Writing for the Web

Writing Tone

Tone is the personality or “feel” we want our website to convey — the general impressions we’d like our visitors to have when they visit our website. Listed below are key themes we want the OVPR brand to represent:

 

 

 

Consistent use of tone connects to the OVPR brand and makes it easier for audiences to understand messages. Our writing should strike a professional and respectful tone that establishes credibility and a customer service approach without being overly formal, officious or cumbersome. To achieve this:

• Write like you speak.
• Use “you” when talking to our web readers.
• Refer to OVPR and its units as “our” and “we” instead of “its.”
• Use an active voice.
• Avoid jargon, business-speak, metaphors/similes, other figures of speech, and wordiness. Don’t assume readers know what University terms like EGMS, OTC or x.500 mean.
• Use plain language and terms our readers use (examples: “allow” or “let” instead of "afford an opportunity"; "use" instead of "utilize" or “utilization”).

Headers

Headings should be unique, descriptive, and identify the purpose of the content. They should also make sense to users even taken outside of context, and should be used consistently across the site. Header words should be capitalized, except:

• Lowercase these articles: the, a, an.
• Lowercase these conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor.

Use normal punctuation in headers and titles, except:

• Do not end with a period.
• Use single quotes rather than double quotes.

Links

Good links are descriptive, unique, fewer than 10 words, and start with keywords, like a headline. Use simple words to describe what is linked.

Example: View a professional range of hairdressing products.

Bad links are non-descript and vague. Avoid terms like "click here" or "learn more".

Example: View the full list of products. Click here.

Each “click” should take a user exactly to what is described, do not publish the full URL, unless it is a vanity/shortened URL. A print out of the page content will display the entire URL. When linking to a page that requires signing into the UofM system, write “sign in required”: (example: Protocol for Members of Committee (sign in required)).

 

Emphasis

Do not use capitals, italics, or underline text for emphasis and never underline text that’s not a link.

Dates

Dates must be written out. Avoid writing dates in either (mm/dd/yy) or (mm/dd/yyyy) formatting. 

Times

Use numerals to emphasize exact times, with lowercase a.m. and p.m. Do not use numbers to express noon or midnight (example: Rodriguez was born at midnight, August 21–22).

Addresses

• Always use figures for house/address numbers (example: 9 Morningside Circle)
• Spell out and capitalize "First" through "Ninth" when used in a street name (example: First Avenue; 700 Eighth St. SE)
• Use ordinal numerals for street names of 10th and higher (example: 100 21st St.; 50th Avenue)
• For "avenue", "boulevard", and "street" 
  • Use the abbreviations only with a numbered address (example: 930 University Ave.)
  • Use the full word when no number is provided (example: University Avenue)
  • Spell out when used alone or with more than one street name (example: drive down the correct avenue; between University and Washington avenues)
• For all similar words (alley, drive, road, terrace, etc.), always spell out the full word. Capitalize these when used as part of a formal name, but lowercase them when used alone or with more than one street name (example: 12 Diagon Alley, Abbey and Thunder roads, Field Crest Way)
• Use periods when designating P.O. Box in an address (example: P.O. Box 963)
• Use a single capital letter and a period to abbreviate cardinal directions only when a house/address number is used (example: 222 E. 42nd St.; West 81st Street)
• Use a capital letter and no period to abbreviate quadrants only when a house/address member is used (example: 101 Pleasant St. SE, Central Avenue Northeast)
• Use only the first 5 digits of the ZIP code (example: Minneapolis, MN 55455) 

Common Terms

• email (no hyphen; not e-mail)
• homepage (one word)
• Internet (capital I)
• log in/log-in: (v.; “Log in to your account.”); log-in (n., adj.; “Find your log-in information.”)
• online (one word, no hyphen; not on-line)
• offline (one word, no hyphen; not off-line)
• website (not Web site or web site)
• web page (not webpage)
• multimedia (one word, no hyphen)

For additional common terms and best practices, see the U of M's Chicago Manual of Style Reference Guide.