DBHIDS STYLE GUIDE

Introduction

Government writing tends to be dry, complicated, and obscure. It doesn’t take into account who is reading it or why, and often talks at readers rather than to them.

Likewise, many websites provide an overwhelming amount of information with few cues on how to navigate it. This can cause confusion, frustration, and a feeling of powerlessness for readers.

We think, and know, we can do better.

We want to make DBHIDS’ services more accessible and understandable to everyday citizens. We want to give people the information they need, to do what they need, in a way that fosters trust. It is our goal that this guide can help you achieve those goals.

How to use this guide

We created this guide for reference on an as-needed basis. It’s here when you’re not sure whether to capitalize the word “federal,” for instance, or when you’re wondering how to create a friendly, informational tone.

The Communications Department intends this guide to be a tool for consistent style, writing and editing. Our aim is to make life easier for you to produce website content.

This guide will continue to grow and change as we learn more about how people use our content. If you would like to provide input, suggestions or corrections, please contact us at DBHIDScommunications@phila.gov.

Together we can help create a better online experience for everyone who interacts with the DBHIDS website.

Basics

Writing for the Web

The truth is, users don’t read web pages; they scan them, looking for things that they can read very quickly until they find a relevant piece of information.

Helpful Reminders

Write for all readers. Some people will read every word you write. Others will just skim. Help everyone read better by grouping related ideas together and using descriptive headers and subheaders.

Be concise. Use short words and sentences. Avoid unnecessary modifiers.

Be specific. Avoid vague language. Cut the fluff.

Be consistent. Stick to the copy patterns and style points outlined in this guide.

Focus your message. Create a hierarchy of information. Lead with the main point or the most important content, in sentences, paragraphs, sections, and pages.

Organize content in an inverted pyramid

Plain English

Write content in clear, simple terms.
The DBHIDS website is intended for all people whether they reside in Philadelphia or not. The content it contains should therefore be as straightforward as possible.

Avoid wordy descriptions and jargon.
Jargon is unnecessarily complicated, technical language used to impress, rather than to inform, your audience. Try to substitute everyday language for jargon as often as possible.

Today’s health care field has a variety of options, including: Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs), and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)…

– NOT –

HMOs, PPOs, and ACOs are all part of today’s health care field.

Do not use formal or long words when easy or short ones will do.
Use buy instead of purchase, help instead of assist, about instead of approximately, and so on.

We lose our users’ trust if we write using government buzzwords and jargon. Often, these words are too general and vague and can lead to misinterpretation or empty, meaningless text. We can do without these words:

• Agenda (unless you’re talking about a meeting)
• Advancing
• Collaborate (use working with)
• Combating (use working against)
• Commit/pledge
• Countering
• Deploy (unless you’re talking about the military or software)
• Dialogue (we speak to people)
• Disincentivize (and incentivize)
• Facilitate (instead, say something specific about how you are helping)
• Illegals/illegal aliens (use undocumented immigrants)
• Impact (as a verb)
• Initiate (use start or begin)
• Innovative (use words that describe the positive outcome of the innovation)
• Land (as a verb, unless you’re talking about aircraft)
• Leverage (unless you use it in the financial sense)
• Overarching
• Progress (what are you actually doing?)
• Robust
• Streamline
• Tackling (unless you’re referring to football or another contact sport)
• Thought leader (instead, refer to a person’s accomplishments)
• Touchpoint (instead, mention specific system components)
• User testing (unless you’re actually testing the users — otherwise, use usability testing)
• Utilize

Avoid using figurative language.
It often doesn’t say what you actually mean and can make your content more difficult to understand. For example:

• Drive (you can only drive vehicles, not schemes or people)
• Drive out (unless you’re talking about cattle, use get rid of.)
• Going forward (unless you’re giving directions)
• In order to (extra words that usually mean the same thing as “to”)

In most cases, you can avoid these figures of speech by describing what you’re actually doing. Be open and specific.

Write conversationally.
Picture your audience and write as if you were talking to them one-on-one and with the authority of someone who can actively help.

