This is a list of elements which the Gateway team check and correct on every Word document submitted for publication as a PDF to the PHE website.
Properties/metadata (File > Advanced Properties)
Ensure: 1. Correct title in ‘Title’ field. 2. ‘Author’ is always Public Health England. 3. Add main subject tags with semi-colon separators into the ‘Keywords’ field.
Title page logo
The PHE royal crest is always top left of the front page, above any text line.
Never manipulate it or use it without the strapline when co-branding.
Running header
10 pt grey, preferably on 1 line.
Table of contents (ToC)
In the template, right click and select ‘Update field’ to activate.
Accessible graphs and visual elements
- The key information contained in visual elements – graphs, graphics, infographics and flow charts – must be summarised in the text.
- Do not rely on colour to convey information. The important visual information must be understandable in black and white before you add colour. Paste graphs into the Colblindor website to check. ‘Get it right in black and white’.
- If using coloured text or text on a coloured background, it must comply with WCAG colour contrast requirements.
Avoid abbreviations
Spell out e.g. as ‘for example,’ (unless space constraints, in which case ‘eg’)
Spell out i.e. as ‘that is,’ (unless space constraints, in which case ‘ie’)
Spell out ‘etc’ as ‘and so on’.
No ampersands. Spell out ‘&’ as ‘and’Carefully delete entries in the ToC for the document title, ‘Contents’ and ‘About PHE’.
Body copy
For normal text use ‘Body Copy’ in the new template and ‘PHE Body Copy’ in the old template.
Body copy is should be Arial 12 point with line spacing of set to ‘At last 16 pt’.
Single space after full stops, not double space. Everything left justified, no paragraph indents.
Bold and italics
No italics except for scientific names (eg E.coli), so do not use italics for quotations, footnotes or any other purpose.
Italicised species names are allowed in document titles and headings.
Avoid bold, although it can be used sparingly for emphasis.
Do not use bold to create headings, use the correct heading style.
Bullet points
All sets of bullet points must be introduced by a lead-in line which is the first half of a sentence, so that each bullet point completes the lead-in sentence. Any bullet longer than a sentence is a text paragraph. Sets of bullet-pointed paragraphs will be changed into freestanding text paragraphs. Ensure that:
- there is a 1-line space between the lead-in sentence and the first bullet point
- all bullet points start with lower case letters and have no punctuation at the end
- the bullets are left justified ie not indented
Accessible graphs and visual elements
- The key information contained in visual elements – graphs, graphics, infographics and flow charts – should be summarised in the text.
- Do not rely on colour to convey information. The key visual information must be understandable in black and white before you add colour. Paste graphs into the Colblindor website to check. ‘Get it right in black and white’.
- If using coloured text or text on a coloured background, it must comply with WCAG colour contrast requirements.
Tables
Keep tables as simple as possible. Do not use colour. Solid margins / borders.
Format the table in ‘Layout’ > ‘Table properties’ > ‘Table’ tab, to make cell height 0.1cm and width 0.15cm.
Highlight the header row and in ‘Layout’ > ‘Table properties’ > ‘Row’ tab, tick ‘Repeat as header row at the top of each page’.
Capitals
Never capitalise whole words for emphasis. Capitalised words mistaken for acronyms.
Dates
23 March not ‘23rd of March’.
Forward slashes must not be used in dates. So:
- '2/10/19' should be written out as '2 October 2019'
- similarly, year periods must not use forward slashes but use the word 'to': thus 2019/20 must be written out as '2019 to 2020'
Footnotes
Use superscript numbers1. The footnote text in 10 point font.
Headings
Sentence case. Remove unnecessary capital letters and ampersands. Don't end headings with a colon.
Maintain heading hierarchy: Chapter heading, heading 2, heading 3, heading 4.
Do not use bold text as a heading.
Numbers
All numbers as digits, not spelled-out, so 3 not ‘three’.
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Replace forward slashes with ‘to’. Thus 2019/2020 should be ‘2019 to 2020’ (and not ‘2019 to 20’). Unless a) in tables where space is limited, b) there’s widespread use of year units with slashes in text (eg ‘2015/2016 to 2017/18’) in which case leave as is.
Avoid abbreviations
Spell out e.g. as ‘for example,’ (unless space constraints, in which case ‘eg’)
Spell out i.e. as ‘that is,’ (unless space constraints, in which case ‘ie’)
Spell out ‘etc’ as ‘and so on’.
No ampersands. Spell out ‘&’ as ‘and’.
Headings
Sentence case. Remove unnecessary capital letters and ampersands. Don't end headings with a colon.
Maintain heading hierarchy: Chapter heading, heading 2, heading 3, heading 4.
Do not use bold text as a heading.
Bold and italics
No italics except for scientific names (eg E.coli), so not for quotations, footnotes or any other purpose.
Italicised species names are allowed in document titles and headings.
Avoid bold, although it can be used sparingly for emphasis.
Do not use bold to create headings, use the correct heading style.
Speech marks
Single speech marks for the name of a publication.
Double speech marks for direct quotations (which are never in italics).
Capitals
Never capitalise whole words for emphasis, makes them mistakable for acronyms.
Dates
23 March not ‘23rd of March’.
Footnotes
Use superscript numbers1. The footnote text in 10 point font.
References
Properties/metadata (File > Advanced Properties)
Ensure: 1. Correct title in ‘Title’ field. 2. ‘Author’ is always Public Health England. 3. Add main subject tags with semi-colon separators into the ‘Keywords’ field.
References
We follow Government Digital Service requirements, thus:
References should be easy to understand by anyone, not just specialists.
They should follow the style guide. When writing a reference:
do not use italics*
use single quote marks around titles
write out abbreviations in full: page not p, Nutrition Journal not Nutr J.
use plain English, for example use ‘and others’ not ‘et al’
do not use full stops after initials or at the end of the reference
If the reference is available online, make the title a link and include the date you accessed the online version:
Corallo AN and others. ‘A systematic review of medical practice variation in OECD countries’ Health Policy 2014: volume 114, pages 5-14 (viewed on 18 November 2014)
*it's ok here for binomial nomenclature (eg Shigella sonnei), but not for journals. Please also remove bold.
PHE uses the Vancouver system. Use full-sized numbers (not superscript) in round brackets to indicate references, with a space between text and bracket (9), a single bracket with ‘to’ to indicate a range of references (9 to 15), all within the sentence, not after the full stop.
Reference numbers must hyperlink to the respective number in the References section (using anchor tags).
Running header
10 pt grey, preferably on 1 line.
Speech marks
Single speech marks for the name of a publication.
Double speech marks for direct quotations (which are never in italics).
Tables
Keep tables as simple as possible. Do not use colour. Solid margins / borders.
Format the table in ‘Layout’ > ‘Table properties’ > ‘Table’ tab, to make cell height 0.1cm and width 0.15cm.
Highlight the header row and in ‘Layout’ > ‘Table properties’ > ‘Row’ tab, tick ‘Repeat as header row at the top of each page’.
Table of contents (ToC)
In the template, right click and select ‘Update field’ to activate.
Carefully delete entries in the ToC for the document title, ‘Contents’ and ‘About PHE’.
Title page logo
The PHE royal crest is always top left of the front page, above any text line.
Never manipulate it or use it without the strapline when co-branding.
Sources
Government Digital Service style guide
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