This is a list of elements which the Gateway team check and, if necessary, correct on every Word document submitted for publication as a PDF to the UKHSA website.

Accessible graphs and visual elements

1. The key information contained in visual elements – graphs, graphics, infographics and flow charts – must be summarised in the text.
2. 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’.
3. If using coloured text or text on a coloured background, it must comply with WCAG colour contrast requirements.

Acronyms

Spell out all acronyms on their first appearance, including UKHSA which must be referred to on its first appearance as 'the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)' Note: never spell out UK as United Kingdom.

The first use of 'COVID-19' in every document should spell it out before the acronym, thus: 'coronavirus (COVID-19)'

Alt text

Government Digital Service advice on alt text is:

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If a good description of the graph or map is in the main body text, then adding it to alt text would only result in duplication and ‘auditory clutter’ for screen reader users.

Avoid abbreviations

Spell out e.g. as ‘for example,’ (unless space constraints, in which case write ‘eg’)

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No ampersands. Spell out ‘&’ as ‘and’.

Body copy

For normal text use ‘Body Copy’ in the new template.

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All text left justified, no indents for new paragraphs.

Bold and italics

No italics except for scientific names (eg E.coli).

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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

Capitals

Never capitalise whole words for emphasis. Capitalised words can be mistaken for acronyms, a sequence of capitalised words is difficult to read.

If emphasis is absolutely necessary, use bold (sparingly).

COVID-19

COVID-19 is an abbreviation.

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Government Digital Service has a style guide devoted entirely to COVID-related content.

Dates

23 March not ‘23rd of March’.

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• '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'

Flow charts

Flow charts need a detailed and literal text equivalent of every step of the process, all the questions and all the answers. A simple summary, or pointing to the data somewhere else, isn’t enough.

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Or see another example at the bottom of HMRC's Capital Gains Manual.

Footnotes

Use superscript numbers¹. The footnote text should be in 10 point font.

Headings

Sentence case. Remove unnecessary capital letters and ampersands. Don't end headings with a colon.

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Do not use bold text as a heading.

Numbers

All numbers as digits, not spelled-out, so 3 not ‘three’, except for ‘one’, which stays ‘one’ unless part of a numbered set of steps or the context demands the digit.

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Replace forward slashes with ‘to’. Thus 2019/20 or 2019/20 should be ‘2019 to 2020’.

Properties/metadata (File > Advanced Properties)

Ensure that:

1. The correct title is entered in the ‘Title’ field. 2.
2. The ‘Author’ is always Public Health England.
3. Add main subject tags with semi-colon separators into the ‘Keywords’ field.

References

We put all academic references in a numbered list at the end of the document, arranged by order of their first appearance in the main text.

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Occasionally, we receive documents where the references are arranged alphabetically by author. It is preferable to use the numbered-in-order-of-first-appearance system described above.

Linking to references at the end of a document

References or citations within the main text to the academic references in the numbered list at the end of the document should be in the following format:

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Reference numbers like this, within the text, must hyperlink to the respective number in the References section. You create links within a document by using Word's Bookmark functionality to create 'anchors' at the start of each numbered reference, and then making each bracketed reference an internal link.

Running header

Use the document title or a lightly edited version, in Arial 10 pt grey, preferably on only 1 line.

Speech marks

Single speech marks for the name of a publication.

Double speech marks for direct quotations (which are never in italics).

Spellings

 'Data set' and 'data sets', not 'dataset' and 'datasets'.

Government is not capitalised unless at the start of a sentence or referring to the name of a specific government, for example, the Government of Nepal.

Tables

Keep tables as simple as possible.

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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 the UK Health Security Agency'.

Title page logo

The UKHSA 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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