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Acronyms can confuse readers. Whenever possible, use the full name.
The first time you refer to an organization or project that uses an acronym, write out the full name and follow with the abbreviation in parentheses. For example:

The General Services Administration (GSA) oversees the business of…

The Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS) supports a vision…

Some names are more recognizable when they are abbreviated, as with NASA, NAACP, HTML, IBM, and FBI. In such instances, the acronym is always acceptable.

When spelling out the full name of our organization, disability is spelled with a lowercase “d” and an uppercase “A.” The word “disability” is always singular and our name must always include “Services” (plural). Do not make the following common mistakes:

Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services

–NOT–

Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disability Services

Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disabilities

When writing for the Department’s website, avoid spelling out “Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services” since the Department’s logo will be featured prominently on each webpage page which includes the formal name of our Department. Simple refer to the Department as “DBHIDS” or simply “our Department” on most webpages.

When using the Department’s acronym “DBHIDS” all letters should be capitalized.

DBHIDS

–NOT–

DBHiDS

It’s often clearer to use a shortened name instead of an acronym when making a second reference to something with a long title. Readers can understand a shortened name without having to think about the first reference. This also helps prevent confusion between repetitive acronyms.

Use, for example:

Corrections in place of Department of Corrections, rather than DOC.

The Act instead of Fire and Police Employee Relations Act.

Academic Degrees

Abbreviations of academic degrees require a period after each element in the abbreviation but no internal spaces: Ph.D., M.A., B.A., B.S.

Do not use a courtesy title such as “Dr.” and “Mrs.” when including an individual’s academic degree.

Lawrence Real, M.D.

–NOT–

Dr. Lawrence Real, M.D.

When a person has multiple degrees, use the degree most appropriate for the section of the website.

Use a person’s full name with title or degree in the first reference; use last name only in all subsequent references.

We use an abundance of acronyms within our field. See appendix A for a list of commonly used acronyms.

Active Voice

Use active voice, not passive voice, whenever possible.

Active voice makes it immediately clear who or what is performing an action. For example:

The Commissioner recommends that City residents take shelter before the winter storm.

Dr. Evans logged into the account.

Passive voice describes a sentence that doesn’t state who or what is responsible for an action, or puts the “do-er” later in the sentence than the thing being done. For example:

It is recommended that City residents take shelter before the winter storm.

A recommendation was made by the Commissioner to take shelter before the winter storm.

The account was logged into by Dr. Evans.

While readers usually prefer active voice, there are situations where passive voice is useful. This includes times when the acting person or thing is actually unknown, or when you want to draw attention to the object being acted upon.

The snow plows were stolen late last night.

–NOT–

Someone stole the snow plows late last night.

Address readers actively
You are also using active voice when you speak directly to the reader. This style is more interesting to read. Use active voice in situations where it’s appropriate to encourage action instead of just stating a fact.

You can create a new community garden if there is a City-owned vacant lot in your neighborhood.

–NOT–

New community gardens can be created in City-owned vacant lots.

Capitalization

Unnecessary capitalization can come off as overly formal and unapproachable. We follow these capitalization guidelines:

• Do not capitalize federal or government when mentioned in a nonspecific reference. Use uppercase for full names of government departments, such as “Federal Emergency Management Agency.”
• Do not capitalize a job title unless it directly precedes or follows a name.

Block capitalization
DO NOT USE CAPITAL LETTERS FOR LONGER HEADLINES OR BLOCKS OF TEXT. IT’S HARD TO READ AND CAN SEEM LIKE “SHOUTING.”

Proper nouns

Capitalize the word “city” when referring to the City of Philadelphia as an official organization.

The City will announce pool openings on Friday.

There are several City employees at the event.

Do not capitalize “city” when it is used in an inclusive or general sense.

Philadelphia has been selected as the host city for the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Headings and Titles

Use uppercase for all verbs. Also uppercase articles, prepositions and conjunctions that have for or more letters

Results From the 2015 Health Survey

Exceptions are:

• An article of three or fewer letters may be capitalized if it is the first or last word

“A Local Family Carries On”

• A précis title is usually lowercase, unless its title includes proper names and names of other publications, which then use initial caps

Uppercase both elements in a hyphenated compound in a headline or publication title.

