Topic

Use for a topic that collects content around a common theme. Only Digital Services can make new Topics. Please get in touch.

Goals	Create a single entry-point to a variety of content related to a category. This allows content to be grouped by theme rather than just by department.
Audience	Residents primarily, but can be used for other groups (like https://sf.gov/topics/healthcare-providers-and-covid-19 )
How it works	On each topic, you can choose sub-topics, which we call “Child topics”. This will create a tree hierarchy of children topics within other parent topics. Designating a “top level topic” makes it appear in the list on the homepage and Services list. You can organize things in the services and resources sections by subheading, as in Agency pages. You can also move services and resources within subsections by dragging into the order you want. See a comprehensive list of topics on SF.gov (last updated March 2024)
Tagging and adding services	News, events, transactions, and step by steps are added automatically if they are tagged with a topic. For news and events, the most recent 3 show with a See more news or See more events button below. Transaction and step by step pages tagged to the topic will automatically appear under the heading More services on the tagged Topic page. Automatically added transactions and step by steps will not be visible when you edit the Topic page. On a Topic page, you can also manually add a transaction or step by step page under the heading Services. Once manually added, those pages will no longer show in More services.
Examples	Coronavirus (COVID-19), Budget
URL	sf.gov/topics/name-of-topic
New topics	Only DS can make new topics. We are building them up slowly, so that we can get the right people in the group to talk about each new topic. If there is a topic you want to tag your services to that doesn’t exist yet, let us know. We can make one as a draft, so you can link to it as you publish pages, but it won’t show up until we’re ready to publish.
Topic governance	At the moment we’re building out topics for groups that are moving to SF.gov, and where the topic, like Contracting and Business, involves many departments. We are bringing together governance groups for major topic areas. These groups have staff from several departments who decide on what needs to be on topic pages, and how topic pages in that area should relate to each other.