This checklist outlines the accessibility requirements content editors should follow when adding or updating website content. It covers images, links, headings, videos, and documents, as well as reports and tools for ongoing monitoring. It is based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level A and AA.

Use this checklist to review content before publishing and when updating existing pages. Following it consistently helps prevent common accessibility issues and ensures content can be used by people who rely on assistive technologies, such as screen readers, keyboard navigation, and captions.

Website Content Accessibility Checklist 

Images

• Add meaningful alt text for all content images.
• Avoid embedding text inside images.
• Don’t rely on image alone to convey important information.
• Avoid Image-Only PDFs or Scans. If a flyer with event information is added to a page the following steps can be taken to make the content accessible:
  • Use descriptive alt text for the image.
  • Repeat all text from the flyer directly on the web page (either above or below the image).
  • Add a heading or summary above the image to summarize the content. For example: “Event Details (also shows in flyer below)”

Headings

• Use heading levels to create a clear and logical structure. Start with Heading 2 for main sections (since Heading 1 is reserved for the page title), and use subsequent heading levels (e.g., Heading 3, Heading 4) as needed for subsections. Avoid skipping levels. For example, don’t jump from Heading 2 to Heading 4, so screen reader users can easily understand the content hierarchy.
• Do not use bold text to mimic headings, use real heading tags.

Text Formatting (Recommended)

• Avoid ALL CAPS for emphasis — it's harder to read for many users.
• Use bold/italic sparingly for true emphasis — not as a substitute for headings or lists.

Links

• Write descriptive link text (e.g., “View the annual report” instead of “Click here”).
• Avoid duplicate link text going to different places.
• Avoid instructions that depend on visual/spatial location, e.g. "click the button on the right" or "see the sidebar."

Lists

• Use ordered or unordered lists available in content editor for items that are lists.
• Do not create lists using dashes, numbers, or tabs manually. 

Tables

• Use tables only for tabular data, not for layout.
• Include table headers to support accessibility and responsive design.
• Give data tables a caption/title summarizing what the table shows. (Recommended)

Embedding iFrame

• When embedding an iFrame using the Embed embedded content icon in the content editor, use the Title option under Advanced. This helps users who rely on screen readers understand the purpose of the embedded content, such as a video, map, or form.

Audio/Video

• Include captions and transcripts for videos.
• Ensure media players are keyboard-accessible. Most embedded players from platforms like YouTube and Vimeo support keyboard navigation.
• Avoid enabling autoplay on embedded video or animated GIFs that run longer than a few seconds. 

Page Setup

• Give every page a descriptive, unique page title.

Documents (PDF, Word, etc.)

• Ensure documents have proper tags, alt text, and reading order.
• Test documents for accessibility:
  • How to Check Word and PDF documents for accessibility
  • Microsoft Word accessibility checker — detailed walkthrough with screenshots(opens in a new tab)
  • Adobe PDF accessibility guide — detailed walkthrough with screenshots(opens in a new tab)

Periodically review the following Real Time Reports and resolve any issues found:

• Alt Tags
  • View pages with missing alt tags.
  • Add descriptive alt text to images to meet accessibility standards.
• Broken Links
  • View pages containing broken links.
  • Update or remove the broken links as needed.
• “Click Here” Links
  • View pages that use “Click Here” as link text.
  • Replace with meaningful, descriptive text that explains the link’s purpose.
• Editoria11y
  • View accessibility alerts on individual pages.
  • Review and resolve flagged issues to meet accessibility standards.

Editoria11y (“editorially”) is an accessibility checker built into your website. While you’re logged in, it checks each page you open, and the page you’re editing, for common problems: missing or unhelpful image descriptions, skipped heading levels, unclear link text, linked PDFs and more. Each alert explains the problem and how to fix it. Visitors never see the alerts.

If you don’t see the Editoria11y buttons at the bottom right of the page when you’re logged in, it isn’t turned on for your account. Contact VC3 support to turn it on.

Alerts on a Page

Open any page on your site while logged in. Alerts appear next to the content that needs a look, and the buttons at the bottom right show how many alerts the page has.

• A red ! is an error: something to fix, such as alt text that is just the image’s file name.
• A yellow ? is a manual check: something that may be a problem. Read it and decide, for example whether a “click here” link makes sense on its own.

