User Experience Librarian
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4019-9312alert
Hello CIST-605 Students!
This training & style guide is adapted from the UAlbany Libraries Web Content Style Guide for use when writing digital or print content, whether it is a web page, a research guide, a LibCal event, a PDF, an email, a slidedeck, or a social media post. It includes word usage, preferred terms, formatting guidelines, and more.Getting Started
Welcome to our web content style guide
One of the best ways to ensure that your website is user-friendly is to follow industry best practices, keep the content focused on key user tasks, and keep our content up-to-date.
You want the content for your websites, social media, marketing pieces, and other materials to be reliable, understandable, and friendly.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the University of Illinois Library's Website Style Guides and Project Documentation, Duke University's Web Writing Style Guide, The University of Arizona's Editorial Style Guide, the MailChimp style guide, and the UConn Library's LibGuides Standards and Best Practices for the open licensing of their content, which we used to build this resource. Some of the content of this guide was taken, with permission, from Boston College Libraries' LibGuides Standards and Best Practices, and Temple University Editorial Guidelines which is largely based on the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook.
Works Consulted
Aderinokun, I. (2015). The Accessibility Cheatsheet. bitsofcode. https://bitsofco.de/the-accessibility-cheatsheet/
Blakiston, R. (2017) Writing Effectively in Print and on the Web : a Practical Guide for Librarians. Lanham. Rowman & Littlefield. Print.
Froke, P., and Bajak, F. (2020) The Associated Press Stylebook : 2020-2022. 55th edition. New York: Basic Books. Print.
Hampton Haynes, E. (3 Mar. 2019) Library Jargon. ACRLog.
Mugridge, R. (2019). University at Albany Libraries Style Guide. Internal document: unpublished draft.
Nielsen, J., & Kaley, A. (2020). Avoid PDF for On-Screen Reading. Nielsen Norman Group. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/avoid-pdf-for-on-screen-reading/
Nielsen, J., & Kaley, A. (2020). PDF: Still Unfit for Human Consumption, 20 Years Later. Nielsen Norman Group. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/pdf-unfit-for-human-consumption/
Office of Communications and Marketing. (2020) The Editorial Style Guide. University at Albany. Web. https://www.albany.edu/communicationsmarketing/
Office of Communications and Marketing. (2020) Quick Reference Style Guide. University at Albany. Web. https://www.albany.edu/communicationsmarketing/
Schade, A. (2014). Video Usability. Nielsen Norman Group. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/video-usability/
The Chicago Manual of Style. (2017) Seventeenth edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Web.
University at Albany. (2021) UAlbany Brand and Marketing Guidelines Visual Identity Standards Manual. Web. https://www.albany.edu/communicationsmarketing/
Further Reading
- Web Style Guide, 3rd Edition (full-text online) by Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton
- Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition, by Steve Krug
- Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works, by Janice (Ginny) Redish
- Writing for the Web research from the Nielson Norman Group
- McAfee, E. (2018). Shame: The Emotional Basis of Library Anxiety. College & Research Libraries, 79(2), 237. doi: https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.79.2.237
- Polger, M. A. (2011). Student Preferences in Library Website Vocabulary. Library Philosophy and Practice. 618. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/618