Program Goals: The goals of the program are to ensure consistency of design throughout LB&I Source and consistency of content presentation with the IRS Source vision in compliance with IRM 11.1.4, Content Policies and Standards for Intranet Sites.

IRS Source vs. LB&I Source: The LB&I Source migrated to the IRS Source platform as part of the Servicewide vision of moving all intranet content to the IRS Source as the replacement for the IRWeb.

Content Dispersal: The IRS vision for intranet content requires splitting content that was formerly housed in unique intranet sites. This vision is articulated by IRS Communications & Liaison (C&L) and consists of content in one of three platforms:

Authority for intra-site consistency is derived from IRM 11.1.4.4, Intranet Sites and Servers Must Be Registered.

The Director, LB&I Communications & Liaison (C&L) is responsible for overseeing the LB&I Source publishing standards.

The LB&I WUX Team is responsible for:

Content owners are responsible for:

SMEs are responsible for:

Content editors are responsible for:

An individual may hold multiple roles.

The LB&I WUX Team performs an annual audit where LB&I Source content owners review content to confirm permissions and ensure adherence to this IRM.

Most program-level direction, strategy, and change management decision making authority has been delegated to SharePoint Services.

The program uses multiple sources to establish controls. This IRM constitutes one of the controls.

LB&I Source content updates are restricted to the LB&I WUX Team and trained content editors.

See IRM 11.51.2.3.1, Currency of Web Content, for more details on web content controls.

Commonly used terms and acronyms are defined below.

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The W3Schools website is a good resource for learning HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and other web-related topics. See https://www.w3schools.com/.

Content on the LB&I Source will be maintained as long as it remains current, correct and applicable. Content that no longer serves a business purpose will be removed to ensure availability of storage space, and to eliminate confusion for users.

Content will be archived according to standard practice and will not be maintained on the web for historical purposes. Content that is required to be maintained for historical or other archiving purposes should be maintained by the content owner using appropriate record retention methods.

Content must also properly belong on the LB&I Source or have an exception from the LB&I WUX Team to temporarily house on the LB&I Source. Content with a temporary exception will be maintained for a period of one year, after which, it must receive another exception to remain on the LB&I Source. Other proper platforms for content are the Servicewide Knowledge Management (SKM) Virtual Library, and SharePoint collaborative sites.

If content properly belongs in the IRS Source platform, and has a Servicewide audience, the author/owner will coordinate with the LB&I WUX Team to have it placed on the IRS Source.

If the content properly belongs in the Servicewide Knowledge Management Virtual Library located at https://irsgov.sharepoint.com/sites/ETD-KMT or a collaborative SharePoint site, the author/owner will coordinate with the Human Capital Office (HCO) SKM team or the LB&I SharePoint Project Office to have it placed in the appropriate platform.

Webpages will be designed to inherently support accessibility. Section 508 (29 U.S.C. 794d – commonly referred to as Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act) requires all federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. To comply with this requirement, all visual content must provide a text-only format, available to screen reader technology. Additionally, the following considerations are to be followed:

Files uploaded, and made available for users to download via hyperlink, should be thoroughly checked for accessibility. While all parties involved are responsible for the accessibility of documents published to the web, content providers/contributors/authors have primary responsibility for correcting any accessibility shortfalls. The built-in accessibility tools in the Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe Acrobat Pro DC provide adequate functionality for ensuring Section 508 compliance. Documents may be author-corrected or submitted to the IRS Alternative Media Center for review before publishing to LB&I Source. Upon request, the LB&I WUX Team can provide guidance or resources to help with accessibility questions.

In general, the LB&I Source must be presented in an accessible format. Accessibility of web content is not a "compliant" or "non-compliant" issue, but rather a sliding scale, by which content can have varying degrees of compliance. The foremost goal is to provide an equivalent web experience for all users. Resources for accessibility include:

Content published on the LB&I Source must properly reflect the professional nature of the IRS and the LB&I. No content should be published that reflects poorly upon LB&I or the IRS.

All content published to the LB&I Source must have a valid business purpose and serve the overall goals of LB&I. Content should help users take a required action, learn or reinforce a skill, or find content related to their official duties.

