Date adopted:
August 12, 2018
Last update:
August 26, 2020
Before you create guidance content you must decide whether your users are:
- members of the public (or small to medium-sized businesses) with no specialist skills or experience - ‘non-specialist’ users; or
- specialists who are trained or experienced
Guidance for non-specialist users
Guidance for non-specialist users must:
- reflect the ‘here and now’ practical information people need
- only reflect future changes if they will definitely happen and affect choices a user can make right now
It must not:
- be aimed at a small, extremely specific or niche audience
- require expert knowledge to understand and take action
- duplicate content better served by other organizations (eg charities or NGOs)
- give advice or offer opinions
Guidance for specialist users
Guidance for specialist users is created by government departments.
It should not cover guidance for non-specialist users. It also should not include:
- the policy behind the guidance
- why the guidance exists (the problem being solved)
- how much money has been allocated to the service
- who runs the service
- aspirational statements about the intended outcome of the service
Some users want to know the detail of policy, but our analysis and research has shown that they are not the same users as people looking for guidance.