Select an alert to read what’s wrong and how to fix it. Use the arrows at the bottom of the alert to go to the previous or next one, or select the number at the bottom right to go to the first alert.

Manual Checks: Mark as OK or Ignored

If you’ve checked a yellow alert and the content is fine, you can dismiss it:

• Mark as OK hides the alert for everyone who edits the site.
• Mark as ignored hides it just for you.

Errors (red) can’t be dismissed; fix them instead. On some sites these buttons aren’t available.

To bring back a hidden alert, select the eye button that appears at the bottom right (Show hidden alert), select the alert, then Restore this hidden alert.

Check Headings and Alt Text

Select the list button at the bottom right, then Headings or Alt Text. Editoria11y labels each heading on the page with its level (H2, H3 and so on) and shows each image’s alt text over the image. Check that the headings form an outline without skipping a level, and that each alt text describes what the image means on the page. Labels on your site’s header and footer can be ignored.

Alerts While You Edit

Editoria11y also checks the text editor while you edit a page. The alerts update as you type, so you can fix a problem and watch its alert disappear, for example by changing a Heading 4 to a Heading 3.

Hide or Show the Alerts

Select the round flag button at the bottom right to hide all alerts while you look at the page. Select it again to show them.

Tips

• Fix the red alerts first. Then go through the yellow ones.
• For help with what an alert asks for, see Website Accessibility.

Check Accessibility in Microsoft Word

1.Run the Accessibility Checker

1. Click the Review tab.
2. Select Check Accessibility. The Accessibility panel opens on the right.
3. Review all items listed under Errors, Warnings, and Tips.
4. Click any item in the panel to jump to the affected content.
5. Alternative path: File → Info → Check for Issues → Check Accessibility.

2. Save as PDF

1. Save using File → Save As → PDF. Do not use Print to PDF — it does not preserve structure, headings, or alt text.
2. In the Save As dialog, click Options and check "Document structure tags for accessibility."
3. Save the file.

Note: Adobe Acrobat Pro is required for the steps in this section. The free Adobe Reader does not include the full accessibility checker.

1. Run the Accessibility Checker

1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
2. In the left sidebar, click All tools → Prepare for accessibility → Check for accessibility.
3. Leave all options checked and click Start Checking.
4. The Accessibility Checker panel opens on the left. Results are grouped by category: Document, Page Content, Tables, Headings, and Forms.
5. For any Failed item, right-click and select Fix to address it, or Explain for details.
6. Alternative path: Tools → Accessibility → Full Check.

Note: Do not assume Needs Manual Check items are passing. Each one requires your manual review.

2. Verify Reading Order

1. Open from Accessibility → Reading Order.
2. Confirm numbered boxes follow a logical sequence top-to-bottom and left-to-right.
3. Pay close attention to multi-column layouts and content positioned beside images.
4. Drag blocks to reorder as needed.

Follow this sequence to check and publish an accessible document.

1. Fix in Word first. Run the Word Accessibility Checker and resolve all Errors and Warnings.
2. Export correctly. Use File → Save As → PDF → Options → check "Document structure tags for accessibility." Never use Print to PDF.
3. Run the Acrobat Pro checker. Fix all Failed items. Manually review all Needs Manual Check items.
4. Re-run the checker. Confirm no new issues were introduced by your fixes.
5. Publish. Once the checker shows no Errors, the document is ready.

Additional Resources

• How to Check Word and PDF documents for accessibility
• Microsoft Word accessibility checker — detailed walkthrough with screenshots(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab)
• Adobe PDF accessibility guide — detailed walkthrough with screenshots(opens in a new tab)

Sign in to your website to edit its pages, news, events and other content.

Open the Sign-In Page

Type your website’s address in your browser and add /user at the end, for example https://www.yourwebsite.gov/user. Bookmark the page so it’s easy to find next time.

Sign In

1. In Log in by username/email address, enter your username or the email address on your account.
2. In Password, enter your password. Select the eye icon at the end of the box to see what you typed.
3. Tick I’m not a robot. The Log in button stays grey until you do. If Google asks you to pick pictures, follow its steps.
4. Select Log in.

After You Sign In

You land on your account page. The toolbar at the top of every page leads to your tools: Content to add and edit pages, and the other menus your role allows. On any admin page, select Back to site to return to the website.

Sign Out

On any admin page, point to your name at the top right and choose Log out. Sign out when you finish, especially on a shared computer.

