Web Standards Home

Online Media Unit
Level 7, Old Classics Wing
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
SA 5005
AUSTRALIA
Email

Telephone:
+61 8 8303 3280
Facsimile:
+61 8 8303 4829

Content style guide

While 90% of efforts on webpages go into design and programming, what you are actually saying is as important as how it looks. You could have a wonderfully designed site, but if it fails to provide the information your web visitor is looking for, you won't have achieved your aim.

In line with the aim for the University of Adelaide to be best practice, this part of the web guide aims to bring an overall consistency to the information we provide to the world.

No individual page within the University of Adelaide site is on its own on the Web. Visitors to that page can - and do - move frequently between one faculty or area of the web site to another. To them, we have one web site. They should be able to navigate to any page in the site without confusion that they are still within the University site. Appearance, content and navigation are inextricably linked in a web site and any local pages that are in conflict with each other impact on the site - and ultimately the University - as a whole.

Keeping consistency with elements such as terminology, logo usage and colour usage within the wider University site assists us in serving our audiences in the best way we can.

Underlines: hyperlinks or not

Hyperlinks in the body text must be underlined to be accessible to colour-blind users. Text that is not hyperlinked should not be underlined.

Hyperlinks in the distinct navigation zones should not be underlined.

Spelling

The reference guide for spelling is The Macquarie Dictionary (third edition or later). Please refer to this reference for any spelling checks.

Punctuation

The reference guide for punctuation is The Macquarie Dictionary (third edition or later). Please refer to the Guide to Punctuation section of this reference for any queries relating to punctuation.

Thesaurus

Please refer to The Macquarie Thesaurus.

Style

The preferred reference guide for elements of style is the Style Manual for Authors and The Little Book of Style, both published by Ausinfo.

Preferred style for specific references within the University of Adelaide site are listed below. Please refer to this reference guide with any queries in relation to other elements of style.

Particular Style Elements

The University of Adelaide

The correct terminology for the majority of references to this institution is the University of Adelaide.

Please note: Abbreviations such as UA or Uni Adelaide in copy on a web page are not permitted. They may only be applicable with icons that link back to the University of Adelaide home page.

Titles

When used in context of a page, academic titles should be used in full.
(e.g. Professor John Smith)

When used in a list or directory format, the preferred format is Prof (e.g. Prof John Smith)

Internet terms

The following are Internet terms and their correct usage, according to the Macquarie Dictionary.

email or e-mail
home page
Internet
online
web
the Web
webpage
web site
World Wide Web
www

The correct usage of other Internet terms is:

www.adelaide.edu.au [our web address]

UA Home (use this format for the link from your web site back to www.adelaide.edu.au)

Telephone numbers

The University of Adelaide web site will be adopting the formatting recommended by the Australian Communications Authority's TeleCommunications Numbering Plan, which was released in 1997.

The correct format for all landline phone numbers is:
+61 8 8303 7510

The correct format for all mobile phone numbers is:
0410 000 000

Times

Examples:
8 pm
7:30 am
noon
noon - 4 pm
7:30 - 8:30 am
7:30 am - 9:30 pm

Dates

Try to use the full form of the month where possible. It greatly helps the readability of your copy.

When you need to abbreviate a month - such as when it is used with a date - abbreviate to Jan, Feb, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec. Note, there are no full stops after the abbreviation.

Addresses

In general, the University's address should appear as:
Name of Department/Area/Faculty
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE SA 5005
AUSTRALIA

The capitalisation is deliberate. This format was developed in consultation with Australia Post and should be used in all documents.

Other campuses:

Name of Department/Area/Faculty
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE, Roseworthy Campus
ROSEWORTHY SA 5371
AUSTRALIA

Name of Department/Area/Faculty
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE, Waite Campus
PMB 1
GLEN OSMOND SA 5064
AUSTRALIA

Name of Department/Area/Faculty
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE, Thebarton Campus
THEBARTON SA 5031
AUSTRALIA

Copyright and disclaimer notices

In order to keep consistency, there is one generic copyright notice for the entire University of Adelaide web site. This notice covers all subsidiary pages within the site, therefore no individual faculty or department web site needs to have its own copyright notice.