Common Conventions

  • The U in university should not be capitalize except when using the full name of the university: University of Puget Sound.
  • If shortening the name, use "Puget Sound," not "UPS."
  • Use only one space between sentences, not two.
  • Format times without trailing zeroes, a space after the number, and periods after the letters a/p and m: 8 a.m., not 8:00AM.
  • Use noon and midnight instead of 12 a.m. or 12 p.m.
  • Use numbers for dates, such as August 20, not August 20th.
  • Year spans should omit the century numbers on the second year listed if it's the same as the first number's century, as follows: 2007-08, 1999-2000
  • Don't capitalize words randomly. Only the first word of a sentence or header and proper nouns should be capitalized.
  • It is preferred to spell out the word "and" except in the following circumstances (on the Web only):
    • On navigation link titles, where we always use ampersands
    • When space is an issue and using an ampersand (&) would solve the problem
    • When it is a consistency issue (i.e., you've used & in the left nav, so you should use it for the same phrase on the page itself)
    • When an ampersand (&) is actually a part of something's proper name
  • The preferred spelling for common Web phrases is listed below. Note that some may deviate from your personal preference.
    • email or Email (without a hyphen)
    • Internet
    • online (without the hyphen)
    • URL
    • Web page
    • Website (one word; lowercase except when appropriate to capitalize)
    • World Wide Web
  • In text, don't use email as a verb, such as "email us." Instead, use a phrase like "Send us an email message."
  • When adding a URL to your page, it is preferred to leave the http:// off for standard addresses that start with www. However, for addresses that don't use this standard convention, include the http:// so the reader is clear that this is a Web address (http://cascade.pugetound.edu).
  • When adding an anchor link to jump back to the top of the page, the anchor should appear right-justified and in the format ^ top, with a space between the carat and the word and a lower case "t" on "top."Then you can use the class "Back to top" to help with the formatting and the anchor point #breadcrumbs to make the link jump to the top of the page.