This section considers the issues raised in developing new resources for the Whitehall On-line site. Resources will fall into two categories:

• Gateway resources
• Discrete resources

Gateway Resources

Gateway resources are pages that fit within the Whitehall On-line navigation gateway. These are pages that are called directly from the Whitehall On-line navigation tower.

A strict format has been designed that is simple and therefore quick to download and easy to find.

Any updates to the gateway resources should conform to the design and intention of the gateway. A template file has been provided for download.

Discrete Resources

It is likely that any new materials will fall outside the current gateway concept, therefore development of new materials is less restricted. However the following general points should be noted:

• Whitehall On-line is not only an information site - for many visitors it will be a first venture onto the web, thus it should be treated as a web learning experience in itself.
• If using plug-in technologies you should negotiate the provision of on-line support materials with the site administrator. Users of the site should be informed before they encounter new technologies of anything beyond standard html. Links to on-line support materials should be provided at this point.
• Where possible a simple approach should be taken to the design of new materials. Whitehall On-line seeks to gain the trust of all visitors and to foster confidence in navigation.
• All images should map to the web safe 216 palette.
• All images should be annotated using the ALT tag.
• Any e-mail link 'mail-to' tags should be supplemented by the page display of the e-mail address.
• If using forms the recipient's details should be displayed.
• All pages should be titled using the title tag within the head tags
• Links to external sites should be forced to open in a separate browser window for copyright reasons (using
  <a href="http://www.newsite/newpage.htm" target="_blank">
• The Site Administrator should be informed of any external site links so they can be added to the maintenance schedule.

New materials such as new on-line courses will be set to open in a new browser window. This gives the user constant access to the Whitehall On-line gateway in the background while running 'independent' course materials.

Simply, new on-line course materials should be designed as independent sites with their own navigation requirement built in as needed. It may also be useful to give such resources there own distinct graphic identity.

If possible alert users that the course is opening in a new browser window and that the gateway will remain available to them on their taskbar or by 'alt-tabbing'' before they click to the new course section. Shorter and simpler materials (such as discussion papers) that do not fit within the gateway should also appear in a new browser window. The graphic style should reflect the Whitehall On-line interface.

Download template for discreet papers. Follow this link and save page to your hard disk.