WORK IN PROGRESS
Web Style Glossary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Abbreviations
- Abbreviations such as eg, ie, etc, hr, yr should not be used. Type in full or find a different way of constructing the sentence.
- Do not use points in abbreviations or spaces between letters: US, mph, eg, ie, etc.
- For days and months, use first three letters, no stop
Example: Mon, Tue Wed; Jan, Feb, Mar
Acronyms
- In most cases acronyms have no periods: NHS, UHI, ADA, etc.
- For less widely known abbreviations, spell out the complete name in the first reference followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis. Aberdeenshire Disability Action (ADA) and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI)
Ages
An 8-year-old (not eight-year-old),
a 21-year-old man; Tony Blair, 47, not aged 47; the woman was in her 20s, not twenties.
Spell out if 1-9, ie Sarah, aged four.
Ampersand (&)
Use in company names only when the company does, ie Johnson & Johnson, but never as shorthand within text
Apostrophes
The possessive in words and names ending in 's' also takes the singular (Jones's, James's).
Use apostrophes when writing: two years' experience; 20 hours' work, three months' training.
Don't use apostrophes when making plurals of numbers, letters, or acronyms.
Example: 1990s, CDs, Under 5s, children's games
Single apostrophes used to abbreviate years require a single open-quote mark and not the single close-quote mark.
ExampleHe was born in ?99 rather than He was born in ?99.
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Bullet pointsWhere the list consists of single words that relate to the previous sentence all initial letters should be lower case. Punctuate as follows:ExampleWe sought the views of:trainees,SHOs, andconsultant surgeons.Where the bulleted list consists of short sentences or phrases that relate to the previous sentence, all initial letters should be lower case. Punctuate as follows:ExampleThe course was designed to:introduce students to the basic concepts;familiarise students with the terminology; andprovide basic relevant statistics.Where the list consists of longer, complete sentences, punctuate as normal, ie:ExampleThe course provides a simple and effective mechanism for recording and managing trainees' progress.A final statement of the trainees' intentions may be submitted to the advisory board.-CapitalizationMinimise the use of capital letters for entire words and titles - only use when absolutely necessary ? a word or two in capitals is fine but avoid the use for continuous textCapitalize the first letter of every word in all headings. Otherwise, only use upper case where absolutely necessaryCapitalise specific references, but lowercase general references.Seasons: No capitals for spring, summer, autumn, winter; capitals for weekdays, months and feast-days (Ascension Day, pre-Christmas business).CommaItems in a series. Here, the comma may be considered to stand for a missing ?and? or ?or?. John mowed the lawn, Mary did the cooking and Frank lazed around. He came, saw and conquered. The committee considered sugar, beef and milk products. Insert an additional comma before the final ?and? (or ?or?) if needed for clarification: sugar, beef and veal, and milk products. A comma also comes before ?etc.? in a series: sugar, beef, milk products, etc. but not if no series is involved: They discussed milk products etc., then moved on to sugar. Commas also divide adjectives in series: moderate, stable prices. but not if the adjectives do not form a series: stable agricultural prices. In the second example, ?stable? modifies ?agricultural prices?, i.e. the phrase cannot be read as ?stable and agricultural prices?.Commas are always inside the quote mark.Use the serial comma where it clarifies the meaning.Exampleanimals, vegetables, and mineralsCompound WordsCompounds may be written as two or more separate words, or with hyphen(s),
or as a single word, and many compounds have followed precisely those steps: data base, data-base, database. One indication of whether words should be joined or separated is stress: underpass is a single word, but under way should be written as two words.Comprise/ComposeThe parts compose (make up) the whole; the whole comprises (includes) the parts, the whole is composed of the parts. Never use is comprised of.Computer termsThe following list cites recommended spellings, capitalization, and acronyms for a few commonly used computer terms. For more, please see the recommended reference books.browserCD-ROMCGI, CGI scriptdBasedomain namee-mailextranetfilenamefirewallFTPFlashhome pageHTMLhyperlinkhypertextInternetintranetJavaJavaScriptJava appletMacintosh, MacmetatagMicrosoft Word; Word for Windowsnav baronlinePCPerlPostScriptSSLURLWeb pageWeb siteWebmasterWorld Wide Web; WWWBack to top-DashDo not use a double dash (--). Use the em dash (?) instead, with no space before or after the em dash.-Ellipsis MarksEllipsis marks may be used to indicate either a pause in speaking or an omission of one or more words.When the ellipsis marks are at the end of a sentence (and words have been omitted),