If You Can’t Sign In

• “Unrecognized username or password.” Check the spelling and that Caps Lock is off, then try again. The I’m not a robot box clears after each try, so tick it again. To set a new password, select Forgot your password? (see Change Your Password).
• “There have been more than 5 failed login attempts for this account. It is temporarily blocked.” After five wrong passwords, the account is locked for up to six hours. To get in straight away, request a new password: signing in with the emailed link unlocks the account.
• “The user has not been activated yet or is blocked.” Your account has been switched off. Ask your site administrator to make it Active again.

Two-factor authentication (TFA) adds a second step to signing in: after your password, you enter a 6-digit code from an app on your phone. Even if someone learns your password, they can’t sign in without your phone. It’s optional, and you set it up yourself.

Before You Start

Install an authenticator app on your phone, such as Microsoft Authenticator, Google Authenticator, Twilio Authy or FreeOTP. All are free from your phone’s app store. The setup page also lists them.

Set Up the App

1. On any admin page, point to your name at the top right and choose View profile, then select the TFA tab.
2. Under TFA application, select Set up application.
3. Enter your current password and select Confirm.
4. In the authenticator app, add an account and scan the QR code. If you can’t scan it, type the setup code shown above the QR code into the app instead.
5. The app now shows a 6-digit code for your website that changes every 30 seconds. Enter the current code in Application verification code.
6. Select Verify and save. “TFA setup complete” appears, and the TFA tab shows Status: TFA enabled.

Make Recovery Codes

Recovery codes let you sign in when you don’t have your phone. Make them right after setting up the app.

1. On the TFA tab, under Recovery Codes, select Generate codes.
2. Enter your current password and select Confirm.
3. Copy or print the 10 codes and keep them somewhere safe, away from your phone, such as a password manager.
4. Select Save codes to account. The codes don’t work until you do.

Each code works once. To see your codes again, select Show codes on the TFA tab. To replace them all with new ones, select Reset codes.

Sign In With a Code

1. Sign in with your username and password as usual (see Signing In).
2. On the Two-Factor Authentication page, open the authenticator app and enter the current 6-digit code.
3. Select Verify.

You’re asked for a code every time you sign in, including after resetting your password.

Sign In Without Your Phone

On the Two-Factor Authentication page, select TFA Recovery Code, enter one of your recovery codes (for example 123 456 789) and select Verify. That code can’t be used again.

New Phone?

Sign in with a code from your old phone or a recovery code, open the TFA tab and select Reset application. Enter your current password, then scan the new QR code with the app on your new phone and enter its code, as under Set Up the App. Codes from the old phone stop working.

Tips

• If a code is refused, wait for the next one and enter it quickly. Codes depend on the time, so check that your phone’s clock is set automatically.
• You can’t switch two-factor authentication off yourself. If you’ve lost your phone and your recovery codes, contact VC3 support to reset it.

You can change your password at any time while you’re signed in. If you’ve forgotten it, you can set a new one from the sign-in page.

Change Your Password While Signed In

1. On any admin page, point to your name at the top right and choose Edit profile.
2. In Current password, enter the password you use now.
3. In Password, type the new password. A bar shows how strong it is, and tips appear until it’s strong.
4. Type the new password again in Confirm password. “Passwords match: yes” appears below it.
5. Select Save at the bottom of the page. “The changes have been saved” appears at the top.

Don’t select Cancel account next to Save: it closes your account.

You also need your current password to change your Email address on this form.

Choose a Strong Password

Make it at least 12 characters long, with uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and punctuation. A few unrelated words joined with dashes are easy to remember and hard to guess. Don’t reuse a password from another account.

Forgot Your Password?

1. Open the sign-in page (your website’s address with /user at the end) and select the Reset your password tab. After a wrong password, the Forgot your password? link under the username box takes you there too.
2. Enter your username or email address.
3. Tick I’m not a robot and select Submit.

A message confirms that an email is on its way if the account exists.

Use the Link in the Email

1. Open the email, titled “Replacement login information”, and select the link in it.
2. On the Reset password page, select Log in.
3. Type a new password in Password and again in Confirm password. You don’t need the old password here.
4. Select Save at the bottom of the page.

The link works only once, and it expires after one day. If it has expired or was already used, request a new one from the Reset your password tab.

