DPAweb follows the same communications protocols as DPA print and e-mails sent to staff or the public. If you are not authorized to post to DPAweb (i.e. director,section-head,regional manager, etc) please have your supervisor, appropriate section manager, or the division's information officer sign off on your contribution to DPAweb.

Here are a list of simple programming tags that will help you format your stories on DPAweb.

<p>paragraph break</p> 

creates a paragraph break

<h1>Big Header</h1> creates a
Big Header

<h2>Normal Header</h2> creates a
Normal Header
 

<a href="/link">Link</a> creates a
Link

<u>Underline</u> creates a
Underline 

<b>Bold</b> creates a
Bold 

if you need a bulleted list:
<ul>indented list</ul> creates a

unordered (indented) list
<li>list item 1 </li> creates a
• list item 1
• list item 2

For spacing and paragraphs just use 'enter'. The program will automatically insert page break tags for 'enter'. This makes it easy for non-html users to make simple news posts without knowing any html programming. If you do use programming tags in your story, you will have to use a <p></p> to create a paragraph break.

By using just the above tags we will keep DPAweb clean, and be sure that our stories are consistent.

Tips for adding news to DPAweb

First, you need an account on DPAweb. Contact Curtis Nelson or Clay Butcher to get one. Either Curtis Nelson or Clay Butcher in the Workforce Technology and Communications unit can give you a short tutorial on how to post news on DPAweb for your section.

Write for online, not print. To draw users into the text and support scannability, use well-documented tricks:

• subheads
• bulleted lists
• highlighted keywords
• short paragraphs
• the inverted pyramid (more about the inverted pyramid story format)(what is newsworthy?)
• a simple writing style, and
• de-fluffed language devoid of marketese.

Here are some tips for media/web writing.