Choosing content to move to SF.gov
Make the best use of your time by weeding out content NOT to move to SF.gov.
Moving a page to SF.gov means you’ll need to select a content type, rewrite the content, and get sign-off from multiple people in your department.
Then after you move the page you will need to keep it up to date. This means you need to check the page yearly.
That’s a lot of work! So only move the pages you need. Anything you leave behind will be findable in the archives, and if you do need that information, you can move it later.
Reasons to move content to SF.gov
It’s vital for San Franciscans
It will help San Franciscans get something they need
It’s meant for residents, businesses, or other groups that you serve
Your department is the single source of truth on that topic
Your department is the highest known authority on this topic, like if your department creates the rules or policies
No one else produces this information
You have a legal obligation to publish the content (meeting agendas, etc)
The page is active
Old pages about programs that have closed may have historical significance, but folks can find them in your archive
Most departments aren’t moving old information on department activity
Someone owns the information and will maintain it
For example, you can move a page about a program your department runs, but only if there is someone in your department who is running that program.
Move it if it’s part of someone’s job to maintain the content in the future.
It’s up to date, and you can keep it that way
People don’t trust web pages and sites if they are wrong or out of date.
The information you’re sharing is still true now, and when it changes, you’ll be able to update the page right away
It’s not duplicating anything
The content is not already somewhere else on your site or somewhere else on SF.gov (if it is, link to it!)
Another department doesn’t produce the same or similar content (if they doit is, link to it!)
If your pages duplicate anything from a higher authority (like the federal government or the CDC), don’t move those pages, link to the higher authority pages.
Committing to a page migration
When you decide a page should be moved, you need to:
Assign a subject matter expert (SME) for that page
Rewrite and check the content for accuracy
Rewrite and focus the page on the user and what they need to do
Special case: meetings
Remember, your old site will be archived, so previous meeting records will be visible there. The difference will be that you won’t be able to edit those archived meeting records.
Most departments start posting meeting information on SF.gov a bit before their move, and move with just those newer meetings. They then link to the archived meetings for anything before that date.
Many departments have 2 archives for older meetings. We suggest you make 2 resource tiles to help folks find these older meetings, like TIDA did.
Resource with more recent date range will go to your old http://sfgov.org meeting page
Resource with older date range will go to your FTP archives, likely before 2015
You could also recreate more of your older meetings on SF.gov, either a calendar year or several months. But you don’t need to. Follow our naming conventions to add your archived meetings.
When you start making meetings on SF.gov, you will have more in the “past meetings” and “upcoming meetings” section!
Archives
Digital Services will make an archive from your old site. We will agree on a date to archive, just before you redirect. See a sample archived site.
Everything from your old website will still be viewable, but you won’t be able to make any changes to the page. If you need to make changes to archived pages, you must make a new one on SF.gov.
Redirects
We will keep track of any pages from your old site you want to forward to your new site. We’ll set up this spreadsheet of old and new URLs as you move your site.
Where you don’t set a redirect, we will forward your old page to your new department homepage.