Long-Term Care Costs Are on the Rise

Email or Website Address

When writing out an email address or a website URL, use all lowercase.

• kimberly.rymsha@phila.gov
• dbhids.org
• networkofcare.org

Contractions

Use common contractions like it’s, can’t, shouldn’t, and you’ll. Contractions are part of everyday conversation, so readers find them easy to understand.

Too many uses of it is, cannot, and should not can seem archaic and formal. We can move away from this without compromising the reliable and professional tone of information coming from government.

Links

Links are most effective when they are specific and descriptive. When you create a link, select anchor text that will give users a clear idea of what they will see if they follow it.

To be ready for the unexpected, you and your family need to make an emergency plan.

– NOT –

To be ready for the unexpected, you can find out how to create an emergency plan here.

When selecting text to hyperlink, it is best to choose nouns to improve search engine optimization (SEO) return.

Learn more about all of the behavioral health services available in the DBHIDS network.

– NOT –

Learn more about all of the behavioral health services available in the DBHIDS network.

Click here
Do not use this phrase as the label for any link. Since “click here” is not descriptive, it makes it harder for people to find the linked content through a search engine. It’s also becoming an outdated term, as mobile devices involve “tapping,” not “clicking.”

Learn more
You can use this phrase as link text when it follows a preview or brief description of a content item. You should use it in combination with a linked headline, not as a replacement for a linked headline. Useful when pointing to content that is a mixture of text, images, and interactive tools, since it is not as specific as “read more.”

Read more
This is a more specific version of “Learn more.” Use it as link text after a preview or brief description of a content item, when the content item is primarily text.
Link Destinations
When you create a link, think about where you are sending the user and why. Check to make sure that you have picked the most relevant and authoritative destination so users will get the best information available as quickly as possible. For example, if DBHIDS issues a statement that you are citing, link to the statement, rather than to an outside news story that quotes the statement.

You should also be consistent when determining what will happen when someone follows a link. Phila.gov follows these guidelines for opening new tabs or windows in a user’s browser:

• Do automatically open new tabs or windows
  Do set a link to open a new browser tab or window. This applies to any web page link, whether the link goes to another phila.gov page or to an external website.*
• Indicate format when linking to an online document
  For document formats like PDFs, Word documents, and Excel spreadsheets, you should also include the file type in parentheses after the name of the document. This helps readers know that the link will be opening something other than a web page.

Please review Tier II Reporting Requirements (PDF) before submitting a report.

* Opinions do vary on the subject, but there is not much evidence to suggest whether or not people want a new tab or window to open automatically when they click a link to an external site.

Numbers

Spell out a number when it:

• Occurs at the start of a sentence. (Twenty minutes later, the last cyclist crossed the finish line.)
• Is a fraction used as an estimate. (one-half, two-thirds, three-quarters)

Use digits instead of spelling out a number when it:

• Includes a decimal point. (At that time, the average age for marriage was just 18.7 years old.)
• Is part of a percentage. (19 percent of registered voters; 110 percent effort)
• Is part of a range of numbers. (the coveted 18–34 demographic; working 9 to 5)
• For 10 and above (for 1-9 spell out the number)

Money

Use the dollar sign ($) for amounts given in United States Dollars (USD).

Project estimates are expected to exceed $289.5 million after the storm damage is assessed.

Previous processing fee: $0.72

New processing fee: $0.83

For fractional amounts under $1 that do not occur in a chart or list, use digits for the number and spell out the word “cents.”

In 2014, the cost of producing a penny dropped to 1.7 cents, down from 2.4 cents in 2011.

When referencing a round dollar amount, there is no need to add the .00 following the dollar value.

$1

– NOT –

$1.00

Percentages

Spell out the word “percent” (one word) when including percentages in text copy and headlines.

The study showed a 5 percent decrease in obesity rates among students aged 5 to 18.

Use the percentage sign (%) when including percentages in charts, tables, figures, lists, and brief summaries.

