The California Highway Patrol Internet
Area Office Webpages
The CHP’s Internet is the public-facing web page representing the California Highway Patrol. The Homepage has recorded up to 1.5 million hits in a single 24-hour period, making it a very heavily-used website, and the first exposure of many citizens to who we are. It’s important to keep the CHP in the very best light possible.
Why does my Area Office need a web page?
In short, you don’t. This is not a requirement. But, if you wish to show off your area, alert people visiting or passing through to local areas of interest, or post answers to questions that you’re frequently called on, a web page reflecting your Area Office may be of benefit to you.
While the CHP as a whole is represented by the main website, you may wish to distinguish your Office apart from the others. The Dunsmuir Inspection Facility may want prominent pictures of Mt.Shasta, the Truckee Office may want views of Lake Tahoe, and the Los AngelesCommunicationsCenter may want to post images of the LA Cityscape. These differences are what will set your Office apart from the others.
What should be included in our Webpage?
Each Area Office is encouraged to produce content for their own webpage, but it is not a requirement. All webpages will need to conform to the California Standard as directed by the Governor’s office.
Currently, this standard includes the Standard Header bar across the top, Left-hand Navigation column, and the Footer based on the California Design.
The content within this frame has very little restriction, and can contain text, pictures, special effects (such as Flash images or rotating pictures). While there are some limitations to the *subject* of the content, the *medium* of content has very few restrictions. An office with someone web-savvy can create pages and send them to the Web Team for posting, or they can simply allow the Web Team to develop it for them.
Guidelines:
Each Area Office Webpage should contain a “Welcome” or Homepage, outlining the Office’s history, their area of coverage, and any interesting area-specific facts. Pictures are encouraged, and if there are many pictures, 3 to 5 can be posted on the Homepage, while the rest can be on a “Gallery Page” linked from the Homepage. Pictures should represent the CHP in a favorable light. (No accident pictures, drawn guns, etc.)
From your Homepage, links to relevant documents and programs, area news, and forms can be posted, allowing the user to view news and information. You may wish to include a list of Frequently Asked Questions that your particular office answers, eliminating some phone calls.
A “Welcome” note from the Office Commander is also encouraged, but not necessary.
Some offices have inquired about videos – they are possible, but please be aware that these will be posted on Youtube, and will be public-accessible from sources outside of your office internet page.
Humor, sarcasm, cartoons, and opinions – avoid them all. Be friendly, courteous, and helpful in all writings.
Maps should also be avoided. Streets change, roads open and close. Links to Google Maps do work, but any error on Google will be associated with our website. Generic maps and directions are fine, “Our office is located at 123 Main Street, off of I-15” but a map that has been scanned in can be made obsolete in a very short time.
The California Highway Patrol Internet
Do’s and don’ts:
Do post links to on-going programs. If your office conducts Child Safety Seat usage the first Wednesday of every month, post the time and location on the page or form.
Do post pictures of your area. Pictures make a page more interesting and friendly for the user. However – too many pictures can have the effect of distracting the user from the information he came to find.
Do post your Office’s Contact Information. Although it may be redundant, contact information should appear on all webpages produced – making it easier for the user to find.
Don’t include calendar information. Calendar dates tend to remain on pages long after the date has passed. “Upcoming Events” sections with dates in the past make the website look neglected, and deliver a negative impression to the user.
Don’t list personal information. Lists of officers or other employees at an Area Office should be avoided, both for safety and privacy reasons, as well as the frequent movement/retirement of employees – which make these lists frequently out-of-date.
Don’t depend on frequent updates. Generally, the pattern of keeping a page or pages updated lasts about 3 months; after that time, the updates tend to be fewer and fewer – if there’s time sensitive information out there, it will grow stale quickly.
In the “Do’s and Don’ts” list above, the area of focus is to keep your page informative, but generic. Include interesting information about your area, but avoid subjects that will require frequent updates.
How would I find an “Area Office Webpage?”
The CHP Internet is divided into several sections, and each section is accessible from tabs located across the header. To get to an Area Office Webpage, the user will click on the “Division and Offices” tab, select the “Assistant Commissioner Field” section of the Organizational Chart, then select the Geographical Division they’re wishing to view.
Each Division has its own webpage, with a brief history, facts, and contact information. Under a button labeled “Area Offices,” the user is able to view the address and phone number of each office within that Division. The link to an Area Office webpage will be from this page.
The site is organized in sections, and one section is “Divisions and Offices,” and has its own tab across the top of CHP Website:
Selecting the “Divisions and Offices” tab brings up the CHP Organization. The first box, “Assistant Commissioner Field,” contains the 8 Geographical divisions of the CHP. Click anywhere amongst those divisions, and the Division Selection Menu appears, along with a map of California, displaying the 8 Geographical divisions:
Selecting any one division will produce that division’s history, facts, contact information, and area office locater:
The button marked “Area Offices” produces a simple table of the offices contained within that division. From this list, we can link to an Area Office’s Web Page.
The Area Web Page is a link From the “Area Offices” page.