Web content makeovers: Canada.ca Content Style Guide

Case study A: improve plain language and content structure

Before

The Employment Insurance (EI) program offers temporary financial assistance to Canadians and individuals who are legally entitled to work in Canada, have a valid Social Insurance Number and remain in Canada during their benefit period. One type of benefits that the EI program offers is regular benefits. EI regular benefits are offered to people who have lost their employment through no fault of their own (for example, because of a shortage of work or because they were employed in seasonal work) and who are ready, willing, and capable of working each day but unable to find work.

Flesch-Kincaid reading level: 17.2

After

The Employment Insurance (EI) program could give you temporary financial help if you lost your job.

To qualify for regular benefits, you must:

be Canadian or legally able to work in Canada
have a valid social insurance number
have lost your job through no fault of your own
be ready, willing and able to work each day but still can't find work
stay in Canada while you're getting EI help

Flesch-Kincaidreading level: 5.9

What we did

To improve this content, we:

created a list out of the items in the text
replaced complex nouns with verbs and complex verbs with simpler forms

Case study B: improve and simplify tables

Before

**Table: supporting families and communities (in $ millions), Budget 2013**
Supporting Families and Communities (in $ millions)	2013 to 2014	2014 to 2015	Total
Support for Families
Expanding Tax Relief for Home Care Services	5	5	10
Palliative and End-of-Life Care	1	1	2
Tariff Relief for Canadians Consumers	76	76	152
Subtotal—Support for Families	82	82	164

Investing in Communities
Housing for Canadians in Need
Homelessness Partnering Strategy		119	119
Investment in Affordable Housing		253	253
Investment in Nunavut Housing	30	70	100
Supporting and Honouring Veterans
Enhancing Veterans Affairs Canada's Funeral and Burial Program	63	2	65
Road to 2017	1	2	3
Investments in Arts and Culture
Massey Hall Revitalization	8		8
Expanding Library Services for the
Blind and Partially Sighted	3		3
First-Time Donor's Super Credit	25	25	50
Supporting the Economic Transition of Communities Economically Linked to the Chrysotile Asbestos Industry	3	5	8
Subtotal—Investing in Communities	133	476	609

Protecting Canada's Natural Environment
Nature Conservancy of Canada	20		20
Improving the Conservation of Fisheries
Through Community Partnerships	5	5	10
Salmon Conservation Stamp	1	1	2
Enabling Responsible Marine Management	4		4
Protecting Against Invasive Species	2	2	3
Expanding Tax Support for Clean Energy Generation		1	1
Subtotal—Protecting Canada's Natural Environment	32	9	41

Building Strong Aboriginal Communities
Resolving Specific Claims	27	27	54
First Nations Land Management Regime	2	7	9
First Nations Policing Program	18	18	36
Aboriginal Justice Strategy	11		11
Renewal of the Family Violence Prevention Program	12	12	24
Improving Health Services to First Nations Communities	24	24	48
Enhancing Mental Health Services in First Nations Communities	2	2	4
Subtotal—Building Strong Aboriginal Communities	95	90	185

Total—Supporting Families and Communities	342	657	999
Less funds existing in the fiscal framework	76	422	498
Less funds sourced from internal reallocations	1	11	12
Net fiscal cost	265	224	489
Note: Totals may not add due to rounding.

After

**Table 1: supporting families and communities for fiscal years 2013 to 2014 and 2014 to 2015, net fiscal costs (in $ millions)^{table 1 note 1}**
Cost breakdown	2013 to 2014	2014 to 2015	Total
Total: supporting families and communities^{table 1 note 2}	342	657	999
Less funds existing in the fiscal framework	(76)	(422)	(498)
Less funds sourced from internal reallocations	(1)	(11)	(12)
Net fiscal costs	265	224	489
Table 1 Notes Table 1 Note 1 Totals may not add due to rounding. Return to table 1 note 1 referrer Table 1 Note 2 See Table 1B for detailed breakdown. Return to table 1 note 2 referrer

