Standard page structure

Nurse smiles at patient

Each service page uses a standard structure

We use a full page layout for all new service pages, with a clear page header

This provides a clearer journey for visitors, and importantly, stacks better for people visiting our website on a mobile device (about 60% of visitors).

To achieve this structure for a service page, follow these steps:

  1. Apply a page header with an image. Use the banner style: Barts - banner default (warm or page style). Place this in the top row area from layout view.
  2. Chunk content within 'boxes' or 'split' boxes. This uses the style placement Barts - Blocks - Text image left or right (default) and is placed in top header so that it is full-width. The formatting of this text uses a header 2 (you will need to apply this in the text editor section) for the first line and normal text from there. The larger text in the second paragraph is formatted automatically - think about this text carefully as it can help drive home your key messages.
  3. 'Hide' the left hand navigation. You do this in layout view and click 'hide' in the side nav placement.
  4. Don't place any content in the right column
  5. Use menu placements or ctas to signpost to child pages, or other relevant pages for that page.
  6. Use "Accordion - NHS Blue" only for larger blocks of text where patients need more information.
  7. Consider features such as consultant lists or slideshows of patient feedback (see below for instructions on these)
Midwife holding newborn baby

[Service name] in header 2

  1. This text content placement is placed in the top row.
  2. Describe your service in no more than two sentences, thinking about its unique selling points.
  3. Set headline to showing as no (under edit text content placement in layout view)
  4. Use style placement: Barts - banner - default

Using a block box

Nurse smiling

Using a block box

  1. Chunk content within 'boxes' or 'split' boxes (this is a block box). Block boxes stretch across the full width of the page, so are best placed in the 'top row'. Split boxes are not stretched across the full width of the page. Consider what style placement would be best for your page as you design it.
  2. Apply heading 2 to your top header within the main content box
  3. At the layout view, click 'edit text content placement' and select 'no' for show headline
  4. Use the style placement: Barts - Blocks - Text image left or right (default) for a warm white option. This would be the standard option to use for a trust-wide service. However, if the service is offered at multiple hospitals, you can also use the block options by hospital (such as our maternity page). Please be mindful of the page appearing too much like a rainbow though, and keep colours to a minimum.
Staff smiling at patient

Using a split box

  1. Chunk content within 'boxes' or 'split' boxes (this box is a split box). Split boxes do not stretch across the full width of the page; block boxes do. Consider this when designing your page.
  2. Apply heading 2 to your top header within the main content box
  3. At the layout view, click 'edit text content placement' and select 'no' for show headline
  4. Use the style placement: Barts - SPLIT - Text image left or right (default) for a "white" option. This would be the best option to break up coloured boxes. However there are split box style placement options for each hospital, and if your service is trust-wide, you can apply these hospital colours if it helps you to break up sections of your page. Please be mindful of pages appearing to be a series of block colours though - use these sparingly.

Developing your service content

So you want a page on the website?

Having a page on the website is one the best ways of communicating with patients, partners and the public. In a standard week, there are 34,000 visits to the website. Every time someone visits the site, they look at 2.35 pages in 1:47 minutes. That is just 45 seconds per page... and more than half of these visits are on a mobile device (55%).

People are busy, and they need information quickly.

What are you trying to achieve with your page?

Every page is designed to help people choose Barts Health as a place to be cared for, or to find out more information about their care before their appointment. Some of the typical things people visit a service page on our website is to:

  • find the contact details of the service
  • find out about the ward or facilities
  • get to know their consultant
  • refer a patient to the service, or
  • decide on whether they wish to work for the trust

Start planning your page

What problem are you trying to solve?

Start with understanding what your audience(s) need to know about your service.

  1. What do they contact you about?
  2. What are the main questions they ask you?
  3. What do people get frustrated about?
  4. Can you improve their experience before and after their care?
  5. Can you save time for yourself or others by providing the information they need in an easy to use format?
  6. Can you promote your service to potential employees?

These small actions should form the basis of what your page needs to communicate. Consider what information is already provided by trusted websites, such as NHS.uk and reputable charities. It may be more appropriate and suitable to signpost to these organisations than duplicate resources and effort.

Make a formal request for a page

Managing your website page may sound easy, but to do it right, you need someone dedicated to manage the page, keep it up to date and keep it useful.

Before you jump in, read our guide: The role of a page owner[docx] 179KB.

If you are sure you're the right person, and you have thought about your page, please complete an online request form.

