Cornish College of the Arts

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For Website Content Managers

This page contains the style guide of Cornish.edu. Please refer to it for details of the correct formatting of content. This guide is for the main Cornish.edu website, and does not apply to Compass, Library Catalog, or LibGuides. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Hyperlinks

These guidelines do not apply to links to Compass, Library Catalog, or LibGuides URLs.

Use Examples
WWW
With the exception of www.cornish.edu, the ‘www’ is not necessary. 		Correct google.com
Wrong www.google.com
Links on Cornish.edu
When linking Cornish.edu URLs, the http://www.cornish.edu/ is not needed. 		Correct /admission/
Wrong http://www.cornish.edu/admission/
Linking Words
  • Link to the name of the document/link referred rather than "click here" or "this PDF".
  • Use wording that focuses on the content of the link, rather than the technology (PDF, DOC, JPG) that fuels it.
 Correct Please visit the Academic Calendar.
Correct Fill out the Bus Pass Subsidy Form.
Wrong To grab a sneak peek of our Viewbook, click here.
Wrong Download this PDF of our application.

Grammar & Punctuation

Use Examples
Cornish’s Name
Use approved abbreviations of Cornish’s name. 		Correct "Cornish" or "Cornish College of the Arts"
Wrong "Cornish College" or "the College"
Headings
  • Use headings (less than four words) according to the structure of the page (like a term paper outline).
  • Do not use colons after headings.
 Correct Summary of Benefits
Wrong Summary of Benefits:
Ampersands
  • In headings, use ampersands (&).
  • In body text, spell out "and", unless a formal name dictates otherwise.
 Correct (Heading) Dates & Forms
Correct (Body Text) Please review our dates and forms.
Wrong (Heading) Dates and Forms
Wrong (Body Text) Please review our dates & forms.
Oxford Comma
Don’t use oxford commas in lists. 		Correct red, white and blue
Wrong red, white, and blue
Dates
Use the numeric day of the month without no leading zeros, rather than ordinal numbers (-st, -nd, -rd, -th). 		Correct December 18, 2012
Wrong December 18th, 2012
Times
Use a single space before ‘am’ or ‘pm’. 		Correct 1:30 am
Wrong 1:30am
Date & Time
Use the following formatting for date and time combinations. 		Correct "May 1, 2012, 8 pm" or "May 1, 2012, 8 – 9 pm
Wrong "May 1, 2012 at 8 pm" or "May 1, 2012 – 8 – 9 pm
Phone Numbers
Use periods to separate numbers. 		Correct 206.123.4567
Wrong (206) 123-4567

Dashes & Hyphens

Use Examples
Dashes
  • In body text, use "to" instead of an en dash in date and time spans.
  • Otherwise, use a single space before and after em dashes and en dashes.
 Correct The program runs from April 18 to May 20.
Correct April 18 – May 20
Wrong The program runs from April 18 – May 20.
Wrong April 18 to May 20
Em Dash
An em dash is used for a break in thought (most often found in body copy). Use a single space before and after an em dash. HTML: — 		Correct So much time and so little to do — wait. Strike that. Reverse it. *
Wrong "You know-I love it." or "You know—I love it."
En Dash
An en dash is used for a span of dates, times, etc. Use a single space before and after an en dash.
HTML: – 		Correct February 10 – March 16
Wrong February 10–March 16
Hyphen
Use hyphens (-) for combined words. 		Correct Students gain hands-on experience.
Wrong Students gain hands - on experience.
* Quote from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.