Tips

• No email after a few minutes? Check your spam or junk folder. Still nothing? Ask your site administrator to check the email address on your account.
• If your account is locked after too many wrong passwords, signing in with the emailed link unlocks it.

Site Administrators only. Adding and managing accounts needs the Site Administrator role. If People isn’t in your toolbar, ask a Site Administrator at your organization or contact VC3 support.

Roles

A role decides what someone can do. Give each person only what they need. Someone can hold more than one role.

• Publisher: adds, edits and publishes content, edits menus and schedules content.
• Contributor: adds and edits drafts, but can’t publish them. A Publisher reviews and publishes their work.
• Site Administrator: manages accounts only. It doesn’t include editing content, so give Publisher as well to someone who also edits the site.

Find People

Select People in the toolbar. The list shows each account’s username, status, roles, how long they’ve been a member and when they last signed in. To find someone, type part of their name or email in Name or email contains, or choose a Status or Role, then select Filter.

Add a User

1. On the People page, select Add user.
2. Enter their Email address. Use their work email: it’s where their sign-in and password emails go. Each account needs its own address.
3. Enter a Username, for example their first initial and last name. Spaces, periods, hyphens, apostrophes, underscores and @ are allowed. They can sign in with the username or the email address.
4. Type a temporary Password and again in Confirm password.
5. Leave Status on Active.
6. Under Assignable roles, tick their role or roles.
7. Turn on Notify user of new account. They get an email with a one-time link to sign in and set their own password, so you don’t need to send the temporary one.
8. Select Create new account.

The one-time link in the welcome email expires after one day. If the person misses it, they can set a password from the Reset your password tab on the sign-in page (see Change Your Password).

Change Someone’s Account

On the People page, select Edit in the person’s row. You can change their email address, username, password, status and roles. Select Save at the bottom of the form.

• Change a role: tick or clear the boxes under Assignable roles.
• Set a new password for them: type it in Password and Confirm password. It’s usually better to have them use Reset your password instead, so only they know it.
• Stop someone signing in: set Status to Blocked. Their account and everything they wrote stay as they are, and you can set them back to Active later.

Remove an Account

When someone leaves, block the account (above), or cancel it: select Edit in their row, then Cancel account at the bottom of the form. Choose a Cancellation method and select Confirm.

• Disable the account and keep its content: the same as blocking. This is the safest choice.
• Disable the account and unpublish its content: also takes everything they created off the website.
• Delete the account and make its content belong to the Anonymous user: removes the account but keeps their pages. This can’t be undone.
• Delete the account and its content: removes the account and every page they created. This can’t be undone.

Leave Require email confirmation off, unless the person should confirm the cancellation by email first.

Tips

• Give everyone their own account. Don’t share one sign-in between people.
• Review the People list from time to time, and block accounts that are no longer needed.
• If someone can’t find the welcome email, check the email address on their account, then have them check their spam folder.

Once signed into your website, you can add content by navigating to to Content > Add Content.  There you will find a list of Content Types to choose from.

A Content Type is a pre-defined collection of fields which relate to each other by an informational context.  A developer can add new Content Types to collect specific information for display.

Standard content types on your site include:

• Agendas and Minutes
• Calendar Event
• Home Action Item
• Home Feature
• News
• Page
• Person
• Site Alert

Once logged into your website, you can edit content by heading to the page you want to update or by opening the Content page, where you can find and modify all site content. The content can be filtered based on the Title, Content type, or Published status. 
 

Most websites will include the following content types:

• Agendas and Minutes
• Calendar Event
• Home Action Buttons
• Home Feature
• News
• Page
• Person
• Site Alert

Under Content > File Browser, you can access a file browser for all of the files on your website. You can view and upload files using a file browser interface.

Under Content > Files you will find a list of the files on your website.

You can set content to publish or unpublish at a future date and time, for example a news post that goes live on Monday morning, or a site alert that ends when a road reopens. On most sites, scheduling is available for News, Site Alerts, Home Features.

Schedule Publishing

While adding or editing the content, open Scheduling options in the sidebar on the right. Under Publish on, choose a date and a time, then save.

• The content is saved as unpublished, whatever you choose under Save as, and stays hidden until that time.
• It’s published shortly after the time you set, when the site next runs its scheduled tasks, so it may not be to the minute.
• Both a date and a time are needed, and the date must be in the future.