You've been accepted!

Now the hard part begins... what content is going on your page?

  1. Start planning your content using our guide: Writing for the website template[docx] 372KB. 
  2. Use our writing for the web tips, which can be found on this page.
  3. What documents are you adding to the page? Make sure you have saved them with a useful file name and thought about a description for when you add each one to the system. Collate them into one folder so you have everything together for when you need it.
  4. What are the search terms you want to add to the page, and each document, to help people find your content? Add this to your Word document for easy access later.
  5. Consider linking your consultants to the page, and encourage these consultants to complete their biography using our Consultant directory profile template [docx] 17KB.

Tips for writing for the web

Always think about accessibility

  • One in 30 people live with sight loss in the UK
  • Screen readers, magnifiers and recognition software can help people access online content
  • This demo shows how screen readers work (skip to 6 min 30)

Top tips

  • Avoid ‘click here’, ‘on the website’, ‘read more’ hyperlinks. A good test is to see if you can understand what the link is about when read in isolation. If the hyperlinks were read out in a list would they make any sense?
  • Reading age is important to consider. There are lots of online platforms to check it for you: Microsoft can rate your readability in Word and Outlook or try the Hemingway Editor
  • Colour contrast and font size can make a big difference
  • Avoid italics, underlined copy, CAPS and justified text – all make information harder to read (and look a bit dated)

Readability, readability, readability

  • People read more slowly and less accurately online than in print
  • Most people don't read every word and instead skim through the text
  • Don't waffle - get the who, what, why, when, where in at the start. Website heat maps show that most people don't scroll down.
  • Subheadings (headings 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the CMS text editor) are your friend - using them will really help readers navigate your content. 
  • Bullet points and numbered lists make it a lot easier to digest content, which is why the Buzzfeed format is so popular
  • Use short sentences and short paragraphs – GOV.UK has a limit of 25 words per sentence
  • Use words your readers use and remember the average reading age in the UK is 9

We are visual people. Photos, gifs and videos improve engagement. Formats like the Mail Online are so popular because they're very image-led. 

Writing your content

  • Less is more. What do patients, potential employees and the public really need to know?
  • Does it already exist? Other organisations may have already published it. Think about version control.
  • Text – does it make sense? Is the language friendly? Are we using the word “we” instead of Barts Health etc. Is it using our communications style guide [pdf] 4MB? Is it “digital-friendly”?
  • Have you incorporated key search terms?
  • Links – are they working? Are they in the right place? Are we referencing documents in the media manager that need a link adding eg patient information? Can we help users by linking to other pages on the site? Are links embedded within appropriate text – eg no published URLs in full, email addresses or ‘click here’. Would it be better to style it as a call to action (eg the page links in borders on our work with us page)? 
  • External links – need to open in a new window or tab. You do this in 'target' when you add your URL.
  • Unless there is an excellent reason for doing so, content should be listed alphabetically. This enables everyone to understand the structure as it’s a common language.
  • Consider what your page looks like for people with visual impariments. For more information on creating an accessible page, you can watch this film.

Managing the media manager on the CMS

  • Does the document already exist? Other colleagues may have already uploaded the same document. Think about version control. Always replace the document with an updated version rather than add it as a separate document to keep the link active and the media manager tidy and up to date.
  • Save documents in the appropriate folder for ease of access eg media > 02 External Barts Health website > 01 Our services > Patient information leaflets
  • Ensure it is named appropriately so that it can be accessed via a search. This is particularly important for documents as the name is listed in full when someone uses the search function. You need to add a plain English description and keywords for search optimisation.

Text content naming structure

  • Name of page: name of text content headline eg Perfect webpage: writing for the web tips. This makes it easier to find and keeps content areas together.

Chunking your text to make it easier to read

Use boxes and accordions for your pieces of text content

Use boxes and accordions to present supporting information for your page. Separate your information into logical sections so that people can quickly access the information they need.

This page uses two different box options: a St Bartholomew's box (at the top of the page) and a Newham 'split' box (second box from the top).

List accordions alphabetically by title unless there is an exceptional reason not to - this is because everyone understands an alphabetical list, whereas other ordering may be subjective to you as a publisher.

To style a box or accordion, there are specific style options for each hospital. If it is a general page, you can use a mixture of box colours but use Accordion - NHS Blue for accordions.

