Formatting your content
Once you've got the perfect web content, it's time to format and organize it.
You don't need to worry about font type, size or alignment because it's built into Cascade (our content management system). Let Cascade's universal cascading style sheets (CSS) control how your text (paragraphs, headings and lists) is formatted.
Formatting basics
- Use "chunks" of content. Break large blocks of text up with white space.
- Try short sentences and paragraphs.
- Bulleted lists of short, high-impact sentences make scanning easier. Keep your lists at 3-5 items.
- Use sentence case for headings. Example: “Parents and visitors” not “Parents and Visitors.”
- Don't underline anything unless it's a link.
- Please use H1 code only for page titles, H2s for main headers and H3s for sub-headings.
Style Guide basics
All UVic websites and print material should follow the UVic Style Guide. You can read it online or download a PDF.
- Format phone numbers 250-222-3333.
- Numbers: one to nine are written out; 10 and up are numerals.
- Spell out University of Victoria in its first reference on a page, then UVic.
- Department names are capitalized but the field is not: “Department of Geography” but “a geography student.”
Common errors to avoid
- It's not UVIC or Uvic - it's always UVic.
- Don't use "click here" - describe the link destination instead: graduate student funding, not click here
- Don't use URLs for link names. Spell it out: School of Child and Youth Care, not http://www.cyc.uvic.ca/.
- Use email not e-mail.
- It's online not on-line.
Contact webcoor@uvic.ca for training in writing for the web or assistance with content editing.
