CT - Accordion

Where is the latest Accessible Content Guidance?

You can find out about the latest Accessibility Regulations and guidance in the Accessibility area of our site.

You can learn about the 5 things you can do to help ensure your website is accessible. You can also learn about Siteimprove, our digital governance platform and how you can register to receive fortnightly accessibility reports for your site.

The following table shows the publish schedule of the main channels:

Channel Name	Publish Time
Home	:12 Hourly
Schools	:20 Every 2 Hours
Directorates	:30 Every 2 Hours
Research Centres	:52 Every 2 Hours
Sites	:35 Every 2 Hours
Elearning	01:55 Daily

Note: Edits will go live approx 45 minutes after the above publish times.

How do I register for CMS Training?
You can register your interest in CMS training on our training web pages.

Once you have registered your interest, we will contact you and then send you our self-paced CMS training instructions and resources. When you have completed the training tasks and reviewed all the information, you can request your training sign off via our Sitehelpdesk.
How do I request a new site?
The Change Request Process needs to be completed before you can begin developing a new site.

Contact your Change Initiator who will discuss your requirements with you and submit the Change Request Form on your behalf. This Change Request then goes to the Digital Operations Group (DOG). This group will review the change request and you will be informed accordingly of the outcomes.

Please contact us through our SiteHelpdesk to find out who your Change Initiator is.
Where are the CMS training videos and resources?
Our online training materials are a useful reminder of the tasks you covered in the CMS training course. Here you'll find a series of instructional pages which have been broken into two main categories:
- Common Tasks
- Content Types
Begin with the common tasks videos, as these are the things you'll need to know to be able to maintain your site, for example, modifying existing content; adding different types of links.

Specific Guidance

The Accordion content type allows you to display up to five headings, each with corresponding content that users can expand or collapse by clicking the +/- icon on the right of each heading.

Features & Options

You can include an optional introduction above the accordion.
You can choose to:
- Display the first item fully expanded when the page loads.
- Keep all items collapsed by default, showing only the headings.
This content type can be used on any page of your site. It’s particularly useful for organizing large amounts of information in a succinct, user-friendly format, such as:
- FAQs
- Conference schedules
It must contain at least two headings and corresponding content; otherwise, consider using a different content type, such as General Content.

Linking to a Specific Accordion Item

You can link directly to a specific accordion item—useful for directing users to relevant content.

How to Copy a Direct Link:

Click on the accordion title of interest. This will open the content and update the page URL.
Copy the updated URL from the browser’s address bar.
Share the link via email, chat, or embed it on another webpage.
Alternatively, right-click on the accordion title and select Copy Link Address (menu wording may vary by browser).

General Guidance

Organise Content Blocks: Avoid condensing all information into a single content block. If your content includes multiple data types, structure it into separate blocks for easier maintenance and future edits.
Use Headings Properly: Headings should be used to group content and establish hierarchy, not for styling. Proper heading usage improves both accessibility and readability.
Internal and External Links: When linking within your website, use Section Links and Content Links, as the Web CMS automatically updates these if content is reorganised. For external links, always use the full URL of the destination website or resource.
Third-Party Content and Custom Code: Do not embed unapproved third-party content or add custom code without consulting our team via the IT Service Desk.

Visit our section How to Write for the Web for some guidance on creating and maintaining content on your website.

Images and Documents

All assets for use on our website must be properly prepared before they are added to the Media Library.

Copyright Compliance: Ensure all assets are sourced responsibly. If using third-party assets, obtain the necessary permissions before uploading to avoid copyright infringements.
Accessibility: Documents must be fully accessible before being added to the Media Library for website use.
Optimising Assets: Images must match the required dimensions (Width x Height) for use with Content Types. These requirements are provided in field descriptions and form guidance. Document file size must be optimised for upload to the Media Library and for use on the web. The maximum file size for upload to the Media Library is 5MB (megabytes).
Filename Convention: Users must ensure that assets are named correctly before they are uploaded to the Media Library. Assets must only contain lowercase letters (a to z), numerals 0-9) and hyphens (-). Avoid spaces, special characters, or uppercase letters.

Visit our Media Library information section for more guidance and resources.

Accessibility Guidance

Please use the following guidance to help make sure your content adheres to accessibility regulations:

Do not create images with embedded text.
Do not add image Alt Text / Description to your image if it is decorative.
Do not use generic link text such as 'Click Here' and 'Read More'.
Do not add HTML elements such as span, div, h1 or CSS to any of the fields to change the structure or styling of the Content Type. It will be removed by our team.
Ensure that you have added a descriptive title attribute to any third party embeds on your website such as video embeds for Panopto and YouTube.

Visit our Accessible Content Guidance for more information on how to make sure your website content is accessible.

Form Field Guidance

Name: CT - Accordion

Description: A vertical list of headers that website visitors can interact with to show and hide sections of related content on a page.

Field Name	Field Description	Size	Type	Required
Name	Enter a descriptive and easily identifiable name for your content block.	80 Characters	plain text	Yes
Introduction (optional)	Add an optional introduction paragraph (limit: 2000 characters). Do not add HTML code, as it may break the layout and affect accessibility.	2000 Characters	HTML	No
Title 1	Add a short and descriptive title. Do not add HTML code, as it may break the layout and affect accessibility.	500 Characters	plain text	No
Text 1	Use the HTML Editor to write and structure text information. Do not add bespoke HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or unsupported code without Web Support Team approval.	8000 Characters	HTML	No
Title 2	Add a short and descriptive title. Do not add HTML code, as it may break the layout and affect accessibility.	500 Characters	plain text	No
Text 2	Use the HTML Editor to write and structure text information. Do not add bespoke HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or unsupported code without Web Support Team approval.	8000 Characters	HTML	No
Title 3	Add a short and descriptive title. Do not add HTML code, as it may break the layout and affect accessibility.	500 Characters	plain text	No
Text 3	Use the HTML Editor to write and structure text information. Do not add bespoke HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or unsupported code without Web Support Team approval.	8000 Characters	HTML	No
Title 4	Add a short and descriptive title. Do not add HTML code, as it may break the layout and affect accessibility.	500 Characters	plain text	No
Text 4	Use the HTML Editor to write and structure text information. Do not add bespoke HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or unsupported code without Web Support Team approval.	8000 Characters	HTML	No
Title 5	Add a short and descriptive title. Do not add HTML code, as it may break the layout and affect accessibility.	500 Characters	plain text	No
Text 5	Use the HTML Editor to write and structure text information. Do not add bespoke HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or unsupported code without Web Support Team approval.	8000 Characters	HTML	No
Collapse All	The first accordion item stays open by default. Check 'Yes' to keep all accordions closed when the page loads.	2048 Characters	Check Box	No
Margin Bottom	Increase the default whitespace between this content block and the one below by adding a larger margin. Maintain consistent margins between content blocks whenever possible.	80 Characters	Select Box	No

Queen's University Belfast