Website Style Guide

Plain and Clear Language - Writing for the Web

Updated: 23rd July 2001

Choose clear, user-friendly and jargon-free words and phrases. Use the shorter word whenever possible and when it fits. Try to imagine the person scanning the website who is goal-driven, pressed for time and thinking about phone bills. Strike a balance, though. Avoid drastic 'dumbing down' since the tone could then end up too simple and in turn patronising. It is worth noting that clearness of expression was identified as one of the main reasons for Sage's recent success in winning the 'Best FTSE 100 Company Website Award'.

There is very clear product information on the various accounting software packages…Clear pricing information… You can fill in a clear form to buy, or e-mail their telesales team to contact you. This is the way to do it. (Part of the judging panel's appraisal of the Sage UK website, February 2001, http://www.bestcompanysites.com.)

Use Linking Words to Help the Flow

Use short, conjunctival adverbs and occasional prepositions to link sentences and to help the text flow. That is, words such as: this, therefore, since, so, as, with, after, for, these, those, but, if, such, because, also, though, by, although, he, she, they, even, and (use 'and' with great care), hence, through, yet, still, or, and so on.

Do not always place these lexical 'stepping stones' at the start of the sentence, though, as this practice soon becomes repetitive. For reasons of variation, sometimes put them within the sentence, rather than at the start of the sentence. Such connecting words help to link thoughts together, and so help the flow of the copy.

Active Voice Instead of Passive Voice

Cut out lazy words and phrases like 'the use of', 'is used to', 'will' 'by the', the verb 'use', 'have', 'in order to', 'so as to', 'can', 'being' (verb), etc. Likewise, try to employ strong verbs rather than weak ones. Once again, use common sense to decide when the active or passive voice should be employed - but most writing for the Sage UK website will be in the active voice.

Verb Tense

Deciding which verb tense to use depends, of course, on the context; but most web copy is written in the present tense.

Marketing Language

Be very careful when adding marketing language to Sage web copy, or when transposing marketing/PR print documents into web copy. Remember that users are generally goal-driven, short of time and thinking about telephone bills, so they probably don't want to read too much marketing terminology when visiting our website. Try to strike a thoughtful balance between informing and marketing; and, when writing marketing copy for the Sage UK website, strive to market Sage with more subtlety than in a print document.

Endeavour Hard Not to Indulge Too Much in Any Circumlocutionary Terminology

Cut out the waffle of redundant words and phrases. Be concise.

Adverbs and Adjectives

Read through copy to check over adverbs and adjectives, just to make sure that they are doing some work and are not merely decorative.

Syllables

Check the words in each sentence to make sure that the syllable counts do not make the sentences jumpy, imbalanced and difficult to read. Strive for a sort of rhythm - that is, something that sounds smooth to ear and eye. So think carefully about the syllable count of words, and look for smooth variation within each sentence. Always remember to read the sentence out aloud, before committing it to 'print'.

Proof-reading

Read from hard copy, not from the screen, and don't rely on the spell-check. Avoid letting something go live on the website without having a second (and third - resources and time permitting) person proof-read it. For best results, use someone who has never seen the work before and is unfamiliar with the subject.