Introduction
LocalGov Drupal (LGD) is a free and open-source Content Management System built by councils, for councils. LGD offers all the power and flexibility Drupal does, and brings with it preconfigured page types, content components, editorial workflows, and much, much more.
In this Dive into LocalGov Drupal series we cover LGD's main features for Content Designers and Site Builders, starting with Council Services and their content.
Services: overview
It's one of every council site's main objectives to ensure constituents know about the services their council offers. Typical services include Environment, Education, Transport, Planning Applications, Housing, and Culture and benefits.
Services are often grouped together, and tend to have a lot of content. To keep things organised, LGD provides three modules that each provide one new Page Type:
- LocalGov Services: Landing Page
- LocalGov Services: Sub-landing Page
- LocalGov Services: Page
Service Landing Pages lead to Service Sub-landing Pages, which in turn lead to Service Pages that provide specific service-related information.
Example
To learn what Hammersmith & Fulham is doing to safeguard the environment, visitors browse to the Environment Service Landing Page, which leads to the Climate and ecological emergency service Sub-landing Page, which leads to the What we're doing Service Page:
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Service Landing Pages
Service Landing Pages are the “homepage” of each council service section.
They typically show links that lead the visitor deeper into the service section, and are often split into two areas:
- links to common tasks
- links to Sub-landing Pages
Links to common tasks provide quick access to often-requested tasks: reporting something, paying for something, or requesting information about something.
Links to Sub-landing Pages lead the default navigation to lead visitors deeper into the service section.
Example of a Landing Page
→ Image above taken from Hammersmith's council website. It shows the Service Landing Page for their "Environment" Service.
Service Sub-Landing Pages
Service Sub-landing Pages have a similar goal to Service Landing Pages, and help guide the visitor to the content they're looking for.
Though you can organise Landing Pages and Sub-Landing pages however you want, they're typically built the same way, showing common task buttons, followed by links to Service Pages.
→ Image taken from Hammersmith's council website. It shows the Sub-landing Page for their "Climate and ecological emergency" Service.
Service Pages
Service Pages are the main content type used to display service information about a specific topic. They are often the end of a user journey.
Service Pages are intended to show a limited amount of information so visitors don't end up scrolling up and down endlessly. For more complex content needs you can break up the content in several Service Pages or consider using the Guide or Step-by-step Page Types, which we will cover in a next part of this series.
Example
→ Image taken from Hammersmith's council website. It shows the Service Page for their "What we’re doing" Service.
Wrapping it up
LocalGov Drupal provides specific Page Types for service-related content:
- Service Landing Pages
- Service Sub-landing Pages
- Service Pages.
Service Landing Pages typically lead to Service Sub-landing Pages, which lead to Service Pages.
Summary
- LocalGov Drupal provides specific Page Types for service-related content:
- Service Landing Pages
- typically lead to Service Sub-landing Pages, which lead to Service Pages.
- serve as the homepage for each council service section.
- Service Sub-landing Pages
- are similar to landing pages; they guide visitors to specific content within the service section.
- Service Pages
- are the main page where visitors find detailed information about a specific service.
- are typically reached via a Service Landing Page or Service Sub-landing Page.
- Service Landing Pages
Further reading
- LGD Docs on Services: https://docs.localgovdrupal.org/content/features/services.html#introduction
Looking for a quick way to get started with LocalGov Drupal?
We offer both live training and on-demand remote training on Drupal and LocalGov Drupal.
We've supported Hammersmith & Fulham, Audit Wales, and the Shared Resource Service Wales on their learning journey, and would love to work with your teams too.
→ contact us at [email protected].