Formatting & Conventions

 

Spacing

  • All text should be left aligned.
  • Use only a single space after a period or sentence-ending punctuation.
  • Use one return after a paragraph or before a heading.

Emails

Email addresses should be lowercase: john.perrelli@goucher.edu.

Dates & Times

  • Lowercase a.m. or p.m. and use periods: 10 a.m. or 10:30 a.m.
  • Use a single hyphen to show a date range: 2022-24 or 1995-2025.
  • Use st, nd, rd, or th only if dates are adjectives: The event will take place on March 1; the March 1st event has been canceled.
  • Do not abbreviate months.
  • "Fall" and "Spring" are capitalized only when used with a specific year: She has been accepted for the Fall 2025
    semester. Seasons are lowercase elsewhere: Commencement marks the official end of the spring semester.

For additional writing conventions, please refer to the Writing Style Guide (PDF).

Events & locations

Below are examples of how to format an event listing. (In these examples, use shift-enter for a line break after the first line.) 

10 – 11 a.m. | Class of 1974 Private Campus Tour | Alumnae/i House Courtyard
Join classmates for a campus tour with an admissions student ambassador.

11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. | Class of 1974 Private Campus Tour
Alumnae/i House Courtyard
Join classmates for a campus tour with an admissions student ambassador.

Or, if no location is used:

9:30 – 10:15 a.m. | Keynote Speaker: Descendant Engagement
Eola Dance, CEO & President, James Madison’s Montpelier

File types

Documents

Recommended format: PDF

When updating the website with information, it is best to add text to webpages so that it is accessible and looks good on all screen sizes. If you need to add a document to the website that has special formatting, large tables of data, charts, or graphs, we recommend using PDF files.

If you would like a new webpage created, please submit a project request.

Images

Recommended formats: WEBP, JPG, PNG

If you need any assistance preparing and adding images to the website, please submit a project request or contact webmaster@goucher.edu. 


File naming

Keep these naming conventions in mind when adding new or updated documents and files to the CMS. 

Use:

  • logical filenames that makes sense out of context.
  • title caps.
  • hyphens instead of spaces.

Not allowed: 

  • spaces
  • special characters

Avoid:

  • specific dates or timestamps.
  • version info.

Bad Examples:

  • AcademicHonorCode-updated-9.9.23.pdf
  • Academic-Calendar-2024-25-FINAL.pdf
  • kent-headshot.jpg

Good Examples:

  • Academic-Honor-Code.pdf
  • Academic-Calendar-2024-25.pdf
  • Kent-Devereaux.jpg

Tips for adding an updated version of an existing document

For instructions on uploading PDFs to the CMS, watch the tutorial How to Upload Documents to the CMS. 

Be sure to do the following:

  • Avoid uploading multiple versions of the same document.
  • Download the old version for your records and overwrite the previous version.
  • Use the same file name so that the URL of the document stays the same and so it doesn't create broken links.
  • Submit the page where the document lives for publish once the updated document has been uploaded.

If page has been published but you do not see the updated version of the document, the old version may be cached by your browser. To view the updated version hold shift + refresh the browser tab.

 

Tables

Only use tables if you want to display data in a few columns. Larger tables will not display properly on mobile devices and smaller screens. If you need to display data in a table with several columns, consider including it as a linked PDF. 

Example of a table that works on large or small screens:

Semester Statement Available Due Date
Summer 2024 5/15/2024 5/31/2024
Fall 2024 7/24/2024 8/16/2024
J term (Winter) 2025 1/2/2025 1/2/2025
Spring 2025 1/2/2025 1/8/2025

 

Related video tutorials

Need additional help? Find more tutorials on the CMS Tutorials page or contact the web team.