Link to documents originating from another department or on another website; do not download the document and then re-post it on your site as future updates to the document made by the original department will not be reflected in your version of the document.

Never use an underline when you want to emphasize a word/phrase; underlines mean a live link on the web; use bold when you want to emphasize a heading or word(s).

Don’t use italics on the web as it is hard to read.

Links should be created within the sentence and be descriptive; for example, use “Visit our website to learn more about our new program” instead of “To learn about our new program, click here.”

Spell out acronyms and abbreviations in full the first time they appear in a section, e.g., Communication Interaction Program (CIP); always spell out acronyms in the main headline

When prompted to select “Open in Same Window” vs. “Open in New Window”, choose “Open in Same Window” when the page you are linking to is within the same website. Select “Open in New Window” when the link you provide is an external link or a link that launches a video player.

Use the right-hand sidebar to highlight important, related info, e.g., time-sensitive information, events, special reports, etc.

If you have more content in your sidebar than in the body of your page, however, consider moving some content back to the main content of the page or creating a new page. 

Use bullets and numbered lists to format content. Avoid lengthy blocks of text. 

Keep page headlines businesslike and to the point; use of “Welcome…” is appropriate on the a sites’ main home page but then it loses its purpose

Break up dense content with paragraph breaks (guideline: 4-5 sentences per paragraph)

Short and informative subheadings so people can easily scan the page and find the information they’re looking for

Highlight keywords by bolding or hypertext links; do not underline words for emphasis