Aim to meet accessibility standards and, where possible, follow the Australian Government Style Manual. Use the Macquarie Dictionary for preferred spelling. Refer to the University’s style and brand guidelines when writing.

We aim for a consistent ‘look and feel’ across all LibGuides, especially those of the same type. Use templates, mapped boxes, and shared assets to support consistency.

For more information about selecting the right guide type or the quality assurance process, see the LibGuide creation and publication procedures.

Additional resources to assist with preparing content

General rules

• Avoid using ampersands (&); use the word "and" unless part of a proper name.
• Do not use all capital letters ("shouting caps") for emphasis. Use sentence case and appropriate formatting instead.
• Use formatting (bold or italics) only when necessary for clarity, not decoration.
• Prioritise clarity and consistency in all formatting choices.
• Use sentence case throughout (headings, links, and body text).
• Use default text size and color for consistency and readability.
• Use bold, italics, and appropriate heading tags to add emphasis and structure.
• Do not use underlining (this is reserved for hyperlinks).
• Do not use coloured fonts for emphasis or decoration.

Tip! If you copy and paste text into a guide make sure you select all the text then click Remove Formatting to return it to LibGuides defaults.

Styles

• Use the default Normal style for all content. Do not change the style unless necessary.
• The following styles may be used in specific contexts:
  • Computer Code - Use only when displaying lines of code, command-line text, or programming examples. Do not use for search terms or as a decorative style.
  • Keyboard - Use for literal keyboard input or shortcuts such as Ctrl+F or text that users need to type into a search box. Do not use for emphasis or to highlight general terms.
  • Small - Use sparingly for captions, citation notes or supporting information that should appear visually secondary. Do not use to reduce font size for layout purposes.
• Avoid using other styles to change the appearance of text, instead use headings and lists for structure and limited use of bold or italics for emphasis.

Headings

• Heading 1 and Heading 2 are used as the page title and box titles.
• Use Heading 3 for headings inside content boxes.
• Use Heading 4 and Heading 5 for subheadings if needed (use sparingly).
• Use sentence case only for headings (except acronyms). Avoid ALL CAPS or Title Case.

Links

• Use clear, descriptive link text that indicates the destination (e.g. "Search the catalogue" or "Request an article").
• Avoid vague links like "Click here", "More info", or "Read more".
• Avoid using the same link text for different URLs.
• Avoid using different link text for the same URL unless there is a specific purpose.
• Link text should make sense when read out of context (important for accessibility and screen reader use).

UI elements (buttons, menus, form fields)

• Capitalise the first letter of each UI element exactly as it appears on screen.
  • Examples: Click Submit, Select File > Print, Enter your Email Address
• Do not use bold, italics, underlining, or quotation marks for UI labels.
• Use clear action verbs (e.g. click, select, go to, type) before the UI element to make instructions clear.
• Avoid all caps for UI labels unless the interface displays them that way.

Lists

• Use proper list formatting (ordered or unordered lists) with correct HTML tags.
• Capitalise the first word of each list item.
• Use full stops only if the list items are complete sentences.
• Keep grammar and structure consistent across all items in a list.
• Use shit + enter to get a new, indented line under a list item
  which will look like this

Tables

• Make tables as simple as possible for screen readers.
• Default tables in LibGuides must read from left to right.
• Do not use tables for text formatting
• Use Table Properties to create header rows and columns. Do not just bold the text.

Accessibility reminder

• Do not rely on formatting (bold, italics, colour) alone to convey meaning.
• Use clear language and context to ensure content is accessible to all users, including those using screen readers.

See full instructions for creating and editing assets on the Building content and assets page and subpages.

Links

• Set links to Charles Sturt webpages to open in the same window.
• Set external links to open in a new window.
• Select the Display Below option to show link descriptions, where necessary.

Books from the catalogue - eBooks

• Include the title in title case.
• List author/editor details in Surname, Initial. format. If there are more than two authors, list the first two followed by et al.
• Remove the ISBN if it is displayed.
• Show only the year of publication.
• Use the book’s permalink, as described in the Creating links to resources instructions.
• Do not use the Primo record link unless it is for a VitalSource ebook.

Books from the catalogue - physical books

• Include the title in title case.
• List author/editor details in Surname, Initial. format. If there are more than two authors, list the first two followed by et al.
• Remove the ISBN if it is displayed.
• Show only the year of publication.
• Use the Primo record permalink.
• For eReserve items, direct students to the Leganto list in the subject site.

Embedded content - videos, Visme infographics, H5P items

• Add a descriptive title element to the embed code. Insert it after iframe, using the format: title="Name of video".
• Only one video should be visible at a time.
• Set video hyperlinks to open in a new window.
• Ensure the content is logically ordered. Consider including chapter titles if they help meet student needs.
• The video title should clearly describe the content.
• Watch the instructional video on how to add a title and adjust the widget size in LibGuides.