There are two main reasons that someone will visit your city or council website: one, to find information about the organization or area, and two, to complete a task. For both of these reasons, OC Service pages are an essential aspect of your website.
Through these pages, site visitors can find information about the services you offer, while you provide them with the tools to complete them. We’ve seen lots of service pages used for many different reasons, including services for:
- Applying for permits, ranging from building, tree removal, housing animals, and licensing
- Applications to council boards and committees
- Submitting payments, such as rate payments
- Pet registration and microchipping
- Submitting community events or programs
- Joining clubs, recreation centers, or libraries
Because there are so many ways to use an OC Service page, we’ve put together some tips and tricks that can give you some ideas for building your pages.
Service Page Features
The OC Service content type was designed to give you a template that allows you to easily input content into helpful sections. It features:
- WYSIWYG Editors: There are two WYSIWYG Editors available for you to introduce your service, including any eligibility requirements, and add supplemental information.
- Modes of interaction: Modes are structured tab editors that allow you to add different methods of the service. For example, you could have three modes of interaction for the online, telephone, and in-person method of completing the service. These also have a built-in numbered list function, in which you assign the H3 style to each main service step, so they are numbered.
- Contact details: The built-in contact detail field automatically pipes the detail you enter into a side panel. The phone number and email address will display as tel: and mailto: links, so site visitors can open them directly into the relevant app. Any location details will also be displayed here.
- Supporting information: This section features built-in accordion panels that you can add for expandable supplemental information, such as requirements or rules for the service, policies or disclaimers, or additional information related to the service. You can also use this section to add extra side panels or supporting links and documents, such as a PDF version of an online form.
Tips and Tricks
Here is some advice for creating your service page content:
- Use the primary WYSIWYG Editor to introduce your service. For example, you may want to include:
- When and under what circumstances the service should be completed
- Any eligibility requirements
- A list of supporting documents or information the user needs to complete the service
- Due dates for service completion or upcoming payments
- Emphasis boxes for temporary interruptions or changes to the service
- Your Page title should be the name of the service, instead of using phrases like “apply for” or “request a...” This will make your pages easier to find, particularly if you use the OC Module Interface service library which displays pages alphabetically by title. Users will find it difficult to find a service in big libraries if all your services start with “Apply.”
- When writing the content for your Modes of interaction, keep your main steps simple. For example, use phrases like “Prepare your information” and “Complete the online form” as your H3 steps, and use brief sentences or bullet lists to add supplementary information for each step. If your steps contain links to a form or online payment gateway, style your link text as call-to-action button links so they are eye-catching and instructive.
- Here are some ideas for using the Supporting information options:
- Accordion panels: Disclaimers for service completion, frequently asked questions, or rules related to the service like what you can put into the kitchen caddy you just requested.
- Side panels: A list of fees or due dates, information about policies or pages related to the service, information and a link to other related services.
- Related links and documents: Links to pages related to the service, such as the department page, related events or venues, or policy pages, and document links to any PDF forms for the service.
- If possible and applicable, provide information about the timeline for service completion. You should inform your community when they can expect to hear back from you or of any time limits to whatever they’ve applied for. For example, if an application for a food truck permit is only valid for 365 days, you must ensure the user is aware of that. You can provide this information in a side panel, accordion panel, or, if you haven’t used too many Modes of interaction, you can use the numbered list structure to build a timeline in the last tab container.
- Ask for feedback on popular service pages so you can understand any content gaps or barriers to service completion. There are several ways you can do this, including enabling Page Feedback for key services, or embedding a short OpenForm or EngagementHQ survey.