0.0 Introduction

0.0.1 Overview

The ACF public website is currently undergoing a redesign to organize content toward a "user-centric" orientation. The new ACF design, informed by usability testing, encompasses a “One” site architecture approach whereby all component websites present a common “look and feel” with similar display characteristics and a global navigation scheme for inter-relating all common topics maintained on the ACF website.

In addition to the Program Office and ACF Staff Office websites currently found on the site, a new layer of Topic Index Pages are being introduced that will contain links to related content that is already maintained by ACF Staff and Program Offices. For a detailed description of the new design, please refer to "Design Guidelines".

0.0.2 How to Use this Guide

The ACF Internet Online Guide has been created to assist web developers in designing ACF Program Office websites according to the standards set forth by the new ACF Internet Design Guidelines. The Guide consists of two basic sections — 1) Design Guidelines containing a description of the new site architecture and technical specifications, and 2) the Site Building Process containing instructions for downloading a Site Development Kit; working with the template files; explanation of the page layouts; and customization and html code guidelines. A Reference section has been included that contains Web Development Checklists and instructions for creating a new ACF Internet website using the ACF Internet Design Guide and Dreamweaver MX with the contents of the Site Development Kit. It is recommended that you read through each section of the Guide to familiarize yourself with its contents.

The ACF Web Services Team is available for technical support as needed and to answer any questions you may have about the using the Guide. To begin building your website, we recommend that you:

• Organize an internal design group;
• Meet with the Web Services Team to discuss the new design and how to use the Online Guide;
• Have the design group and web developers familiarize themselves with the Design and Customization Gudelines;
• Develop or update existing content and map the content to the new template page layouts;
• Have the web developers follow the instructions outlined in the Site Building Process;
• Coordinate with the Web Services Team to test your website.