include an ending punctuation mark also.Do not use ellipsis marks in place of a colon.Farther/FurtherFarther refers to actual distance. Further means 'to a greater degree.'ExampleShe moved farther from home. Let's discuss this further.Fewer/LessFewer refers to number and is used with plural nouns. Less refers to degree or amount and is used with singular nouns.ExampleFewer accidents were reported. Less effort was required.The expression less than precedes plural nouns referring to periods of time, amounts of money, and quantities.Exampleless than 10 years agoThe expression or less is used after a reference to a number of items.Examplean essay of 250 words or lessFilename ExtensionsGive filename extensions in all caps with no period.Examples.DOC file, .GIF fileFooterEstablish a footer syntax and stay with it throughout a site, or within portions of a site that are part of a unit. Here's an example.[site name] is owned and operated by [linkto]Company Name, blurb about company. Send questions or comments about this site to: [mailto] keyword@company.com Copyright ? 2000, Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.FractionsA fraction that stands alone is spelled out with hyphenation.Exampletwo-thirds of the respondentsA mixed number is not spelled out.Example2xFull StopFull stops are not used if they can be avoidedPeriods (full stops) are always inside quotation marks.Back to top-GraphicsWhen referring to graphics and images, avoid phrases that refer to page layout, such as "see table above," or "as in the figure below."LinksE-mail links should be easily identifiable as such and should include the e-mail address being linked to, for those who use e-mail applications outside their browser.ExampleSend comments to webmaster@company.com. not Send comments to the Company Webmaster. Links to external pages (WWW pages outside the current domain) should open in a new browser window, unless there is a specific reason to link to an interior page, and permission from the site owner has been granted.Avoid extra underlined space at the beginning or end of hyperlinks.ExampleHarcourt Brace College Publishers not Harcourt Brace College Publishers Avoid including the end punctuation of a sentence as part of a hyperlink.ExampleHere's a great Joe DiMaggio biography. not Here's a great Joe DiMaggio biography.Try to avoid the usage "click here" when introducing a link,unless you have a specific reason to call attention to the site navigation.HyphensDo not use hyphens to indicate a number range. Screen readers used by visually impaired people have different ways of reading them.Example9 to 25 years old not 19-25 years oldUse hyphens sparingly but to good purpose: the phrase crude oil production statistics needs a hyphen to tell the reader whether ?crude? applies to the oil or to the statistics.Sometimes hyphens are absolutely necessary to clarify the sense: re-cover ? recover; re-creation ? recreation; re-form ? reform; re-count ? recountThere are few hard and fast rules, but note the following examples: well-known problem; broad-based programme (but a broadly based programme); user-friendly software; two-day meeting; four-month stay (but four months? holiday) cost-of-living index; low-interest loans; flood-control measures;.In adverb-adjective modifiers, there is no hyphen when the adverb ends in -ly: occupationally exposed worker, a beautifully phrased sentenceMany phrases are treated as compounds, and thus need a hyphen, only when used as modifiers: long-term effects but policy for the long term, large-scale redundancies but production on a large scaleUse a hyphen for co-ordinate and derivativesLists (bulleted or numbered)If the list items comprise long clauses, long phrases, or sentences written on separate lines, use a period after each bulleted/numbered/lettered item.Do not use ending punctuation for single words or short phrases in a list.Bulleted and numbered items may or may not be indented.ExamplesPlease get me the year-end sales figures for:The software departments in each of our California stores.The hardware departments in each