UW Medicine.org
Alert specifications

UW MEDICINE WEBSITE ALERTS

 

Objectives

The objective of an alert is to inform our customers about critical matters that may impact their access to care or their health. Alerts should provide clear, accurate, actionable information in a timely manner for the duration of relevancy.

Whenever possible, include an in-line action for a user to take so that they can readily address the issue explained in the message.

 

Applications 

Alerts should be used to:  

• Communicate to visitors on matters that may impact their health (e.g., pandemic, extreme weather, disasters) 

• Communicate delays/limits to access or any critical operational announcements (e.g., a facility closure or delay in opening) 

• Announce a clinic closure or relocation 

 

Alerts should not be used to: 

• Announce the arrival or departure of providers from a clinic  

• Share health-related information (e.g., promote news stories) 

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Type and Requirements  

 

There are two levels of alert on the UW Medicine website:  

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• Sitewide – Requires approval of Senior Director of Digital Strategy. Alert content must affect most of our site’s visitors (e.g., pandemic, weather alert). 

• Specific pages (e.g., locations, specialties) - Requires approval of designated content owner. May impact most of the visitors on these pages (e.g., changes to a clinic’s hours of operation).  
   

Planning   

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• Alerts should be sent as a web request at a minimum of one week before the go-live date.  

• For an emergency alert, please contact Lorem Ipsum at loremipsum@uw.edu and Dolor Sit Amet at dolorsitamet@uw.edu.

• For alerts that have an impact on locations, please contact Lorem Ipsum at loremipsum@uw.edu and Dolor Sit Amet at dolorsitamet@uw.edu to evaluate adding the alert to Google My Business (GMB) listings. 

• Requests should include clear justification, instructions, go-live date, duration of the alert (if known), and approval from the appropriate owner.  

• If an alert already exists on the page, justification for the new alert and preferred order of prioritization is required. 

• The Digital Experience team will provide guidelines on color, icon choice, etc. 

  

Specifications 

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A sitewide alert can have only one subject per alert (e.g., blue alert for COVID-19) 
 

Main: Blue alert  

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• 160 characters max (including spaces) 

• 2 lines on web; 5 lines on mobile 

 

Extreme: White alert (can show below the blue alert in cases of multiple crises (e.g., weather concerns during a pandemic) 

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• 160 characters max (including spaces) 

• 2 lines on web; 5 lines on mobile. 

• To be used during extreme weather conditions (snow, ice, heat, air pollution) 
   

On-page: On-page alert will only show on a page or set of pages 

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• 160 characters max (including spaces) 

• 2 lines on web; 5 lines on mobile.