Web editorial style guide
This guide is designed to help you develop and aggregate appropriate, relevant content for the Furman University web presence. Its primary focus per the scope of this initiative is the main public-facing website. It comprises relevant guidelines from a variety of resources and recommendations:
- Wired Style, Hale and Scanlon
- Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition
- Letting Go of the Words, 1st edition
- Content Rules, Handley and Chapman
- Hodges' Harbrace College Handbook, 10th edition
- Webster's New World Dictionary
Apply these guidelines to ensure all content upholds the promise of your message architecture and that of a professional brand: it should be consistent, clear, and appropriate for your target audience. This document will help you develop a more relevant and functional user experience for prospective students, faculty, and members of the Furman community
—and the broader community in which it thrives.
Consider these communication goals as you determine the overall voice, focus, and structure of new content.
Review Furman's message architecture
Style refers to the mechanics of construction. It includes grammar and usage.
Review our style guidelines
Tone refers to the overall manner of expression, comprising messaging, voice, tense, and diction.
Understand Furman's tone
Provide clear, consistent, appropriate content.
Learn how to write for the web
Download a printable web editorial style guide [PDF]
See the Furman web and social media presentation [QuickTime movie]