The IRS’s policy on limited personal use extends not only to users of the LB&I Source, but also to content editors regarding content publishing. LB&I Source pages must not link to content that is inappropriate or prohibited by the IRS limited personal use policy.

Content should not be duplicated on the LB&I Source. This means that if content is available elsewhere on the IRS network, content editors should link to the relevant content. Additionally, if content is published on the public-facing internet (IRS.gov), LB&I Source pages should link to that content, rather than generate duplicate information. These rules are in addition to E-FOIA and SBREFA considerations.

Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) information should never be published to the LB&I Source. SBU content includes (but is not limited to) tax and personal (privacy) information. For example, publishing specific tax cases even if removing the taxpayer-identifying information is inappropriate and unacceptable.

If Official Use Only (OUO) information is published on the LB&I Source, it must be clearly identifiable as OUO information. Use the # sign to specifically indicate where OUO information is located. Also use the # sign at the top of the webpage, to indicate that it contains OUO information.

Source and attribution are an acceptable way to publish third-party information. However, care must be used to ensure that the source of the information is identified. Also, the information must not be embellished with information from the tax or personal record.

Every page on the LB&I Source should have a clear purpose and audience. If appropriate, consider a brief introductory sentence or paragraph to describe the purpose of the page.

The excessive use of images and graphics has a negative impact on website readability and performance (speed of page loading). Use images sparingly and only when the image adds value to the content it accompanies or supports a business goal. More information about accessibility standards can be found in IRM 11.51.2.3.2, Accessibility of Web Content. Information about graphics can be found in IRM 11.51.2.6.2, Image and Graphic Specifications.

Before webpages can be published, they must use proper spelling and grammar, and all included links must be functional and available to all of LB&I. Do not rely on the software’s spell check function. Proofread all content for readability and correct errors that may have been missed by the spell checker.

Identify your target audience and understand their needs. LB&I employees, managers, and executives are very busy. They need to access specific information on your webpages quickly and efficiently.

Clearly state the purpose of the page in the first paragraph. Introduce your topic at the start of your page and progress logically to the conclusion. Following this approach will help users determine if they are on the correct page. It can also help the search engine find the correct page, based upon the content. Ask yourself:

Brevity is key. People are uncomfortable reading content on the computer screen. Seventy-nine percent of web readers only scan. As a guideline, try to use about half the words you would use in print publishing.

Spelling, grammar, punctuation and invalid link errors significantly detract from the professional nature of LB&I content. Review all content to make sure it is error-free.

Write content following the Associated Press Stylebook and the IRS Style Guide at https://irsgov.sharepoint.com/sites/CL/SitePages/IRS-Style-Guide.aspx.

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The LB&I WUX Team maintains the top-level navigation landing pages and second-level child navigation pages.

Content editors may directly modify all third-level content pages.

The standard background color for LB&I webpages is white, with black color font. LB&I Source pages must maintain the standard color scheme used by IRS Source per https://online-design-guide-master-pl.irslabs.org/styles/colors. In addition, the standard colors from the One IRS Design Standards found at http://core.publish.no.irs.gov/docs/pdf/d12999--2011-08-00.pdf are preferred.

Contrast should be considered when using colors, and a scheme of light-on-dark or dark-on-light should be used. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 located at https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/ provide standards upon which Section 508 is based, require the following:

The usage of any other colors or schemes must receive prior approval from the LB&I WUX Team and will likely require coordination with the IRS Design Office.

The standard font, font color and size used for all basic text on the LB&I Source is Arial, size 18-point, regular, unformatted text, identified as Normal text style. Text placed on the LB&I Source is automatically displayed in 18-point Arial.

The One IRS Design Standards are preferred. The following identify the various font families used:

These font families are built into the global IRS Source styles.

Page headings (not to be confused with the page title displayed in the blue bar at the top of the browser window when a page is opened) are extremely important features of each webpage. They should communicate, at a glance, the subject of the page. The proper use of headings is important for visual display to users and ensures Section 508 compliance, by allowing screen readers to identify the structure of the page and "read" the content accordingly.