On hospital-specific pages, you can use:

  • Barts - Accordion (hospital name)
  • Barts - Blocks - text image left or right (hospital name)
  • Barts - SPLIT - text image. You have both left and right options for each hospital.
  • Maternity - text image right. This has a white background.

Use headings

Use headings to chunk text up so that it is easy to read; do not use bold. Formatting a heading correctly allows screenreaders to jump down the page and automatically assigns it the right spacing and colour. This doesn't happen when you just use bold. You can change the heading in the text editing area using the dropdown that defaults to the word 'normal'. 

Heading 2

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 5
Heading 6

Normal

Headings within a box

The boxes (for each hospital) have been designed to automatically apply a certain font style. This includes a coloured heading, a larger subhead and normal body text.

To apply the coloured heading, select your text and choose heading 2.

Your subhead should be written in a way that contains the most important information your patient needs. You don't need to apply any heading formatting to this text - it happens automatically as long as you've created a new paragraph.

Your normal body text will appear automatically from the third paragraph.

Split boxes are styled manually using appropriate headings.

Use a call to action

This page uses a call to action in the green box to signpost to the digital team. You should use this to signpost people to important webpages, emails or documents.

To create this, when you add this link, select advanced from the URL window. Under stylesheet classes, type the letters cta This will automatically apply the border to the text with the URL.

Use a pull-out quote

Is there a key message or quote you would like to pull out? Use a pull out quote by clicking on the quote marks in the text editor.

It pulls out the whole paragraph, so keep it restricted to a single quote or key message.

Adding documents to a piece of text content

The most accessible way to present information is in plain web text format. However, there are still occasions when you need to upload a document.

These may be patient information leaflets or a form that people need to complete, but can't be made into an electronic form. For example:

Aminoglycoside antibiotics[pdf] 242KB

Making your forms searchable and accessible

Note the format of how this document appears: the name, extension and file size helps readers know what they will be downloading. Luckily, these are automatically added when you link a document into a piece of text content - so please don't remove them.

Follow our guide to uploading a document to the CMS

By helping people access the things you know they want quickly will make them very happy customers.

Using menu placements

These boxes are signposts to other pages you may wish to link to. 

This is called a menu placement. To create one, follow these steps:

  1. Under publishing in the left hand menu in the CMS, click on the plus next to menu placement
  2. The name is what the menu placement is called in the back end. Please follow our naming structure by calling it the name of the page, colon, name of the menu placement (eg this one is called perfect webpage: page options).
  3. The headline is what will appear on the front end - although you will normally hide this (more on this later)
  4. Choose the site you want to publish to (in this case it would be Barts Health NHS Trust)
  5. The type is manual
  6. Choose the pages you want to add to the menu placement. There may be multiple pages with the same name, so make sure you choose the right one. To do this, click on the magnifying glass, type in the name of the page again and click filter. Click on the two overlapping boxes - this will give you the details of the page, such as the site it's linked to. When you have found the one you want to use, click on the name of the page. This will add the page to your menu placement.
  7. Repeat for each of the pages you want to link to.
  8. Click publish to site.
  9. Add your menu placement to the page by clicking on the plus in article content on your page layout.
  10. Click edit menu placement from the layout view. 
  11. Select off for showing the headline.
  12. Next to show image, select thumbnails. You may not have yet attributed a thumbnail to your page. To do this, go back to your menu placement and without clicking edit, click on each page name - this will direct you to the page you're linking to. You can then add a thmbnail and icon image to the page. You may wish to add the image to both to give you more options in the menu placement design. Click publish to site when you've added your images.
  13. This particular menu placement style is a 'default' style, so you don't need to select a style option for this one.

Other menu placement style options you have available

  • An icon menu, which is what we use on #Shapeyourstory in critical care. This style option is called 'Barts Health - icon menu', and you need to select icons for the menu placement image option (as opposed to thumbnails)
  • A floating icon menu, which is what we use on the Cancer service page to direct people to the child pages. You will also need to attribute an image to the menu placement for this option. This style option is called 'Maternity floating icon menu'.
  • An icon menu without a border, which is what we use on the Cancer service page to direct people to our hospital pages. This style option is called 'Maternity menu placement'.

Creating a feature

You may wish to create a feature of something noteworthy, such as a slideshow of patient feedback from Twitter or heroes or the thank you forum.

To create a slideshow, you must start with creating your slides.

  1. Go to slideshow > slides from the left hand CMS menu.
  2. Press + next to slides
  3. Add an image and text within 'image overlay text'. This should be short and can include a link (either as a call to action style or standard)
  4. Repeat for as many slides as you wish, eg between 2-5 works well.