**Table 1A: supporting families and communities for fiscal years 2013 to 2014 and 2014 to 2015, total costs (in $ millions)^{table 2 note 1}**
Initiatives and programs	2013 to 2014	2014 to 2015	Total
Support for families^{table 2 note 2}	82	82	164
Investing in communities^{table 2 note 3}	133	476	609
Protecting Canada's natural environment^{table 2 note 4}	32	9	41
Building strong Aboriginal communities^{table 2 note 5}	95	90	185
Total: supporting families and communities	342	657	999
Table 2 Notes Table 2 Note 1 Totals may not add due to rounding. Return to table 2 note 1 referrer Table 2 Note 2 See Table 1B for detailed breakdown. Return to table 2 note 2 referrer Table 2 Note 3 See Table 1C for detailed breakdown. Return to table 2 note 3 referrer Table 2 Note 4 See Table 1D for detailed breakdown. Return to table 2 note 4 referrer Table 2 Note 5 See Table 1E for detailed breakdown. Return to table 2 note 5 referrer

**Table 1B: support for families for fiscal years 2013 to 2014 and 2014 to 2015 (in $ millions)^{table 3 note 1}**
Initiatives and programs	2013 to 2014	2014 to 2015	Total
Expanding tax relief for home care services	5	5	10
Palliative and end-of-life care	1	1	2
Tariff relief for Canadian consumers	76	76	152
Subtotal: support for families	82	82	164
Table 3 Notes Table 3 Note 1 Totals may not add due to rounding. Return to table 3 note 1 referrer

**Table 1C: investing in communities for fiscal years 2013 to 2014 and 2014 to 2015 (in $ millions)^{table 4 note 1}**
Initiatives and programs	2013 to 2014	2014 to 2015	Total
Housing for Canadians in need	0	0	0
Homelessness partnering strategy	0	119	119
Investment in affordable housing	0	253	253
Investment in Nunavut housing	30	70	100
Supporting and Honouring veterans	0	0	0
Enhancing Veterans Affairs Canada's Funeral and Burial Program	63	2	65
Road to 2017	1	2	3
Investments in arts and culture	0	0	0
Massey Hall revitalization	8	0	8
Expanding library services for the blind and partially sighted	3	0	3
First-time Donor's Super Credit	25	25	50
Supporting the economic transition of communities economically linked to the chrysotile asbestos industry	3	5	8
Subtotal: investing in communities	133	476	609
Table 4 Notes Table 4 Note 1 Totals may not add due to rounding. Return to table 4 note 1 referrer

**Table 1D: protecting Canada's natural environment for fiscal years 2013 to 2014 and 2014 to 2015 (in $ millions)^{table 5 note 1}**
Initiatives and programs	2013 to 2014	2014 to 2015	Total
Nature Conservancy of Canada	20	0	20
Improving the conservation of fisheries through community partnerships	5	5	10
Salmon conservation stamp	1	1	2
Enabling responsible marine management	4	0	4
Protecting against invasive species	2	2	3
Expanding tax support for clean energy generation	0	1	1
Subtotal: protecting Canada's natural environment	32	9	41
Table 5 Notes Table 5 Note 1 Totals may not add due to rounding. Return to table 5 note 1 referrer

**Table 1E: building strong Aboriginal communities for fiscal years 2013 to 2014 and 2014 to 2015 (in $ millions)^{table 6 note 1}**
Initiatives and programs	2013 to 2014	2014 to 2015	Total
Resolving specific claims	27	27	54
First Nations Land Management Regime	2	7	9
First Nations Policing Program	18	18	36
Aboriginal Justice Strategy	11	0	11
Renewal of the Family Violence Prevention Program	12	12	24
Improving health services to First Nations Communities	24	24	48
Enhancing mental health services in First Nations communities	2	2	4
Subtotal: building strong Aboriginal communities	95	90	185
Table 6 Notes Table 6 Note 1 Totals may not add due to rounding. Return to table 6 note 1 referrer

What we did

To create these tables, we:

divided a complex table into several simple tables that are more accessible and can be viewed easily on mobile devices
applied the inverted pyramid approach to provide the summary or conclusion first, followed by increasingly detailed information
created a clear title for each table
updated titles to reflect capitalization requirements
used existing subheadings embedded in the original example to create table headers
made sure that the last 3 column headers reflect the unit value of the information in each column
added zeros to provide relevant information in otherwise empty cells
removed empty cells, rows and irrelevant information (underlining) and subheadings (such as those that were not aligned with the column headers)

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Date modified:: 2023-08-31

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Web content makeovers: Canada.ca Content Style Guide

Case study A: improve plain language and content structure

Before

After

What we did

Case study B: improve and simplify tables

Before

After

Table 1 Notes

Table 2 Notes

Table 3 Notes

Table 4 Notes

Table 5 Notes

Table 6 Notes

What we did

Page details