of our Texas stores.The furniture departments in each of our Florida stores.Please buy the following items:milkpaper towelscerealLogoAlways make sure your style guide has information about proper use of your company's logo and/or your site logo, including all variations and approved methods of rendering in techniques such as Flash.Back to top-NHSNational Health Service - it is not necessary to write out in full.NumbersSpell out numbers from one to ten except for these situations:When a sentence begins with a numberWhen the numbers have technical significance or need to stand out for quick comprehension (such as tables, statistical material, money amounts, clock time, proportions and ratios, percentages, sports scores, academic grades, highway designations, abbreviations and symbols, technical reference to age, periods of time, page numbers, lists of recipe ingredients, and numbers referred to as numbers)When a range of two or more related numbers are used, at least one of which is higher than ten (example: from 6 to 15 people attended)Insert a comma in numbers in the thousands, ie 25,000.ParenthesesKeep usage of parentheses to a minimumPercent/PercentagePeriod - see Full StopPunctuation NotesStops (. ? ! : ;) are always followed by only a single (not a double) space;See individual listings for specific punctuation marks.-Quotation MarksUse straight quotes and apostrophes instead of curly or smart quotes, unless the usage needs to differentiate between the open- and the close-quote mark (see Apostrophes above).Periods and commas are always inside the quotation mark; semicolons are always outside the quotation mark, and exclamation points can go either way depending on whether the exclamation point is for the whole sentence or just a portion of the sentence.Use double quotation marks for quoted words, phrases, and sentences. Use single quotation marks for quotations within quotations and when emphasizing a word under discussion.ExamplesMy sister said, "You'll come to a bad end someday!" and The impeachment hearings, brought into question what 'is' means.SemicolonsSemicolons are always outside quotation marks.Depending on the size of the type, semicolons may not always be easy to see on a Web page. If this is the case, use an em dash instead.Always use a semicolon or an em dash to punctuate independent clauses that are not introduced with a conjunction or the word which.SpacingLeave a space between slashes for easier searching of wordsExamplesupport / contact / adviceSpellingUse British spelling, but remember that influences are crossing the Atlantic all the time (the spellings program and disk have become normal British usage in data processing, for example).Answerphone not ansaphoneWords in -ise/-ize. Use -ise. Both spellings are correct in British English, but the -ise form is now much more common in the media. Using the -ise spelling does away with the need to list the most common cases where it must be used anyway. (There are up to 40 exceptions to the -ize convention: the lists vary in length, few claiming to be exhaustive.)---Back to top-That/WhoUse who when referring to an individual person. Use that when referring to a class or type.ExamplesShe is the only Spanish speaker who works here and he is the kind of guitar player that gives lessons.That/WhichUse that to introduce a dependent clause.Use which to introduce an independent clause.Which can also be used to introduce a dependent clause when there are already two or more parallel dependent clauses in the sentence, when that has already been used in the sentence, or when the construction this ... which, that ... which, these ... which, or those ...which is used.ExamplesThe chocolate bar that I bought yesterday melted in the car. The story on Internet travel, which I emailed to you yesterday, listed several good Web sites.Which, that, and who may be used to refer to organizations using this rule: use which or that when referring to the organization as a single entity; use who or that when referring to the individuals in the organization.Time ReferencesAvoid unclear time perspectives, such as should be determined soon, or relative time references, such as last year. Time references should be made in terms of specific dates, even if there is publication date on a Web page to which the user can refer.UnderliningTo avoid confusion with hyperlinks, do not use underlining.Who/WhomUse who whenever you could substitute he, she, they, I, or we. Use whom whenever you could substitute him, her, me, them, or us.ExamplesWho did they say won the race? and To whom were you talking?Back to top