Best Practices & Style Guide
We've compiled these tips to help you navigate the sometimes confusing waters for your website.
Associated Press Style
Text on Brandeis websites should follow the grammar, punctuation and spelling rules outlined in the Associated Press Stylebook. See specific examples on the style guide page of this section.
(Brandeis login required)
Spelling
All web pages must be free of spelling errors. Carefully proofread material and review the Cascade CMS spell-checker results that appear after you submit a page. You may also toggle the spell-checker in the WYSIWYG to underline misspelled words in red.
Space Between Sentences
Sentences should be separated by only one space. Two spaces between sentences is an outdated and incorrect convention.
Adding Emphasis
You may use bold text on your site, but be careful not to overdo it. If the text is all bold, nothing can stand out. Do not use italic or underlined text.
Using Headings
Headings should be used to give structure to your pages, and they are especially important for accessibility. Headings should follow a nested structure, meaning Heading 3 should be followed by Heading 4, etc. You may repeat Headings but you may not skip levels.
Note: Your site name is coded as Heading 1 and your Page Title is coded as Heading 2. So you should only use Headings 3, 4 and 5 in the main content areas of your site. Do not use headings in the sidebar or within accordions.
Heading Capitalization
Headings should use title case for capitalization. Only capitalize principal words. Articles, conjunctions, and prepositions do not get capital letters (unless they begin a title).
Examples: Our Study Abroad Program; Undergraduate Minor Requirements and Course Descriptions; Working with Hiatt; How the Selection Process Works
Naming Assets
Asset names should be short, descriptive, all lowercase and contain no spaces; hyphens are permissible.
- Correct: faculty, courses, news-events, president-letter.pdf, smith.jpg
- Incorrect: faculty and staff, Resources, president-annual-report-december-2008.pdf
Image Sizing
Images should be sized to the correct dimensions needed on your site. Do not upload larger images than required. We recommend Adobe Photoshop for resizing images. This software can be acquired through ITS for free for use on university-owned computers.