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Keep the tone friendly rather than formal, and use “you”. Imagine you were explaining something verbally to someone - how would you say it?
Use short, active sentences and short paragraphs (3-4 sentences).
Make use of headings and bullet points to break text up so it is easy to scan.
Remember that the site is there to help people, so make it clear to the readers how the information can benefit them.
Use the words your readers would use. Think of the terms they would use when searching for their problem, and use those terms.
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Acronyms: spell . Spell them out the first time.
Ampersands: do . Do not use these in the main text or headings. It is fine to use them in menus, if you need to save space.
Capitals: do . Do not use all capitals for emphasis or in headings.
Data: treat . Treat as singular (“Data is…”). (Whether “data” is singular or plural is contentious - see the Wikipedia article and this Guardian article.)
Dates: use . Use Wednesday 7 July 2021 (not Wednesday 7th July 2021, or other variations).
Datasets: not . Not “data sets”.
Email: not . Not “e-mail”.
Email addresses: spell . Spell these out and make the email address the link e.g. rdmfairservicedesk@health-toolkit@elixir-europeri.orgnl. Do not hide the email address behind a word or phrase like “contact us”.
E.g. Not “eg”.
Etc. should be avoided. Try Instead of etc. try using “for example” or “such as” or “including” at the start of a listing. If etc. is used, put a comma before it if it is in a list, like “A, B, etc.”.
FAIR Metroline: when . When referring to the FAIR Metroline, use a capital “M”. If possible, refer to it as FAIR Metroline and not as Metroline.
Gender: avoid . Avoid using gender-specific words like “he” or “she”.
Headings:.
Only the first word is capitalised, unless other words are proper nouns.
Headings must be hierarchical. They must go down in order (level one, level two, level three) and not skip a level.
-ise/-ize: use . Use the “-ise” form.
Life cycle: two separate words. Not “lifecycle”.
Links: make . Make the link text say where the link goes e.g. “the contribute page”, not “click here”. Avoid using the url as the link text.
Lists:
A list of short items: introduce with a colon, start each bullet point with a capital and don’t use punctuation at the end of each bullet point:
Item 1
Item 2
a longer item 1;
a longer item 2;
a longer item 3A list following a complete sentence (with a full stop): each item ends with a full stop and each point begins with a capital letter e.g. This a complete sentence.
This is item 1 of the list.
This is item 2 of the list.
This is item 3 of the list.
Lists. The four basic types of list are illustrated below. In multi-level lists, follow the same rules for each level.
Lists of short items (without main verbs) should be introduced by a full sentence and have the following features:
introductory colon
no initial capitals
no punctuation (very short items) or comma after each item
a full stop at the end.
Where each item completes the introductory phrase, you should:
begin with the introductory colon;
label each item with the appropriate bullet, number or letter;
end each item with a semicolon;
close with a full stop.
If all items are complete statements without a grammatical link to the introductory phrase, proceed as follows:
introduce the list with a colon;
label each item with the appropriate bullet, number or letter;
start each item with a lower-case letter;
end each one with a semicolon;
put a full stop at the end.
If any one item consists of several complete sentences, announce the list with a main sentence and continue as indicated below.
Do not introduce the list with a colon.
Label each item with the appropriate bullet, number or letter.
Begin each item with a capital letter.
End each statement with a full stop. This allows several sentences to be included under a single item without throwing punctuation into confusion.
Numbers: spell . Spell the numbers one to ten out. After that, write the numbers (11, 12, 13, etc.).
Quotations: use double quotes for quotations, and single quotes for quotes within quotes.References: add . Use single quotation marks to signal direct speech and verbatim quotes, and double quotation marks for quotations within these.
References. Add references directly as a text with hyperlink, e.g. “According to FAIRifcation models, such as FAIRopoly…”. , ”.
Run-in side heads. These are followed by a full stop not a colon. An example of a run-in side head is the start of this entry - “Run-in side heads.”
That/which: use . Use “that” when you are defining something and “which” when you are adding extra information about it e.g.:
“The cat that was on the table suddenly got up” is telling us which cat it was. It is important to the meaning of the sentence because you are not talking about any cat, just the cat on the table.
“The cat, which was sitting on the table, suddenly got up” is giving us extra information about the cat. The information is not necessary to understand the sentence. You can remove the clause and the sentence will still be clear. Clauses starting with “which” usually begin with a comma.
Titles (the “title” in the front matter of pages): only . Only the first word, proper nouns and acronyms are capitalised.
Training. Training : training is an uncountable noun and cannot have a plural. You can write “training courses” and “training materials” but not “trainings”.
A list of longer items following an incomplete introductory sentence (e.g. a sentence ending in a colon): each item ends with a semi colon and the final item ends with a full stop. Do not capitalise the first letter of each item e.g. This is the first part of a sentence that includes:
.
Graphic design
Description: add . Add clear a clear caption to the image
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