Abbreviations and acronyms: sometimes handy for keeping things brief, sometimes more trouble than they’re worth. If you use them, here’s two ways to do it:

• Use the full name of whatever it is you’re talking about then put the acronym/abbreviation in brackets after that.
• Use the acronym/abbreviation first, explaining its full meaning briefly afterwards.

There are two good reasons to use apostrophes:

• To show some letters have been removed from a word to shorten it.
• To show something belongs to something or someone else.

If you don’t need to do either of those things, you don’t need an apostrophe.

Bullet points are great for legibility. Introduce bullet points with a colon, like this:

• Use the same grammatical structure in each.
• Short phrases don’t need capitals or full stops. Longer sentences need capitals and full stops.

In standard text, use capitals when you:

• Start a sentence or paragraph.
• Use a proper noun (Janet, Wales, The National Association of Recorder Players).
• Use an acronym (NATO, NASA, BYOB).
• Capitalise UNCLE and our job titles (Resident Manager). It’s also OK to use block caps in a humorous way now and then, if that’s your thing.

Contractions are shortened words: it’s, we’re, you’re – you get the picture. UNCLE’s tone of voice is casual and friendly, so contractions are fine.

Use italics sparingly. Emphasis, foreign words, publication titles.

• Numeral or word: spell out numbers from one to nine, then use numerals from 10 onwards.
• Money and measurements: always use numerals. E.g: £6 million, 3 metres.
• Millions, billions, trillions: spell these units out in full but use ‘m’, ‘bn’ and ‘tn’ in headlines to save space.

Colons: you need to use a colon:

• Before a list (even of one item)
• Before a summary
• Before a quote

Semicolons: do not use a semicolon, unless you’re at least 8,000% sure you know how they work. In which case, you can very occasionally use semicolons to:

• Link two full sentences that are directly related
• Break up a list that already contains commas

Exclamation marks: don’t.

Keep your sentences short and to the point. Mix in a few longer sentences now and then. If your sentence is longer than 25 words, it needs splitting.

British English spelling for now. Once UNCLE has crossed the Atlantic, we’ll worry about localised content. For now, it’s Rule Britannia.

Keep the start of your sentences simple. It’s not a good idea to start sentences with a gerund (ing word) or a subordinate clause. On another note, it’s 100% fine to start a sentence with ‘And,’ ‘But,’ and ‘Or.’ Just don’t forget the comma afterwards.

Keep content left-aligned with a ragged (not justified) right edge.
If you’re placing text next to an image, make sure the straight edge is next to the image.

Don’t beat around the bush. Get to the point, don’t sugar-coat things, but be tactful. If you find yourself veering towards corporate blah, jargon or formality, rein it in.

It’s OK to say ‘you’ in your content. It’s got a personal feel, and it’s good for grabbing attention.

Be clear, friendly and approachable. No corporate jargon, no pointless filler.

There’s a dry kind of humour to UNCLE. It’s witty and topical, but not political, cruel or insulting.

Mild swearing is OK on occasion (“Bloody hell”, “Oh, bugger.”). Steer completely clear of dirty jokes or harsher swear words, discrimination, personal attacks and insults.

Brief metaphors and analogies are fine. Extended metaphors no (examples)
Don’t mix your metaphors. The man from UNCLE, he say no.

Disabilities: preferred terms do change relatively frequently, so make sure you keep up to date and check if you’re unsure.

Sexism: don’t default to ‘he’ as your preferred pronoun in general content: it’s clumsy if nothing else. You can use ‘they’ as a singular.

Jobs: use the unisex version of job titles unless you’re specifically referring to a member (or members) of one sex: police officer, firefighter, chair.

• Make sure URLs are clear and neatly presented: www.uncle.co.uk
• Don’t include the final forward slash at the end of the address
• Don’t include the http:// unless the URL doesn’t have a www
• Try to avoid publishing a very long URL. If you need a shorter version, use www.tinyurl.com or www.bit.ly
• You don’t need to use a full stop at the end of a sentence if it finishes with a URL or an email address
• Remember: capital letters can make a difference in a URL