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Editorial & Typography Guide
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| Autobytel Stylebook |
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| Updated |
Jun 10, 2004 21:44:50 |
| Rating |
 35 ( -6 -17.14% ) | | Author | Brian Chee |
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Description:
Autobytel
Stylebook
Table of Contents
Foreword
Philosophy &
Demographics Guide
Who we’re speaking to and what they want to hear.
Words & Terms Guide
How to say things on the Internet, and about Autobytel Editorial &
Typography Guide
Consistent rules to govern content. Usability Guide
Keeping our eye on a set of core Web principles. Graphics/Design Guide
Standards and image specs to help keep our look professional. Online Privacy Guide
What we can and can't do with user information International Guide
A simple set of guidelines for our international partners
Bright Idea?
Click here to submit a word, term, rule or suggestion for the Stylebook.
Editorial & Typography Guide
Consistent grammar, spelling and typography will give Autobytel.com a professional feel. Overall Rules Web Style Typography Grammar
Writing Style Spelling & Punctuation
Overall Rules
Keep it fun and simple. If you have to look up the spelling, the word is too big. References of record:
Style:The Elements of Style, Strunk, The Associated Press Stylebook
Dictionary: Merriam-Webster's, Tenth Edition
Web Style
1. Links: Links should always be on the "action" part of a sentence and must communicate where the user will go. Do not use "click here", as the blue and underline is universally recognized as a hyperlink. Headlines, sub heads or call outs should never link. 2. Example: Read the latest reviews about Ford's 2002 Explorer. 3. Text wrapping: Wrap text around a photo by using tables to control wrap and line length. 4. Line length: No longer than 550 pixels 5. No widows: soft return to fill line. 6. Related content: all stories should have links to related content on the site. 7. Story length: no greater than 750 words, bylined pieces no shorter than 350 words. For more lengthy pieces, break into a series. Typography
1. Headlines: Arial 3, bold and upstyle 2. Sub head: Arial 3 normal and downstyle 3. Body text: Arial 2 normal 4. Call outs: Arial 2 normal, italics. Six lines max. 5. Photo captions: Arial 1 normal 6. Bylines: Name-Arial 2 normal Title Arial 1 bold italic 7. Links: Arial 2 bold 8. Link colors: Blue (Hex OOOOFF) for new, Red (Hex FFOOOO) on hover and Purple (Hex 99CCFF) for viewed.
Grammar
To follow are a few basic guidelines to follow. For more in-depth coverage and reference, please refer to these publications, in order of priority:
The Associated Press Stylebook
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, Tenth Edition
The Elements of Style, Strunk and White.
1. Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's.
Example: Charles's friend Burns's poems the witch's malice Exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names in -es and -is, the possessive Jesus', and such forms as for conscience' sake, for righteousness' sake. The pronominal possessives hers, its, theirs, yours, and oneself have no apostrophe. 2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last.
Example: red, white, and blue He opened the letter, read it, and made a note of its contents.
3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas.
The best way to see a country, unless you are pressed for time, is to travel on foot.
4. Do not join independent clauses by a comma.
It is nearly half past five; we cannot reach town before dark.
5. Do not break sentences in two.
In other words, do not use periods for commas. Exception is dramatic purpose: Again and again he called out. No reply.
6. Division of words. Guidelines for dividing words are:
Pay attention to the way the word is pronounced (syllables) and do not break the word so that it would be mispronounced or misunderstood. Divide between doubled consonants, except when it would divide a simple base form, e.g. re-com-men-da-tion, but sell-ing, buzz-er. When the doubled consonant comes before `-ing', the second consonant stays with the `-ing'. Do not divide a one-syllable word, even if there is an inflected ending like `-ed', e.g. spelled, bummed. Do not divide a word so that one or two letters is left either at the end of one line or the beginning of another. Division after a prefix, putting it at the end of a line, is permissible. Do not divide words of six letters or less. Divided hyphenated words at the hyphen. Do not divide before the following suffixes; they should not be at the beginning of a line alone nor should they be divided.
Writing
To follow are a few basic guidelines to follow. For more in-depth coverage and reference, please refer to these publications, in order of priority:
The Associated Press Stylebook
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, Tenth Edition
The Elements of Style, Strunk and White.
1. One paragraph to each topic.
Break stories up by paragraphs, and paragraphs by topics. Be sure to transition each paragraph into one another; avoid using transitional crutches such as "And", But", and "However".
2. Paragraphs should be divided with a paragraph tag.
You can isolate a line of text for effect or emphasis. In this case, use a a break tag:
3. Use the active voice.
The active voice is more direct and vigorous than the passive.
4. Put statements in positive form.
Try to never use not.
5. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, non-committal language.
Write like a livewire-a warm and friendly livewire.
6. Omit needless words.
It's silly to use redundant and repetitive words that just repeat what you're trying to write, and have no real or critical purpose to your point.
7. Make sure your sentences mean something.
Don't wander. Get to the point.
8. Don't jump tenses
Or fences. Creative commentary that uses change in setting and/or time should summarize in the present.
9. Numerals.
Do not spell out dates or other serial numbers. Spell out the numbers 1-9
10. Headlines.
Headlines should be witty, active and brief. Follow standard AP style for headline writing.
11. Parentheses.
A sentence containing an expression in parenthesis is punctuated, outside of the marks of parenthesis, exactly as if the expression in parenthesis were absent. The expression within is punctuated as if it stood by itself, except that the final stop is omitted unless it is a question mark or an exclamation point.
12. Words and phrases to avoid
Many of the words and expressions are the result of careless writing. The proper correction is to rewrite the sentence.
"In many cases"
Certainly, currently…
Compare.
Clever.
Consider.
Due to.
Etc.
Fact, in fact…
Factor
Feature
However.
Kind of
Line, along these lines.
Literal, literally.
Lose out.
Near by.
Oftentimes
One of the most
People.
Respective, respectively.
Sort of
They
Very
Viewpoint.
While.
Whom.
Worth while.
Would |
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