Schedule Unpublishing

Under Unpublish on, choose the date and time the content should come down, then save. The content stays on your site, unpublished, so you can publish it again later. You can set both dates on the same item, for example to show a holiday notice for one week.

See Everything That’s Scheduled

Go to Content → Scheduled Content. The list shows each scheduled item with its Publish on and Unpublish on dates. Use the filters at the top to find an item by title, content type or status.

Change or Cancel a Schedule

Select Edit in the item’s row, open Scheduling options, and change the date and time. To cancel, clear the date and save. The content then stays as it is: unpublished content won’t be published, and published content won’t be taken down.

Tips

• Preview the content before scheduling it, so it’s ready when it goes live.
• Check the Scheduled Content list now and then for items you no longer need.

To send email notifications start creating news or site alert content or find existing news or site alert you would like to send a notification from.

While on the content edit page, find the notification section that is located on the right-hand side of the page called Notification System:

Expand the Notification System section and select notification or notifications you would like to send. The options are Send Email and Send Text Message.

For this example, we select Send Email to send an email notification:

Once the Send Email is selected, additional options are displayed:

• Email Topic – The drop-down field selection is required. Choose the topic you would like to send the notification for. Subscribers that are subscribed to this topic will receive email notification.
• Subject – The field is required. Enter the subject of the email notification. The subject will be displayed in the email subject line of the notification.
• Body – The field is automatically populated from the news or the site alert body field when it’s filled out. The notification Body field can be manually added or updated as well.

The following screenshot is an example of the completed email notification before it’s sent:

The information displayed under the Send Email section will be sent in the email notification.

To send email notification make sure the content state is set to Published. Only published content notifications will be send out. The content state option is located on the top right of the screen next to the Save button.

To save the page content and send the email notification click on the Save button at the top right.

After the content is saved the website page will display information about the notification:

To view the email notifications that were sent out navigate to Content -> Notifications -> Email. The Email Notifications page will display the sent or pending email notifications:  

The email notifications can be filtered by the email subject and the notification topic.

To send text notifications start creating news or site alert content or find existing news or site alert you would like to send a text notification from.

While on the content edit page, find the notification section that is located on the right-hand side of the page called Notification System:

Select Send Text Message check box to send a text notification.

Once the Send Text Messages option is selected, additional options are displayed under the Notification System section.

• Text Topic – The drop-down field selection is required. Choose the topic you would like to send the notification for. Subscribers that are subscribed to this topic will receive text notification.
• Content – The field is required. Enter a brief message for the text notification. This field content is sent in the text notification.

Note that the text message notification will also include a link to the page from where the notification is sent from.

The following is an example of the screen of the filled out text notification:

To send text message notification make sure the content state is set to Published. Only published content notifications will be send out. The content state option is located on the top right of the screen next to the Save button.

To save the page content and send the text message notification, click on the Save button at the top right.

After the content is saved the website page will display information about the prepared notification:

To view the text notifications that were sent out or pending notifications, navigate to Content -> Notifications -> Texts. The Text Notifications page will display the sent or prepared for sending text notifications: 

The text notifications can be filtered by the message text and the notification topic.

To view the list of subscribers, navigate to Content -> Notifications -> Subscribers. The list displays the following fields:  

• Email address – email address of the subscriber
• Phone number – phone number of the subscriber
• Validated - Identified if the subscriber confirmed the subscription
• Last Updated – Date when the subscription was last updated

The Notification Subscribers page allows operations like edit, validate, or invalidate the subscription. Each field except for Operations can be sorted in ascending or descending order.

After subscribers sign up for notifications they receive a confirmation email to confirm the subscription. After the subscription is confirmed, the page will display Yes in the Validated field column. Those subscribers that don’t have their email validated will have displayed No in the Validated column.

If the subscription is not validated, the website administrators can resent the verification email to the subscriber. To do it, choose the subscriber you want send the validation email for, click on the arrow on the Edit button, and click on the Send Verification Email link.

Validating the subscriptions manually by clicking on the Validate link on the Edit button is not recommended.

To view the list of notification topics, navigate to Content -> Notifications -> Topics.

The page displays the list of topics that can be filtered by entering values into the Label field and clicking on the Apply button. The topics can be sorted by clicking on the Label column name.

To add a new notification topic, click on the Add Topic button on the top portion of the page. From the Add Notification Topic page enter the new topic name and click on the Save button.

