Brand Guidelines

All text and titles should be left-aligned.

Bold text

Bold should only be used sparingly to emphasis text.

Headings and subheadings should use appropriate styles rather than bold text.

Bulleted lists

Bullet points are a good way to break up information on web pages, but should only be used where appropriate for the content. If possible, each 'point' should be kept short.

If the list starts with a colon, as this one does:

• each point on list should start with lower case letter
• there should not be a full stop after each point unless it is the last point in the list.

If the list does not start with a colon (for example, a stand-alone list on a page), the first letter of each point should be capitalised and there should be a full stop after each.

Looking at Alzheimer's disease as a series of three stages can be a useful way of understanding the changes that occur over time. But it is important to realise that this view of Alzheimer's disease can only provide a rough guide to the course of the disease.

• Some symptoms may appear earlier or later than indicated here, or not at all.
• The stages may overlap - the person with Alzheimer's may need help with one task, but may be able to manage another activity on their own.
• Some symptoms, such as wandering, may appear at one stage and then vanish, while others such as memory loss will worsen over time.

Numbered lists can also be used as appropriate.

Content

Begin each page with a descriptive beginning to provide the user with as much information as possible about the content that follows. A page should not be created just to display an attachment.

Dates

Where possible, the date should be written in full, in a day month, year format.

1 January 2007

Downloads

The new website content management system automatically creates pages for each download. These pages contain informaiton about the file type, size and download times - and are the pages that should be linked to from within the text or the 'for more information sections'.

Email addresses

Email addresses should be written in full, with an active link attached.

CORRECT
For more information, email web@alzheimers.org.uk

INCORRECT
For more information, click here.

In certain cases, it may be appropriate to use a contact form rather than an email address. These can be created by the web team.

Images/photographs

When new images are uploaded to the content management system, text should also be entered which gives a description of the content of the picture.

Images should be resized so that they are a maximum of 192 pixels by 235 pixels before being uploaded. If you do not have access to image editing software contact the Web team to resize your images.

Images should also be cropped so that any unnecessary background or empty space is removed.

Animated graphics and moving/flashing blocks of text are not to be used on the website.

Footnotes

Numerical footnotes or references should be surrounded by square brackets.

File sizes

File sizes should be kept as small as possible, as larger files mean longer download times.

Italics

Italics should be used for:

• the titles of publications
• foreign words and phrases that have not become anglicised
• biographical notes of article authors in journals and newsletters
• photo captions.

Links

Where possible, the text associated with a link must provide a clear indication of the content that the link points to. Links with the text 'Click here' or 'more...' are ambiguous, and problematic for people using screen-readers.

CORRECT
Alzheimer's Society has a wide range of downloadable factsheets.

INCORRECT
Click here to download Alzheimer's Society factsheets.

Internal links

Internal links (links to other pages of our website) can be placed within the content of a page, but it's best if they come at the end of a section or at a natural break so the user doesn't flick to a new page mid-sentence.

External links

External links (link to other sites) should never be used within the content area of a page. They should be kept in a related links or 'further information' section of the site or page.

Page titles and headings

The first word of a page title or heading should be capitalised. All subsequent words should be in lower case, except if they are names of people or organisations, job titles or other special cases outlined in the Print Style Guide.

Research reveals benefits of dementia drugs in the brain
Date set for high court showdown on Alzheimer's drugs
Health Minister addresses local Alzheimer's Society branch

Subheadings within a page should be formatted as 'subheading'. Consider using subheadings to break up text-heavy pages, but try not to start a paragraph with the same words as used in the subheadings.

Paragraphs

Paragraphing and punctuation that has been used in printed documents doesn't always work on the web.

Consider breaking up your text into small blocks. Keep information concise, using short sentences and short paragraphs.

Break long items up into manageable chunks, using subheadings, bullet points, boxes, or quotations broken away from the text to highlight key points.

Use a double line space between paragraphs (as is shown here). Do not indent new paragraphs.

PDF files/Word files

Word documents will only be used on the site when the user needs to edit the document themselves (eg. an application form). All other documents on the site will be recreated as a pdf.

The Web team will review the use of pdfs on a case-by-case basis. They will not be included where the content has been duplicated as an html page (eg. in the fact sheet sections). Instead, a print style sheet will control how the page looks when printed.

When to use a PDF

PDF files should only be used in preference to HTML files for the following reasons

• The document's visual layout must be preserved.
• The document is designed for print.
• The document contains long and complex footnotes.

Where possible, should be created by the web team, and should be designed specifically for the web with basic branding and limited use of colour.

If an external designer is creating a pdf for our website, please ask them to consider PDF accessibility and layers

PDF accessibility

There are a number of things you can check to make sure your PDF is accessible

• Can you highlight and copy sections of text?
• Can you enlarge the text without it distorting too much?
• Are images in the PDF tagged with alternate text?

Layers

On a slow connection, a PDF will load in layers, usually starting with the bottom layer of a document and working towards the top. To prevent this from occurring:

• documents created in Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark should be merged into a single layer before converting to PDF
• documents created in Word and Publisher for conversion to PDF should, where possible, avoid the use of text/image boxes, word art, and other non-text elements.

Plain English

Where possible, plain English should be used to ensure the website is accessible to all our visitors. This involves avoiding Alzheimer's Society specific jargon (eg. QRD, QCT) and terms that would be unfamiliar to some of our audience.

For more examples of plain English, see the Plain English campaign's list of alternative words:

http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/alternative.pdf

Powerpoint files

Powerpoint files should not be used on the website. If their content stands alone, then a case can be made to the Web team for the creation of a pdf version. Users should not need to have been at the relevant conference/presentation to understand the powerpoint slides.

Quotes

Quotes should be indented once, surrounded by single quotation marks, and be followed by the person's name and 'position'.

'The level of support I received from the Society was tremendous.'
Kevin, Marathon runner

Spelling

Standard UK spellings should be used throughout the site, unless referring to the name of an overseas organisation (eg. a 'Center' in the USA).

Telephone numbers

Telephone and fax numbers should always include the area code and should be spaced as follows:

020 7306 0881

Web terms

• 'email' not 'e-mail'
• 'the internet' not 'the Internet'
• 'online' not 'on line'
• 'website' not 'web site'