Then you can create your slideshow.

  1. Go to slideshow > slideshows from the left hand CMS menu.
  2. Press + next to slideshows
  3. Click on slides
  4. Click the + button and search for the slides you just created.
  5. Publish to site
  6. Choose the placement style "Barts WeShare slideshow".
  7. Place in bottom row from layout view so that it stretches across the full width of the page.

Adding a news blog

You could also profile news stories from one of our blog feeds. To do this using an already existing blog:

  1. In article content, click the plus sign and choose feedback > blogs mini list
  2. Choose the blog from the drop down list
  3. Add the page that the full blog sits on
  4. Order by date posted (descending)
  5. Choose the number of items to feature, eg 5-7
  6. Choose the placement style: "Barts Health news slider (full width)
  7. Save page placement
  1. Woman holding baby crying
    The Barkantine maternity centre
  2. Midwife holding baby with mother
    Having your baby at the Barking Birth Centre
  3. nurse with baby
    Having your baby at Newham Hospital
  4. Woman with baby on chest in hospital
    Having your baby at The Royal London Hospital
  5. Mother holding new born baby
    Having your baby at Whipps Cross Hospital

We remember our patron

Adding a video

Adding a video to your page

Film content is more engaging than text alone, so promote your films on your landing page.

I've created this using a content collection and styled with the placement style "Barts - video placement [hospital name]".

To create a content collection:

  1. Create your pieces of text content. This will be a separate piece of text content for your film and your text. Name them using our naming style: page name: subject
  2. Your video size should be 450 high and 100% wide. You change these sizes in the 'source' code in the text content.
  3. Under publishing in the CMS menu, click the plus next to content collection.
  4. Name your content collection using our naming style and add a headline.
  5. You don't need to select a type.
  6. Search for your pieces of text content within the "text items" field.
  7. Publish to site.
  8. Turn the heading off on your content collection by selecting edit content collection from the layout view and selecting no headline.
  • RLH maternity feedback

    We will never forget the lovely sonographer lady who told us we were expecting a girl. Our midwives were professional and supportive and I cannot thank the staff enough for a healthy baby. You are stars!

    Baby Melissa, Royal London Hospital 

  • couple with baby

    We visited Whipps Cross hospital as we had not felt our baby move in the womb for a few hours, and we needed an emergency c section. This was nerve wracking but all the staff were sensitve and reassuring. Baby and mum are both now doing well and a large part of this is due to the support we got from Whipps Cross in the first days of her life. 

    Duncan, Kathrin and Baby Iris, Whipps Cross Hospital

  • Baby Aurora, The Royal London Hospital

    The midwife that was with me, Martina, was so kind and gentle, her smile made me feel safe and protected. I was scared but the entire staff was amazing and guided me through the whole process. Despite all the pain and my birth experience going exactly the opposite as I planned it, I still feel it was the best thing and all the staff who assisted me was great. 

  • Afsara, Royal London Hospital

    I am currently 40 weeks pregnant and I was treated with the most care and respect by one of the lovely midwives who work here. I just wanted to share my personal experience of feeling listened to at the time. She kindly answered all my questions and my husbands (believe me we had a lot of questions too).   

  • BAME maternity photo

    My experience has been amazing! I got pregnant at the start of the pandemic and staff have always been so reassuring and comforting even with restrictions. My labour experience was so incredible and thats because the staff were so supportive and encouraging. My partner was allowed to stay the night with me and we never felt rushed. Staff also supported my breastfeeding journey.

    Rahala, Barking Birth Centre

  • Postnatal mum baby and midwife

    My experience at Newham Maternity was absolutely world class! I can't praise and thank the team of midwives and doctors here enough. They provided the utmost personal care, knowledge, admirable skill and professionalism when I had my twins in March 2022. I've been talking about them nonstop and have been so thankful to God that I had my babies there. I would highly recommend many times over!

    Kiki, Newham Hospital

  • Jo, Ryan & Baby Cora, Barkantine Birth Centre

    A sincere and heartfelt thank you to all your team for our safe delivery of baby, Cora on 26th October. 

    We loved their energy & determination during the pushing stage and felt they went above and beyond in the aftercare post delivery. 

    Overall, despite planning a home birth, we understood that being induced was the right decision. At every step we felt informed, supported and cared for in our birth journey.