To change an existing topic name, click on the Edit button for the notification you want to change, change the topic name, and click on the Save button.  

Alt text is a short description of an image. Screen readers read it aloud to visitors who can't see the image, browsers show it when the image doesn't load, and search engines use it to understand the image.

Open the report under Real Time Reports > Alt Tags. It lists every page with at least one image that has no alt text. It checks images placed in the text editor and image fields such as a page's feature image.

How to fix it

1. In the report, find the page and select Edit in its row.
2. Find the image without alt text. A yellow message at the top of the edit form lists what the report found on this page.
3. For an image in the page text, select Edit on its section under Content Sections, then select the image, then select Change image alternative text in the small toolbar that appears above it.
4. For an image field (for example, the feature image), type into the Alternative text box under the image.
5. Write the alt text, then select Save at the top of the edit form.

Writing good alt text

• Describe what the image shows and why it's on the page, in one short sentence.
• Don't start with "Image of" or "Picture of". Screen readers already say it's an image.
• If the image contains words (a flyer, a sign, a chart), include those words, or put them in the page text.
• Don't use the file name, such as "IMG_2041.jpg".

Good to know

• The report also lists images marked as decorative (with empty alt text). If an image adds information, give it alt text. If it's purely decoration, it's better to remove it from the page.
• After you save, the report updates in the background, usually within a few minutes. Reload the report to check.

A blank page is published content with no text at all: nothing in the body and nothing in its content sections. Visitors who land on it find nothing, and search engines rank empty pages lower.

Open the report under Real Time Reports > Blank Content.

How to fix it

First decide whether the page is still needed, then do one of these:

• Add content. Select Edit in the page's row, add the text or sections the page should have, and select Save.
• Unpublish it. If the page is a placeholder for content that's coming later, select Edit, set Change to: Unpublished at the top of the form, and select Save. Visitors can't see it, and you can finish it later.
• Delete it. Only if the page will never be used. Select the arrow next to Edit, then Delete.

Before you delete

Other pages, menu links or buttons may still point to the page. After deleting, those links lead to a "Page not found" error. If you aren't sure, unpublish instead of deleting.

Good to know

After you save, the report updates in the background, usually within a few minutes. Reload the report to check.

A broken link sends visitors to a "Page not found" error or a site that doesn't respond. It frustrates visitors and makes the whole site look out of date.

Open the report under Real Time Reports > Broken Links. Each row shows the broken address (URL), the page it's on (Title), how many checks in a row have failed (Fail Count), the error (Status) and when it was last checked. Use the Link Type filter to see only links to other websites (External) or only links within your own site (Internal).

How to fix it

1. Copy or note the broken address from the URL column.
2. Select the page in the Title column, then select Edit on that page.
3. Under Content Sections, select Edit on the section that holds the link. Select the linked text, then select the Link button in the toolbar (or press Ctrl+K).
4. Paste the correct address and press Enter. If the page it pointed to no longer exists anywhere, remove the link, or the sentence around it.
5. Select Save at the top of the edit form.

Finding the right address

• For a page on your own site, open it in another tab and copy the address from the browser's address bar.
• For another organization's site, search their site for the same document or page. Organizations often move pages when they redesign.
• Open the new link once to make sure it works before you save.

Good to know

• Links are rechecked every two weeks, so a fixed link can stay on the report until its next check.
• Links can also be in buttons, menu links or link fields, not only in the text editor. If you can't find the link in the text, look through the rest of the edit form.
• Now and then a working link shows as broken, because the other site blocks automatic checks. Open the link yourself. If it works, ask your site administrator to mark it as ignored.

Link text should say where the link goes. Screen reader users often jump from link to link and hear only the link text, so ten links all called "click here" tell them nothing. Search engines also use link text to understand the page behind it.

Open the report under Real Time Reports > Click Here. It lists pages with a link whose text is "click here".

How to fix it

1. In the report, find the page and select Edit in its row.
2. Under Content Sections, select Edit on the section that holds the "click here" link.
3. Select the words "click here" and type words that say where the link goes. The link stays on the new words.
4. Remove any words the sentence no longer needs, so it reads naturally.
5. Select Save at the top of the edit form.

Good to know

• "Read more", "more info" and "learn more" on their own have the same problem, even if the report doesn't list them. Add what the link is about.
• After you save, the report updates in the background, usually within a few minutes. Reload the report to check.

