Web policies - VA Web Governance
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Web policies
Web policies
OIT Office of Communication
2024-10-10T07:39:21-04:00
Standards and policies
VA is committed to providing quality information and service to Veterans, family members and stakeholders on our website(s).
We are required to honor the rules that govern all VA web activities. This includes posting links to specific types of information as required by law and posting other links on VA web pages deemed appropriate because they serve VA’s mission and are relevant and useful to VA website visitors.
Required links that must appear on the web policies page are posted below.
Disclaimer
–Pertains to references on VA’s website to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, and that those references do not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States government. Required on all pages in lieu of repeating the same statements on pages with external links or possible endorsement implications.
Warning Notice
–A notice regarding the intended and authorized use of a VA website.
Section 508 Accessibility
–Pertains to the requirement to make online information and services fully available to individuals with disabilities.
Security Protocols to Protect Information
–Pertains to providing a secure environment for exchanging information between VA, Veterans, and other website patrons.
Information Quality
–Pertains to the requirement that information provided by VA on its websites be complete and accurate to the maximum extent possible.
Digital Rights, Copyright, Trademark, and Patent Laws
–Pertains to using copyrighted, patented, or trademarked information.
Avoid Weak ‘Links’ in Your Digital Chain
–Pertains to links to non-
VA
websites for information or authoritative sources.
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
–FOIA provides that any person has a right to access to Federal agency records, except to the extent that such records are protected from release by a FOIA exemption or special law enforcement record exclusion.
No FEAR Act Complaints Data (No Fear Act)
–Requires all federal agencies to post summary statistical data pertaining to employment discrimination complaints filed by employees, former employees, and applicants for employment. Posting of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) data on agency public websites is intended to assist Congress, federal agencies, and the public on assessing whether (and the extent to which) agencies are fulfilling their EEO responsibilities.
Regulatory Flexibility Act (Small Business)
–VA will properly consider the impact of its rulemaking activities on small entities.
VA’s Significant Guidance Documents
– A list of VA  significant guidance documents.
Regulations.gov
– Portal for federal rulemaking allowing the public to find, review, and submit comments on federal documents that are open for comment and published in the
Federal Register
21st Century IDEA
– Aims to improve the digital experience for government customers and reinforces existing requirements for federal public websites.
View the VA reports
Website URLs
All VA-owned websites and web-based applications hosted within VA-controlled infrastructure must use a *.va.gov Uniform Resource Locator(URL). Where possible, websites and web-based applications hosted in commercially controlled infrastructure should use a *.va.gov or *.gov URL for public access.
Websites and web-based applications that require a VA.gov address
Websites and web-based applications hosted on infrastructure owned and managed by VA (on-site).
Websites and web-based applications hosted on VA-managed cloud infrastructure (e.g., Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Azure).
VA-managed websites and web-based applications hosted on cloud infrastructure managed by others on behalf of VA (e.g., WordPress VIP).
Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service  (PaaS) solutions that have VA branding and are intended for public use.
SaaS and PaaS solutions intended for internal use that provide capabilities to use a custom VA.gov URL (e.g., ServiceNow).
Websites and web-based applications that do not require a VA.gov address
Any solution given a written exemption by the VA Chief Information Officer.
Joint programs with other government organizations.
SaaS and PaaS solutions used by VA, but with an infrastructure not managed by VA in any way. This includes third-party services that can make information available to VA clinical staff (e.g., No VA data applications and services), social media, and email marketing.
SaaS and PaaS solutions intended for internal use (not Veteran facing) that cannot provide a VA.gov URL (e.g., Microsoft 365, Box.com, etc.).
Websites, web-based applications, and social media platforms with an infrastructure not VA owned and operated.
All VA URLs must include the host portion — www (internet) or vaww (intranet). These can be used in tandem with “naked domains” (those without www or vaww) but solely using “naked domains” is not allowed. All “naked domains” will redirect to the www or vaww version as the authoritative URL.
