ToniBonittoGSA
commented
6 years ago Hi @jeremyzilar
Can you pls add this image to the system:
alt text: A screen capture of flickr.com search results. Seven filter options are circled in red (Advanced, Orientation, Minimum Size, Date Taken, Content, Search in, and Any License), and the drop down list for Any License is expanded to show various options. caption: Available search filters on flickr.com.
github-actions[bot]
:tada: Welcome to the DigitalGov style guide! In our goal to create content that is timely and engaging for our users, we also encourage our writers to use the guidelines below to ensure that there is a consistency to that content.
Below you’ll find guidance for voice and tone, author bios and photos, branding, grammar, images, plain language, inclusive language, and more. We will soon update details on how to submit to DigitalGov.
Voice and Tone
Articles for DigitalGov—written by employees from across the federal government—use an informal, conversational tone.
Conscious Inclusivity
Not everyone who uses government services or engages with federal agencies are U.S. citizens. When appropriate, use phrases or words such as: the public, users, people, or folks.
Additionally, where possible:
See the 18F Content Guide for more on inclusive language: https://content-guide.18f.gov/inclusive-language/
Grammar and Spelling
In general, we follow AP Style. Use plain language in your writing for clarity. Avoid using acronyms or jargon that may be unfamiliar to the general public or those outside your agency.
Capitalization
Capitalize proper nouns for people, places, and agency names.
Do not capitalize words like federal, government, or agency unless it is:
Publication Titles
Blogs, magazines, books, etc. are in normal text (i.e., no italics or underlining). Ideally, the titles will be linked to the work that is being referenced.
Courtesy and Professional Titles
On first reference, introduce people by their first and last names without a courtesy title (e.g., Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., Sir, Madam, Dr.).
If a person's gender isn't clear from their first name (e.g., Chris, Pat, Lesley, Jean), make this clear by referring to them by the appropriate pronoun after the first reference.
Content Titles and Headers
Format
We use title case for for all titles and paragraph headers. Only use end punctuation for headers that pose a question (e.g., What Did We Learn?). If you’re unsure, many free, web-based title case tools use the filters to get AP Style (Examples: titlecase.com and capitalizemytitle.com).
Size
Article titles should be set to H1, with any subsequent headers set as H2, H3, and so forth, in hierarchical order.
Do not use H3 or below to attempt to make the text appear bold; just apply bold formatting to the text with the Formatting Toolbar in Google Docs or Microsoft Word.
Numbers, Symbols, Dates, Time, and Places
Numbers
Symbols
Unless the symbol is part of a name or branding, use the word (e.g., use the word and instead of an ampersand & or plus sign +).
Dates
Time
Places
Agency Abbreviations
Initialisms and Acronyms
To avoid confusion, always provide the full name of an agency or program the first time you mention it, followed by its abbreviation (an initialism or acronym) within parentheses. You can then use just the abbreviation elsewhere in the copy. Example:
Initialism examples:
OMG, LOL, BIA, GSA, FBI, OPM, SEO, CMS, HTML, CSS
Acronym (an initialism that is used as a word) examples:
scuba, laser, radar, WYSIWYG, WCAG, NASA, OPEC, NARA, DARPA, INTERPOL, NATO, FEMA, SWAT
Note: Avoid redundancies, such as, “ATM machine” (automated teller machine machine) and “PIN number” (personal identification number number).
Pluralization
There is no need to add an s to the end of an initialism or acronym if a word in the original name is already plural.
For example, we use CoE for Centers of Excellence. Adding an s on the end—CoEs—would actually mean, Centers of Excellences.
Punctuation
Commas
In writing, oral pauses are indicated by commas. They are also used to order things, like lists, clauses, or a series of terms. Much like debates over what counts as a sandwich and the proper pronunciation for the image file type, gif, disagreements about whether or not to use an Oxford comma (also known as the Harvard comma and the serial comma) are quite common.
It can be confusing (or potentially costly in unexpected ways) to omit the Oxford comma, so, we’d like to err on the side of caution. As noted by AP Stylebook in their Twitter Chat on September 12, 2017:
So, use your best judgement. If anything is unclear, we’ll help you clarify.
Colons
After a colon, capitalize the next word if it starts a complete sentence (i.e., is not a fragment).
Apostrophe Abuse
Use an apostrophe to indicate:
Do not use an apostrophe to make words plural. Ever. Ev. Er. 😉 😉
Em Dash
You can easily offset a phrase within a sentence with the long em dash — instead of using parentheses, commas, colons, etc. (see link for examples).
Lists (Bulleted, Numbered)
If it’s a complete sentence, use punctuation (usually a period) at the end of the list; not after every bullet point.
If it’s a list of fragments, do not use punctuation at the end. Capitalize the first word in each bullet point.
i.e., vs. e.g.,
e.g. (exempli gratia), which is Latin for “for example, ...” use it to list one or more examples i.e. (id est) is Latin for “in other words, ...”
DigitalGov Branding
While the website URL is digitalgov.gov, always use medial capitals (camel case) to refer to our name; DigitalGov.
Branded names and initialisms or acronyms for related services and programs:
Additionally, we often abbreviate Community of Practice as CoP, and we have over 20 communities listed on DigitalGov. However, they are run by federal employees at agencies across the federal government, so they don’t always follow the same naming conventions. If writing about them or topics covered in their listservs, you can get the full, proper name (and any alternates) from their individual Community pages on DigitalGov.
Name examples include: MobileGov, SocialGov, OpenGov, Open Data, PLAIN, Government Contact Center Council (G3C), Web Content Managers Forum, and Federal Community of Practice on Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science (CCS).
Image Use
Image File Types:
Image Dimensions:
Please always send us the original image, as large as possible. Our content management system (CMS) will optimize and resize photos as necessary.
Accessibility
All images require alt text and/or caption. Be descriptive, yet succinct. Take care to note if the image is an infographic, factoid, diagram, chart, photo, or logo. If related to a program, agency, or event, include the name and/or acronym (and if an event, please include the date).
Attribution
All images require source information. Below are some examples of requirements based on source:
Editorial Guide: http://www.thinkstockphotos.com/faq/editorial-images-guide
Thinkstock Image Subscription Agreement: http://www.thinkstockphotos.com/legal/license-information-details#license_agreement Section 5.3 is for images used in a website/blog; section 5.4 is for images used in videos.
Best Practices for Attribution (with examples): http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Best_practices_for_attribution
Give attribution to photographers with CC license https://help.yahoo.com/kb/flickr/SLN7674.html
When searching Flickr, use filters to narrow results:
[flickr IMAGE] alt text: A screen capture of flickr.com search results. Seven filter options are circled in red (Advanced, Orientation, Minimum Size, Date Taken, Content, Search in, and Any License), and the drop down list for Any License is expanded to show various options. caption: Available search filters on flickr.com.
Free Image Resources
Below are some free image and media resources. Take care to read and supply any attribution requirements for images used from these sources
Note: DigitalGov does have access to Getty’s ThinkStock.com website (not free). If you wish to use an image from there, just include the URL for each image with your draft; we’ll log in, review, and download them for your posts.