A limited page has some text, but very little: fewer than 140 characters, about one or two sentences. Visitors who open it rarely find what they came for, and search engines see it as thin content.

Open the report under Real Time Reports > Limited Content. It checks basic pages only, not news, events or other content types.

How to fix it

First decide what the page is for, then do one of these:

• Add content. Select Edit in the page's row and add what a visitor needs: what this service or office is, who it's for, how to do the task, contact details and hours. Then select Save.
• Move the text. If the few lines belong on another page, add them there, then unpublish or delete this page.
• Unpublish it. If the page is a placeholder for content that's coming later, select Edit, set Change to: Unpublished at the top of the form, and select Save.

What counts

Only text counts, in the body and in the page's content sections. Images, embedded videos and links to documents add no characters. A page that is only a link to a PDF is listed here: add a sentence or two saying what the document is and who it's for.

Good to know

After you save, the report updates in the background, usually within a few minutes. Reload the report to check.

Visitors often arrive on a page from a search engine or another website. If the page isn't in the site menu, they can't see where they are or find related pages, and visitors browsing the menu can't find the page at all.

Open the report under Real Time Reports > No Menu Content. It lists published content that could have a menu link but doesn't. Use the Content type filter to look at one type at a time.

How to fix it

1. In the report, find the page and select Edit in its row.
2. On the right side of the edit form, open Menu settings.
3. Turn on Provide a menu link. The menu link title fills in from the page title; shorten it if the title is long.
4. In Parent, choose the menu item the page belongs under (for example, the department or section it's part of). A second dropdown appears if you want to place it one level deeper.
5. Select Save at the top of the edit form.

What you can leave

Not every page needs a menu link. These are fine to leave on the report:

• Pages that are reached on purpose from another page, such as one step of a longer guide or a page for a single event.
• Pages kept for a direct link only, such as a page printed on a flyer.

If a page is out of date and nobody would look for it, unpublish it instead.

Good to know

After you save, the report updates in the background, usually within a few minutes. Reload the report to check.

An orphaned file is a document or image uploaded to the website that no current page uses anymore. It's still online, so search engines can find it and show visitors an old form, fee schedule or notice.

Open the report under Real Time Reports > Orphaned Files. Each row shows the file name, where it's stored (Path), its size and when it was uploaded.

How to fix it

1. Open the file and check what it is.
2. If it's outdated or no longer needed, select Delete in its row and confirm.
3. If it's still needed, add it back to the page where it belongs (edit the page, link the file, save). It then leaves the report.

Before you delete

The report only knows about links on this website. A file can still be in use somewhere else:

• linked from an email, newsletter or social media post;
• linked from another organization's website;
• printed as an address on a flyer or a sign.

Deleting it breaks those links, and deleting can't be undone. If you aren't sure, leave the file and ask the person who uploaded it.

Good to know

• Files stay on the website until someone deletes them. They aren't removed automatically.
• A file only used in an older version of a page (a revision) still counts as orphaned.

A stale page hasn't been changed in over a year. Old hours, fees, names or dates make visitors doubt the rest of the site, and a page nobody has looked at in a year often has some.

Open the report under Real Time Report > Stale Content. The Last Updated column shows when each page was last saved. Sort by it to start with the oldest.

How to fix it

Read the page as a visitor would, then do one of these:

• Update it. Select Edit in its row, correct anything out of date (hours, fees, phone numbers, names, dates, links), and select Save.
• Confirm it. If everything is still correct, select Edit and Save without changes. The page leaves the report for another year.
• Unpublish it. If the page is no longer needed, select Edit, set Change to: Unpublished at the top of the form, and select Save.

Good to know

• Only save without changes after you've actually checked the page. Saving resets the date, so the report won't remind you again for a year.
• After you save, the report updates in the background, usually within a few minutes. Reload the report to check.

The main menu is the navigation across the top of your website. Its links are grouped into sections, such as Government or Services. You can add, reorder, rename, hide and remove links yourself.

Open the Main Menu

In the toolbar, go to Structure, then Menus, and select List links next to Main navigation. Your site may have other menus too, such as a footer menu; they work the same way.

The page lists the menu’s top-level sections. To see the links inside a section, select Edit child items in its row. A section’s page shows the section at the top and its links below it.

