mt.gov Templates Compliance Criteria
At the direction of the Governor’s Office, all executive branch agencies must follow the mt.gov templates for all websites provided, supported and maintained on the Internet using state resources. The mt.gov templates are for static or information web pages; a different standard applies for eGovernment services. Any exceptions to complying with these criteria may be granted by the Department of Administration, Information Technology Services Division using the normal IT exception process and will be at the direction of the Governor's Communications Director. Exceptions for previous websites and templates do not apply.
The templates are to be implemented as delivered with the following customizable features.
Header
The banner photograph may be replaced by any text, photograph or graphic image. The name of the agency, program, or website will be displayed below the photograph area.
Menu
The menu may be either a clickable menu where the links appear as content on the page, or a dropdown menu (the dropdown menu may drop vertically or horizontally, however, only a vertical dropdown menu is supported with template code).
Footer
The mt.gov logo must always link back to http://mt.gov and be located on the far right side of the footer. Any link may be placed in the footer, however, by law each website home page must include links to the Privacy and Security Policy, Accessibility page and include the website owner contact information. The footer may contain two rows of links if needed and text may be placed below the footer (such as a mailing address and telephone numbers).
Content
Content between the menu bar and the footer is at the sole discretion of the website owner. The website owner must follow all applicable laws, rules and policies regarding the operation of a state government website.
Exemptions
Web pages that are exempt from the above criteria:
- eGovernment Services (see the eGovernment Services Certification Standard)
- Non-customizable delivered sites or services (such as off-the-shelf software that is not customizable or subscription services that do not allow a banner and footer to be wrapped around the page)
- Intranet pages, services, or applications (intranet is being defined as behind the state’s firewall and not available to those not authorized for use on the state’s data network)
- MS Office Documents, .pdf files, .txt files, .rtf files
- Publications or brochures
