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Best Practices
- Users don’t read, they scan
- Keep copy short. Avoid paragraphs or multiple sentences of text. Bulleted lists and short phrases or sentences are easier to read.
- “Take all the copy on the page. Cut it in half. Then cut it in half again.” -Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
- Chunk content into sections so it’s easily digestible for users
- Headings go in order (H2, H3, H4) to make content readable and accessible for all users. In other words, new sections start with H2s, a heading underneath an H2 is an H3, and so on.
- Keep like copy consistent in length
- Example: If you have a section with 3 cards, each card should have approximately the same character count
- Consider cutting or reducing introductory text
- Users don’t read it (and the longer it is, the less likely they are to read it)
- If you need it, keep it brief and to the point– introduce the content that follows.
- Avoid fluff and don’t repeat what is elsewhere on the page
- Make copy action-oriented. Start with a verb.
- Incorporate the pages’s Primary Key Word(s) for SEO purposes
- Column I in the information architecture spreadsheet
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- H1s: Title case
- H2s: Title case,
unless heading is a full phrase, then sentence-caseunless it contains more than 6 words, then use sentence-case for better readability - H3s-H5s: sentence-case
CTAs: sentence-case
Misc.
- Prepositions of four letters or more are capitalized. This includes “with,” which is a rule change from what we were all taught!
- The word “to” is lowercase in a headline when it is a preposition, but when it is part of an infinitive verb, it is capitalized, e.g., Curriculum To Drive Results
- Precollege vs Pre-College Per AP, the correct spelling is precollege
- Nonbusiness is one word.
- UW–Madison has an en dash (not a hyphen)
- Underrepresented is one word
Copy Purpose and Length
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Headings/Titles
- 60 characters max
- Define sections with clear and concise headings
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