A Style Guide For Your Web Site

A Heading To Set Off A Block Of Text

You don't always need a heading for every block of text. It can be helpful to break up a long page, dividing it into particular areas of interest. You wouldn't want to use one heading for every paragraph, though as it would be too much. In general, it's preferable to keep paragraphs to a few sentences, as that makes your page easier to read, more inviting.

NOTE: Please keep your headings in "camel case" (upper and lower) rather than all caps. They are already bold, and in a high impact color; adding all caps would be overkill.

Use your bold button to emphasize certain points as needed. My motto is, Use italics for quotes! Remember to hit the "off" button right afterward, or it will drive you crazy by repeatedly asking you things like "make text italic?"

Images & Image Sizes

Use small images to add interest to your pages. It's probably best to position them to the right of your text on this web site, to help balance the design of the page.

The image shown to the right is 250px (px=pixels) wide. This is generally a good width for images on your web site, when you're using them to help tell the story. For the most part, keep your images between 150 and 250 pixels wide.

"Line Breaks": Blank Lines Between Paragraphs and Sections

Putting an extra line between paragraphs in your Page Editor will result in extra lines on your pages. Sometimes you may want to include several, depending on what you're trying to do.

We use two extra lines between heading/paragraph sections. There are also two blank lines at the very end of this page, to keep the bottom of the text from running into the bottom of the page.

When you are placing images on your page, you may find text running into them. In that case, use as many as you need after a paragraph to "push the picture lower down".

Bullet Lists

When possible, use a list to organize points on your pages.

• Information points in lists are easy to read
• A list can help break up the text on your page
• Lists make you look like you know what you're doing
• You'll need to put a blank line between list items in the Page Editor

One Space Between Sentences, Please

Did you know that double spacing between sentences is out of fashion? It's true. The design police will come to your office unless you limit yourself to one space between sentences. The double space rule harkens back to the typewriter days, when type couldn't be properly set to compensate for the differences in letter widths. Computers do this automatically, though. Please, just one space.

We Have a Table Maker!

There are some kinds of information that just seem to need a table, and we have a table maker for that. The style and format for the tables--how many columns, background colors for the rows, column width--are pre-formatted, meaning the web developer has to set that up for you ahead of time. However, you can choose from among the table styles available, or ask for something different.

Help!

Instruction on using the Table Maker and more is available in the Online Help Manual. To access the manual, please click the "help" button at the top of your Page Editor screen. You can also use this link:

http://www.rio-arriba.org/editorhelp/