Content
Take a Content-First Approach
Below you will find recommendations and guidelines on how to present content on your website.
Organize your information
Build an outline or flowchart of how your information will be displayed. Put information with less priority on lower level pages. Group your information into categories that are easily understandable to your audience.
Contact information
Include the address, phone number and email in a place that’s easy for your users to find quickly.
Break up blocks of text
Use headings and bulleted lists to break your web pages into sections.
Check for spelling and grammar
Spell check and proofread your pages, and have others review your work.
Additional Recommendations
Linking within text
A link has emphasis. Link too much, and soon everything has emphasis—so nothing does. Also, make sure you are emphasizing useful text. Name your links with descriptive titles rather than using “click here.” See the following examples:
For example:
- Incorrect: For information on residence halls, click here.
- Correct: See the Residence Halls for more information.
Shape your content for online reading
Most online readers scan first. Concise sentences that convey their point quickly are more likely to grab visitors than long, complex sentences and are more likely to entice people to explore further.
Shorten and strengthen sentences
Begin your sentences with strong subjects and verbs. Tell the reader who is acting and what the actor is doing. Leading with strong subjects and verbs puts the most important words at the beginning of the sentence and condenses your text.
Use concise phrases
You can replace many common and redundant words and phrases with briefer, more direct, and equally familiar words.
We use more than visuals to communicate the essence of Wake Forest University. The text of our communications should reflect our personality as clearly as our colors and imagery.
Let your messages take on the qualities of our University, both in content and style. For example, Wake Forest is bold and accomplished. Therefore, write in active voice whenever possible. Our devotion to service is noble, which suggests sincerity and honesty. Our personality is inquisitive, so our messaging should be open-minded. Finally, we are intimate and speak as one person to another. Our tone should never be pretentious, but always warm, natural and engaging.
University Style
As a rule, all marketing materials, brochures, flyers, posters, newsletters, newspapers, alumni publications, online content and other campus communications should follow The Associated Press Stylebook. All scholarly articles, Wake Forest Magazine articles, and formal correspondence should follow The Chicago Manual of Style.
Style guidelines
When referring to our University in print or online communications, use Wake Forest University for the first reference. Afterwards, use Wake Forest.
Also, make sure to keep the following in mind:
- Do not refer to Wake Forest University as Wake.
- Capitalize University in reference to Wake Forest University.
- Use the full name, Wake Forest College, for the first reference. Thereafter, use College.
- When referring to our original campus in the town of Wake Forest, use Old Campus.
- When referring to student housing, use “residence halls,” not “dormitories.”
- When referring to the main quadrangle, use Hearn Plaza or the Quad.
- When referring to the former Magnolia Court/Plaza, use Manchester Plaza.
- Avoid using the possessive form of Wake Forest. Do not write “Wake Forest’s personality is resourceful.”
- When referring to either Reynolda Campus chapel, identify it by name. For example, use Wait Chapel or Davis Memorial Chapel, not “the chapel.”
- Whenever possible, write in gender-inclusive language. For example, “In time, every student sees the value of his or her Wake Forest education.”
- Refer to our campuses as the Reynolda Campus, the Bowman Gray Campus, and the Friedberg Campus.
- Use Demon Deacons or Deacons, not Deacs.
Match the following styles when identifying alumni and parents:
- John Doe (’06)
- John Doe (JD ’06)
- Jane Doe (MBA ’06)
- Jane Doe (MD ’06)
- John Doe (P ’06)
- John Doe (’06, MBA ’08)
- Jane Doe (’86, P ’06)
- Jane (’80) and John (’79) Doe (P ’06, ’08)
When referring to Wake Forest University, or any Wake Forest school name in text, do not format differently from the rest of the text, such as with boldface, larger type size, italics or underlining.
Sizing images
If you are adding a photo to your page that is from the WFU archive or directly from a digital camera, it will be much bigger than you need it to be for your website. Always remember that some users will be viewing your website on a phone using mobile data, they’ll have trouble loading large images and you’ll be using up a portion of their data plan.
- The largest an image will need to be is 1400px wide for full-screen width photos. The resolution should be set at 72 dpi.
- If you can, first use a photo editing program like Photoshop to crop and size your image for uploading.
- Visit our WordPress Training site to find specific theme image sizes and to learn how to use Photoshop to adjust your images before uploading.
Naming files
Please make your file name reflect the content, and be sure to include the date. Use dashes or underscores to separate words. This will make finding your files easier down the road. It also helps search engines direct people to the correct files.
- Incorrect: application.pdf
- Correct: wake-forest-camp-application-2024.pdf
- Incorrect: myphoto.jpg or DSC2123.jpg
- Correct: suzy-smith-profile-photo-fall-2024.jpg
Wake Forest web pages should strive to meet the current accessibility standards detailed below. Section 508 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act, is currently the minimum guidelines for web page design. These standards not only ensure access to disabled users, but enhance content for all users.
Proper markup and semantics
Always use proper semantic markup for your web content. For example, all headings should be marked as headings (H1, H2, etc.). All lists should be marked up as lists (ordered or unordered). Never choose an HTML tag based on how it looks, as this may confuse screen readers for the blind.
Use alternate text for images and text within your images
Every photo that adds meaning to the page should contain Alt Text. This is for users using assistive technology such as screen readers. Ensuring the meaning of images is conveyed via Alt Text aligns with the Americans With Disabilities Act.
This phrase or sentence only needs to be a short phrase that conveys the message of the photo in its context. Images that do not convey meaning and are purely decorative, such as spacer elements, can be marked as “decorative” or “null” by leaving the Alt Text field blank. The W3C has produced a decision tree to help you decide if an image is truly and purely decorative or has meaning.
Provide transcriptions for all audio or video content
Consider providing transcription captions for critical audiovisual content on your site. There are transcription services that can supply transcripts relatively inexpensively, and all the major digital audiovisual formats can be adapted for transcription captioning.
Pay careful attention to your page headers and titles
Always supply a concise, informative page title for your web pages, and make sure that the same content keywords appear in both your major page headers and the page title. Titles are the first and most important thing many readers see, as page titles form the basis for bookmark text and the title text in search engine listings. Your pages will be easier to understand, and will rank more highly in search engines if your titles and headings agree, and properly describe the content of the page.