Using content from non-government sources
VA internal and external websites may not repost complete articles, content, images, or other intellectual property from non-federal government sources without permission. VA websites will only use original, VA-authored or co-authored articles, or contracted content, or articles from other government agencies.
Original articles may include hyperlinks to non-government articles if proper link
disclaimers
are provided. The only exception to this requirement would be articles originally produced by VA that appear on a non-government website first (e.g., Medium, Nextgov, etc.), provided no changes have been made to the original material and credit is given to the VA author.
Links to external articles or pages can be used provided the material has been checked for accuracy and does not contradict or confuse readers regarding VA policy. Again, link
disclaimers
must be included on the page.
This update is in effect for all articles created on or after August 27, 2020. Articles created prior to this date should be reviewed and updated if possible. The VA Web Governance Board is authorized to have articles contrary to VA or Federal policy removed immediately.
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Date last updated October 10, 2024
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
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Search content
Ensuring that users have equal access to information and functionality regardless of ability, disability or the type of computer technology used. Creating accessible content is integral to web design philosophy, and accessibility features must be incorporated into all aspects of the design process. See
VA’s Section 508
page for more information.
Accessibility-508 Compliance
Meeting all mandates required by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Public Law 93-112, codified as amended at 29 U.S.C. 794d to ensure that all web pages are accessible to disabled persons. See
VA’s Section 508
page for more information.
Alternate Text
Information included in hypertext markup language (HTML) tags to describe graphics a visually impaired person or screen reader can use to help interpret the graphic.
Alternative Formats
Web file formats that are not universally accessible but are available to the public via specific software or plug-ins. These formats include, but are not limited to: PDF, WordPerfect, Microsoft (MS) Word, MS PowerPoint, and statistical data files, such as SAS, SPSS, SQL, and MS Excel. See
VA Viewer Software
Artificial Intelligence
Computer programs used to replace human tasks or decision-making (sometimes including Machine Learning to allow the AI to improve over time either on its own or from user feedback). Some examples are: autocorrect, maps that offer a best route to drive as they analyze traffic, systems serving as virtual assistants (Microsoft’s Cortana, Apple’s Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, etc.), systems for marketing or advertising to offer a user content they are expected to be interested in due to who or what they “follow” on social media and their previous browser activity, searches, and time spent on content, financial service applications which monitor purchases and send alerts for unusual activity, “bots” used in chats for self-help which appear as if they’re people you are chatting with but are retrieving information from a knowledge base.
Authoritative Source
Official source. An authority is a person or institution having the final say on a particular matter. The authority decides what is right or wrong and others follow suit. While this word may be used to refer to government or supervisory institutions, authority can also be a source of information.
Blog
Discussion or informational website comprised of postings in reverse chronological order. Blogs allow readers to respond and comment on the original content posted. See VA’s official blog (
VA News
).
Branding
Items that help identify a website. Branding can be accomplished by using approved logos and templates. As part of the enterprise-wide Digital Modernization initiative, VA is consolidating and simplifying VA web pages, applications and services into a single, consistent, and unified experience on VA websites. (See
VA.gov design guide
Browser
A software application used for retrieving and presenting information on the web. VA web pages must be “browser neutral” to the maximum extent possible. Browsers provide users the ability to choose the language they would like to view content in for full access to information in their primary language.
Caching
Is a technique that stores a copy of a given resource and serves it back when requested. When a web cache has a requested resource in its store, it intercepts the request and returns a copy of the stored resource instead of re-downloading the resource from the originating server, which speeds up opening the page.
Cascading Style Sheets
A style sheet language used for describing web page presentation (look and formatting). CSS defines how different elements, such as headers, links, and text will appear such as defining fonts, colors, and paragraph spacing.
Cloud Services
Network of servers that provide remote data storage or processing services via the internet, which are owned and maintained internally or externally. (see also Infrastructure as a Service, Low-Code No-Code, Platform as a Service, Software as a Service)
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