Late fee: 5% of the total due, plus an additional 0.5% for every month the bill is not paid.

Telephone Numbers

All phone numbers should be written in hyphens and not periods:

215-685-5475

– NOT –

215.685.5475

(215) 685-5475

The form for toll-free numbers: 800-111-1000. Do not use a 1 to indicate long distance.

If extension numbers are needed, use a comma to separate the main number from the extension

212-621-1500, ext. 123

Times

Use figures except for noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes: 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 9-11 a.m., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Avoid such redundancies as 10 a.m. this morning, 10 p.m. tonight.

Time elements, like a.m. and p.m., should be lowercase with periods.

a.m. or p.m.

– NOT –

am or pm

Punctuation

Bulleted Lists

Capitalize the first word of every bullet.

When you go to the store, please buy:

• Bread
• Milk
• Apples

Include a period only if the bullet point makes a complete sentence following the introductory phrase.

When you go to the store, please:

• Buy bread, milk, and apples.
• Fill the car with gas.

Colons

Capitalize the first word after a colon only if what follows is a complete sentence.

I have several favorite foods: apples, bananas, and pita chips.

I have several favorite foods: Apples were my first favorite snack, but pita chips are a rising star in my life.

Use a colon (rather than an ellipses, em dash, or comma) to offset a list.

The team ordered three kinds of donuts: glazed, chocolate, and pumpkin.

Commas

We prefer the serial comma (sometimes called the Oxford comma). In a list of three or more, include a comma before the conjunction.

Please buy bread, milk, and apples.

Dashes

Em dash: When offsetting a phrase with dashes, you should use the longer “em dash,” with no space on either side of the dash.

WordPress automatically converts three consecutive hyphens into an em dash.

We emphasize open, digital record keeping, and—whenever possible—we illuminate our processes.

Do not use a single hyphen in place of an em dash.

En dash: Although we advocate using words rather than symbols, in some contexts you may use an “en dash” to convey a range. For example, both 10–20 students and 10 to 20 students are acceptable options.

The en dash is also used in to show relationships and connections, as in the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, a JFK–LAX flight, or the Jones–Martin wedding.

WordPress automatically converts two consecutive hyphens into an en dash.

Dates

Month and year in running text take no comma in between (e.g. The program began in January 2016). If the day is included, use a comma before and after the year: On January 2, 2016, a meeting was held to consider the proposal.

When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. Spell out when using alone, or with a year alone.

Sept. 23, 2016

– NOT –

September 23, 2016
Sept. 2016

Quotation Marks

Below are examples of correctly punctuated quotations.

“Would you like a banana?” he asked.

“I hate bananas,” she said. “You know I hate bananas.”

He paused before saying, “Bananas are not something people should hate.”

Text Formatting

Italics

Use italics to indicate the title of a long work (like a book, movie, or album) or to emphasize a word.

Use italics, not quotation marks for journal names and titles of books and reports: Health Affairs; New England Journal of Medicine; etc.

Underline

Do not use underline formatting, and don’t use any combination of italic, bold, caps, and underline.

Only words that should be underlined are those that are hyperlinked.

Spacing

Leave one space between sentences, never two.

Leave two returns after each paragraph.

Terminology

Person-First Language

The fields of alcohol and other drug treatment and mental health services collectively referred to as behavioral health have long used words to “diagnose” and “label” individuals and families by their (respective) challenges.

Use person-first language.

“a person with schizophrenia”

– NOT –

“a schizophrenic”

“a person with an addiction”

– NOT –

“an addict”

Labeling people and families by their challenges (e.g. homeless, alcoholic, addict, schizophrenic, diabetic, etc.) also tends to dehumanize, disenfranchise, and reduce the person or family to being that challenge, instead of someone living with, in recovery from, or experiencing symptoms of it.

For a more complete list of some words associated with the behavioral health system, take a look below. Please note: This list is not intended to be all-inclusive.

Strength-Based Language

Strength-based language promotes hope. Below is a non-inclusive list of some concepts that promote resilience and the development of protective factors in children and families.

Appendix

List of Common Acronyms