Web Style Guide

Apostrophe vs. Foot Mark: Single quotes or apostrophes should be a curly or “smart” apostrophes. Only use foot marks for measurements.

1. Single Left Quote
   1. Mac: Option-]
   2. PC: ALT+0145
   3. HTML Code: ‘
2. Single Right Quote
   1. Mac: Option-Shift-]
   2. PC: ALT+0146
   3. HTML Code: ’

Bullet Lists: If bullets are complete sentences (or complete a sentence used to introduce them), use periods at the end of each bullet. If the bullet content is not a complete sentence, no periods are needed. When using a bullet list, be consistent about whether each item is a complete sentence or an incomplete sentence.

Examples:

• Students should contact their advisor.
• Final Schedule

Email Addresses: When including an email address, put it behind the name in quote marks and hyperlink it. This increases accessibility and allows people to copy-paste the email rather than rely on the hyperlink to open in an email client. Example: Joe Whitman, whitmanj@whitman.edu, rather than Joe Whitman.

Dashes: 

1. Endash
   1. Mac: Option-Hyphen
   2. PC: ALT+0150
   3. HTML Code: –
2. Emdash
   1. Mac: Option-Shift-Hyphen
   2. PC: ALT+0151
   3. HTML Code: —

Headlines (for news and magazine articles): Write headlines in title case, with principle words capitalized. Headlines should contain keywords and make it clear what the content of an article or page is.

Example: Whitman Updates Website to Ingeniux Version Ten

Office Hour Times: a.m., p.m. with a dash in between. If days of the week are necessary, use letter abbreviations. Only list days of the week if hours vary on different days.

• 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
• MWF 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
• TTh 10-11 a.m.

Office information: List full building name followed by a comma and the room number.

• Hall of Science, 315

Phone Numbers: No parenthesis around the area code.

• 555-555-5555, not (555) 555-5555 or 555.555.5555

Photo Captions: Captions should be descriptive, complete sentences that describe the action taking place in the photos and the people pictured. If a photographer credit is needed, place at the end of the caption in parenthesis.

• Marcus Whitman, left, and Jane Doe walk through the fall leaves on Ankney Field. (Photo by Jane Whitman)

Quotation vs. Inch Mark: Quotation marks should be curly or “smart” quotes. Only use inch marks for measurements.

1. Double Left Quote
   1. Mac: Option-[
   2. PC: ALT+0147
   3. HTML Code:  “
2. Double Right Quote
   1. Mac:  Option-Shift-[
   2. PC:  ALT+0148
   3. HTML Code:  ”