links, correcting typos, minor content edits):

• Create a new branch
• Edit the page and commit changes
• Note that a series of automated checks will run. If errors are found that you need to fix (e.g. '-' instead of '*' for lists is flagged), click on your branch link at the top to make corrections.

Google Docs workflow

Follow this workflow when edits require content/marketing review (reorganizing the outline, renaming headings, rewriting paragraphs), or if you are less comfortable using Github:

• Open a new Google Doc, and copy/paste the following at the top of the page:
  • the page address from the Audit address column (this will make things easier for reviewers later)
  • the title and description from the metadata block at the top of the *.md page you are viewing
  • you may like to paste the recommendations for your page at the top of your document too, as a guide

3. Edit your page

• Be sure to include the title and description:
  • the content of title appears in both <h1> and <title> and can’t be separated at this time
  • the content of description appears in <meta name="description"> which is important for search results
• Ensure that you update the page’s structure according to the Format instructions.
• Edit the main content according to the Recommendations.
• Note that these are suggestions, so if you want to go a different way with your page edits, that’s fine. The team is happy to discuss in the #accessibility channel if you have questions or want some guidance.

4. Send your page for review

• When you are ready to share your edits, please tag Adrian or Jordan (design) to review:
  • Github: Open a pull request and tag reviewers
  • Google Doc: Add a comment to tag reviewers or ping them in the #accessibility channel
• Update your draft with any changes and then ask Marissa (marketing) to review.

5. Publish your changes

• GitHub: Merge the approved pull request
• Google Doc:
  • If you feel comfortable in GitHub, copy your edits into the proper markdown page in the repo, and follow the standard GitHub workflow to publish your changes.
  • If you do not feel comfortable making edits in GitHub, in the #accessibility channel, post a link to your document for someone to publish for you.