Copy Guidelines for Web

Updated: 2/4/25

Website casing

Headlines (or H1 tags) should be written in title case (all the major words capitalized) and do not need punctuation.

All subheads (H2, H3, H4, etc.) should be written in sentence case (only the first letter of the first word is capitalized) and should not end in punctuation, unless a question mark is needed.

Top-level navigation should be written in title case per current formatting.

All CTAs and links should be written in sentence case, with no punctuation.

CTAs in buttons should follow button copy format.

Punctuation

Commas

Use the Oxford or serial comma when writing lists.

• Example: We’re hiring in sales, product, and finance.

Ampersands

Don’t use (&) unless it’s in a brand name, navigation item or service/specialty name. The only exception is for social ads when brevity is needed for character count.

Plus sign

Don’t use “+” to mean “and” unless used in social ads when brevity is needed for character count.

Apostrophes

When making a possessive from a noun ending in -s, use only an apostrophe.

• Example: This is Charles’ project.

Colons and semicolons

Use sparingly. Consider rewriting a sentence if it requires a semicolon or colon. Options include using an em-dash or starting a new sentence.

Contractions

Use contractions for common phrases.

• Example: doesn’t, hasn’t, etc.

Dashes and hyphens

Em-dash

Use the em-dash (—) to offset an aside in the sentence. Don’t use spaces before and after the em-dash.

• Example: They aren’t adjusting the entire schedule—only this month.

En-dash

Use the en-dash (–) to connect a range of numbers or dates.

• Example: We’re open from Mon–Thurs.

Ellipses

Use spaces before and after ( … ).

• Example: Example: Hmmm … something went wrong.

Exclamation points

Don’t use multiple exclamation points.

Acronyms

Don’t use periods in common acronyms. Ex. US, UK, IRS, NASA, JPL

Other style tips

Acronyms

When using an abbreviation, introduce the acronym in parentheses on the first mention.

Example: Our conference will be held at the Acme Convention Center (ACC).

Capitalization

Don’t use ALLCAPS unless you are writing an acronym, or formatting requires it.

Capitalize titles preceding names but use lowercase after names.

• Example: Our Director of Marketing Jane Doe is excited to meet you. John Doe, director of marketing, will be joining us.

Use all lowercase when writing out an email address or website URL.

Currency

No space between $ and the number. Use commas to separate millions and thousands. Spell out millions, billions, trillions.

• Example: We spent $10,000. But the total cost was $7 million.

 Dates/months/years

• Short dates–MM/DD/YYYY
• Long dates–Month DD, YYYY
• Don’t use ordinals with dates: 3^rd, 2^nd, December 5^th, 1984

Numbers, fractions, units

Spell out numbers 0-9 and use figures for ten and up. Always spell out if at the beginning of a sentence.

Telephone numbers–Use dashes

• Example 215-572-7938

Time

Use figures except for noon and midnight.

Write a.m. and p.m. in lowercase, include a space after the hour and use periods between the letters.

For times on the hour, don’t include minutes.

• Example: 11 p.m., 3:30 a.m., 9-11 a.m.

Bulleted lists

Introduce the list with a short phrase or sentence:

Example: Our partners are: or These are our partners:

• Capitalize the first word following the bullet.
• Only use punctuation if the bullet is a full sentence.
• Use parallel construction for each item in the list.
  • Start with the same part of speech for each item (in this example, a verb).
  • Use the same voice (active or passive) for each item.
  • Use the same verb tense for each item.
  • Use the same sentence type (statement, question, exclamation) for each item.
  • Use just a phrase for each item, if desired.