To properly use the headings and ensure Section 508 compliance, use standard heading styles to define section and sub-section titles. Do not use font style settings to format headings or mimic their appearance. The predefined heading formats that may be used are:

Bold: Boldface font should be used for emphasis of text. The use of bold font should be limited, and entire sentences should not be bolded. Bold font is identified by using the <strong> tag.

Italics: Italics should only be used for quoted material or to emphasize a word or phrase. When long sections of text are quoted, they should be indented to identify a blockquote. Use italics sparingly. Overuse of italics can cause eyestrain and detract from the readability of the text.

Underline: On the LB&I Source, underlined text should only be used for hyperlinks (a link to a website or page). It is reserved for automatic (default) styling of textual hyperlinks. Don’t underline text for emphasis - use bold or italics instead. The improper use of underlining can cause user confusion and the appearance of broken hyperlinks.

Highlighted Text: Highlighted text should never be used on the LB&I Source because it can cause significant eyestrain for sighted users and is ignored by most screen readers. Additionally, highlighted text on a webpage will often not display as highlighted when printed on a black-and-white printer.

Other Stylized Text: Other stylized text should be avoided because most practices can cause eyestrain and are often not Section 508 compliant. Additionally, certain styles are reserved for specific use, such as red-colored text, which is used to identify required fields, input validation errors, and other system exceptions.

General information pages should be kept concise and to the point. They should highlight current or important developments and provide links to other related content. Content should be organized into multiple pages when needed, to reduce webpage clutter.

When content must be on the same page, long pages of text should be broken into appropriate sections using the appropriate heading types, with in-page links to return users to the section navigation. "Back to the top" links should be provided at appropriate intervals to help in page navigation.

The page title should reflect the page’s content, be concise, and be meaningful to the audience. The page title appears in the title bar of the browser window and as a header at the top of the page. The title also appears as the label in bookmarks to the page, as the printed page header, and in search results, lists, and statistics reports.

It is best practice on initial page creation to create the title without spaces or special characters, which creates a concise URL. The page title can later be updated to be more descriptive without impacting the URL.

Per the IRS Style Guide located at https://irsgov.sharepoint.com/sites/CL/SitePages/IRS-Style-Guide.aspx, LB&I Source page titles should be in sentence case. Capitalize only the first word and any proper nouns, product names and publication, form and document titles.

As a general rule, all LB&I Source content should be in webpage format. LB&I Source runs on the IRS Source platform on a SharePoint server, which uses the server-side function of Active Server Pages. In the instance that file downloads must be used, the files will be stored in a document library, and the files provided via a link on relevant content pages. This ensures that users are provided contextual explanations of the documents, in line with the links to the document download.

The hyperlink formatting (color and underline) used on the LB&I Source, is the default for the current browser and version approved by IRS IT. This formatting should not be altered, without written authorization from the LB&I WUX Team.

When files are published to the web, a description of the file type and size must be displayed to the right of the hyperlink, in parentheses, as shown below:

Apply the following formatting standards to file hyperlinks:

The letter characters used for file type and size designations of hyperlinked files should match the standard convention for file systems:

The parenthetical file type and size, including the parentheses, should be placed in extra-small (x-small) font size, to preserve the readability of the page text.

The three primary image formats used for the web are:

Any images or graphics that are created in another format (for example, .TIF, .BMP, and .SVG) must be converted to either .GIF, .JPG, or .PNG before publishing on a webpage. Note that when you convert an image or graphic, certain aspects such as color or fonts may be affected, depending upon the converted format. Contact the LB&I WUX Team for help converting images to an appropriate format, without loss of color or resolution.

Optimize large image files to a web or screen resolution (or print resolution, if needed) before publishing to LB&I Source. Microsoft Photos and Paint are suitable for this task.

Graphics Interchange Format (.GIF): If you are offered different "save" options for the .GIF format; save the graphics as "89a Non-Interlaced .GIF files" . Animated .GIF files will not be used on the LB&I Source.

Joint Photographic Experts Group (.JPG): If you are offered compression options for the .JPG format, experiment with different compression levels to determine the best balance between image quality and file size. Due to bandwidth considerations, you should use the lowest resolution possible without degrading the image quality.

All non-text items, including images, must include an alternative (alt) text attribute. Most images should receive descriptive text. See IRM 11.51.2.3.2, Accessibility of Web Content, for more information.

