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Frontend templates

Topical events

Topical event are used to communicate government activity about high-profile events or in response to a major crisis.

How it works

Topical events pages used to communicate government activity about high-profile events or in response to a major crisis. Can be used for an event or crisis that is:

  • of high profile
  • that is current or relevant only for a short time (for example Ebola virus: UK government response)
  • of significance to the majority of GOV.UK’s users (ie the event is receiving extensive coverage by major news media such as the Today programme)
  • the responsibility of central government
  • linked to more than one government department or agency
  • likely to generate a high volume of content (not just one or two news stories)

Also worth noting that there may be a corresponding topical event’s about page, which is made using the topical event about frontend template.

Live examples

Complete list of examples available and page data on Content Data.

How it’s built

These are the underlying technologies that make-up the topical events front template.

Content schema

topical_event

What is a content schema?
A GOV.UK content schema is a JSON schema that defines the data structure of a piece of content. It determines what content and metadata attributes the page has.

Content type

topical_event

What is a content type?
Content type describes the types of pages that exist on GOV.UK. It’s stored in the content item (JSON) as document_type. It powers search filters in all finders and changes the content type label users see on GOV.UK pages.

Publishing app

whitehall

What is a publishing app?
Publishing apps are used by publishers across government departments to publish content to GOV.UK.

Rendering app

collections

What is a rendering app?
Rendering apps render content to GOV.UK end-users.

Components

The components used within the topical events frontend template
Component Source Publishing app input field(s)
Layout super navigation header Autogenerated in frontend template
Breadcrumbs Autogenerated in frontend template
Section break Autogenerated in frontend template
Heading Autogenerated in frontend template
Subscription links Autogenerated in frontend template
Feedback Autogenerated in frontend template
Layout footer Autogenerated in frontend template
Page title Customized by publisher

Name (required)
Lead paragraph Customized by publisher

Summary (required)
Govspeak content Customized by publisher

Description (required)
Metadata block Customized by publisher

Organisation
Share links Customized by publisher

Social media accounts
Image card Customized by publisher

Currently featured
Document list Customized by publisher

Documents
Organisation logo - only appears if lead organisation Customized by publisher

Organisation
History and insights
Date Description Document Format
January 2023

Mural board with a collection of findings regarding Topical Events and Campaign sites

 Research interview about Topical Events & Campaign sites (opens in a new tab) Mural board

How to report an issue

If you happen to come across an issue:

  1. Report it on Github (opens in a new tab).
  2. Once the issue has been added, update this document by adding the title and Github Issue's link.
  3. Give yourself a high-five.

Help improve this frontend template

To help make sure that this page is useful, relevant and up to date, submit a GitHub issue (opens in a new tab) with your proposed updates.