Add a Link

1. Select Add link.
2. In Menu link title, type the text to show in the menu. Keep it short.
3. In Link, start typing the title of the page and select it from the list that appears. You can also enter a page’s address, such as /pool-hours, or a full address to another website, starting with https://.
4. Under Parent link, choose the section the link goes in. Another list appears if you want to place it one level deeper, under a link in that section.
5. Select Save.

To add a link straight into a section, open the arrow beside the section’s Edit button and choose Add child: the Parent link is filled in for you.

When you’re adding a new page, it’s easier to add its menu link from the page itself, under Menu settings. See Page Settings.

To show text in the menu that isn’t a link, such as a heading for a group of links, type <nolink> in Link.

Change the Order

Drag a link by its handle (the cross-shaped arrows at the start of its row) up or down. A message says you have unsaved changes; select Save to keep the new order. The same works for the sections on the main page.

If dragging is hard, select Show row weights and give each link a number instead: lower numbers come first. Then select Save.

Rename, Move or Hide a Link

Select Edit in the link’s row. Change the Menu link title or Link, or choose another section under Parent link to move it, then select Save.

To hide a link without deleting it, clear its Enabled box in the list and select Save. It shows “(disabled)” and stays in the list, so you can turn it back on later.

The Edit form also has Display settings and Description. Description is text shown when a visitor hovers over the link. Leave Weight and Show as expanded as they are.

Delete a Link

Open the arrow beside the link’s Edit button and choose Delete, then confirm with Delete. This removes the link from the menu only: the page it pointed to stays on your site.

Deleting a section doesn’t delete the links inside it: they move up to the top level of the menu. Before deleting a section, move its links to the sections where they belong.

Tips

• Keep menu link titles to one to three words.
• Hide a link rather than deleting it if you might need it again.
• Pages that aren’t in the menu are hard to find. The No Menu Content Report lists them.

Taxonomy holds the lists of categories your content uses. Each list is called a vocabulary, and each choice in it is a term. For example, the Calendar Categories vocabulary might have the terms Community Events, Council Meetings and Holidays. When you add a calendar event, you pick one of them as its category.

Your Vocabularies

In the toolbar, go to Structure, then Taxonomy. Most sites have these vocabularies; yours may have others, or not all of them:

• Calendar Categories: the Calendar Category of calendar events.
• Councils and Committees: the Council / Committee that agendas and minutes belong to.
• News Category: the Category of news posts.
• FAQ Categories: the Category of frequently asked questions.
• Department: departments that content can belong to.

If a vocabulary is missing from your list, or you can’t add terms to it, your role doesn’t include it. Contact VC3 support if you need it.

See the Terms

Select List terms next to a vocabulary. Each row is one term.

Add a Term

1. On the term list, select Add term.
2. Type the term’s Name.
3. Select Save and go to list. Save keeps the form open to add another term.

The new term is a choice right away on every form that uses the vocabulary. Terms can’t be added from those forms, so add the term here first. On most sites, the Calendar Event form has a create a new term link under Calendar Category that opens this form.

On some sites, News Category terms also have a Description, a URL alias and a Published switch.

Rename a Term

Select Edit in the term’s row, change the Name and select Save. Content that uses the term shows the new name; you don’t need to edit it.

Change the Order

Drag a term by its handle (the cross-shaped arrows at the start of its row) up or down, then select Save. Forms list the terms in this order.

To sort the whole list A to Z, select Reset to alphabetical and confirm. This replaces any order you set.

Group Terms Under Another Term

A term can sit under another term, such as Youth Sports under Parks & Recreation. Drag it below the other term and slightly to the right, then select Save. Or, on its Edit form, open Relations and choose the other term under Parent terms. Most vocabularies don’t need this; keep lists flat unless there’s a clear reason.

The arrow beside a term’s Edit button also has Add child, which adds a new term under it.

Delete a Term

Open the arrow beside the term’s Edit button, choose Delete and confirm. Content that used the term no longer has that category. Any terms grouped under it are deleted too. This can’t be undone.

To merge two similar terms, first edit the content that uses the one you’re removing and choose the other term, then delete it.

Tips

• Keep names short and clear, and check the list before adding, to avoid near-duplicates such as “Council Meeting” and “Council Meetings”.
• Renaming is safer than deleting and adding again: content keeps its category.