Crop images to reduce image size and focus attention on the subject of the photo.

No other editing should be done to images, including graphics and logos, on the LB&I Source. This includes photoshop editing and touching up of images.

The IRS seal and Department of Treasury seal are used to represent the IRS and Treasury in certain formal communications. In general, seals are used only on IRS letterhead stationery, official communications to the public from the Office of the Commissioner, other official and ceremonial documents and materials, and building signage.

The IRS and Treasury seals are not interchangeable with the IRS logo because they have historical significance and are not easily distinguishable from other federal agency seals. Seals must be used in accordance with IRM 1.17.7.2.1.3, Official IRS Seal.

The official IRS logo is a graphic image consisting of the IRS eagle placed above or to the left of the acronym IRS. The IRS logo must appear on all published and electronic products, with the exception of internal forms, letters and IRS letterhead. The IRS logo may be scaled to suit the needs of specific applications but may not be modified or changed in any other manner, except when applied using the IRS Wayfinding system.

The IRS logo color may be black or IRS blue on white, or white on IRS blue. The IRS logo should always appear separate from any other images or elements of a page. No other content should touch or otherwise cover any part of the IRS logo.

IRS blue is PMS 301C / HEX #0065A4 / RGB 0-101-164. Black logos and blue logos must appear on white background. White logos may appear on an IRS blue background.

Contact LB&I C&L at lbi.communications@irs.gov with questions about proper use of the IRS logo.

Many IRS divisions and departments are using homegrown logos and graphic images to visually brand themselves. Because these logos and images are inconsistent from one division and department to another, the overall IRS brand is weakened, possibly appearing disjointed and confusing to IRS taxpayers, employees and stakeholders.

To promote consistent branding and visual identity across the Service, Media & Publishing Services created a visual organizing framework called the IRS Wayfinding System. This system offers IRS offices a consistent, effective means of identifying and distinguishing themselves, ending the need for homegrown logos.

The wayfinding system incorporates names of operating divisions and departments in conjunction with the IRS logo. It reinforces the One IRS concept, while also clearly identifying where various communications originate.

The wayfinding system also assigns standardized color palettes to IRS operating divisions and departments. Together with the department name, these assigned colors can help identify the source of published materials. See Document 12749, IRS Design Standards & Guidelines, for examples of how wayfinding logos and colors may be used in IRS publications and documents.

LB&I is fully embracing the IRS Wayfinding System. The LB&I Wayfinding logo may appear as blue-on-white, black-on-white, and white-on-blue.

LB&I organizations and departments should transition to the Wayfinding System and stop using homegrown department logos and graphics. LB&I department-specific wayfinding graphics can be requested from the LB&I WUX Team.

All federal agencies are required by law to make their websites accessible to people with disabilities. Content providers are responsible for ensuring that the content they submit for publishing is compliant with the accessibility standards of Section 508.

LB&I Source standard templates have been designed to ensure that all federal accessibility requirements are met. Do not alter these templates; doing so may alter their accessibility.

Additional resources for accessibility can be found at:

LB&I is committed to protecting the privacy of our employees in both electronic and paper records. Every webpage on IRS Source has a link to the Privacy Statement, https://irsgov.sharepoint.com/sites/IRSSource/SitePages/Privacy.aspx. LB&I program area sites should not create their own privacy policy page.

Employees may not publish to an IRS Source site any copyrighted material without license or written permission of the copyright owner. If there is any reason to believe that text, images, or other materials may belong to someone else, do not copy or otherwise use it without first obtaining written permission.

If permission to use copyrighted material has been obtained, its use on the LB&I Source is still subject to approval by the LB&I WUX Team and the Director of LB&I C&L. A copy of the written authorization to use the copyrighted material will be required for approval. For more information about this policy, refer to IRM 1.17.2, Publishing - Publishing Systems and Programs.

Official forms are published in the Electronic Publishing Catalog at http://publish.no.irs.gov/catlg.html. Do not publish copies of official documents that are available in the Electronic Publishing Catalog; link to them instead.

The Electronic Publishing Catalog Help Section provides instructions on properly linking to published products. Additional resources can be found at: