The purpose of this guide is to help you write in a consistent tone, language and formatting style, making it easier for our audiences to find and understand information on nsw.gov.au
Audience
We write with our audiences in mind. They are the:
- citizen – a person who is a resident of NSW
- business – a person who owns or is employed by a business operating in NSW, or who may like to work or do business in NSW
- visitor – a person who is visiting NSW from interstate or overseas
- public servant – a person who works for a NSW Government department or agency.
General style
This guide covers most of the basics you’ll need to create simple, accessible and consistent content. We’ve based it on the following references, and added information specific to the nsw.gov.au context.
We use Australian English and the Macquarie Dictionary.
We follow the Digital.NSW content style guide.
For issues that aren't covered in the Digital.NSW guidelines, we use the Australian Government Style Manual.
In this guide
- Style, tone and site structure. Understand the nsw.gov.au voice, tone, writing style and user-centred approach – including plain English, inclusive language and our topic-based information architecture.
- Using clear language. How and when to use abbreviations, contractions, capitals and terms like 'must', 'could' and 'should'.
- Spelling and punctuation. A-Z list of preferred spellings and punctuation conventions for nsw.gov.au
- Numbers and numerals. Formatting numbers, numerals, dates, measurements, money, percentages, fractions and time.
- Headings, links, naming and labelling. How to write effective headings, alt text and link text, using short titles and slugs, naming conventions and heading hierarchies.
- Summaries, structure, formatting and images. Editorial guidance to help you choose images, write effective page summaries, and follow our style conventions for lists and text formatting.
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Proofing for quality control. How to do a final check on visual, textual and interactive elements of your content before publishing.
- Further guidance. Additional content design resources and references for NSW public sector employees.
Need any more help?
If you have any questions, or require assistance with anything mentioned on this article, submit a request via the webform.