Editor checklist

Writing content

• Use sentence casing for all but proper nouns
• Headings: group related ideas together using descriptive headings, use proper heading levels with real headings (not stylized text only), and no punctuation
• First letter following a slash is lowercase (e.g. Books/articles)
• Write for a 8^th grade or lower literacy level
• Sentences: brief (15 to 20 word max), prefer imperative sentence structure, no “It is” or “There are” beginnings, use serial (Oxford) comma
• Paragraphs: 3 to 5 sentence max, break grammar rules if necessary, use bulleted lists when possible
• Lists: if each bullet stands alone use proper sentence structure, if not then join each bullet together as if in a sentence
• Use the active voice
• Links: use descriptive text that can be understood out of context (no “click”, “click here”, “learn more”, “more”)
• Buttons: use an appropriate non-ableist verb (no “submit”, “click”, “tap”, “view”, “see”)
• Point of view: avoid when possible, 2^nd person when necessary
• Referring to people: person-first recommended (people with disabilities) unless preference is known, use “person” or “people” instead of “user”, “patron”, or “customer”
• Pronouns: use “they/them” if necessary (when referring to a specific person, use their preferred pronoun if known), avoid gendered nouns (“fireman”)
• Punctuation: use parentheses sparingly, avoid ampersands (except in headings), use “curly” quotation marks properly, use dashes and hyphens properly

Terms and phrases

• Explain unavoidable jargon and acronyms
• Avoid idioms, metaphors, cliches, and colloquialisms
• Remove exaggerated and informal parts of speech
• Check the glossary for official language

Images

• Use sparingly, determine if the image is substantial and necessary
• Avoid placing text in or on top of an image
• Do not use photos of people without photo releases
• Avoid proprietary images from other places without consent
• Use accurate images that represent spaces, services, and people (no stock photos)
• Decorative images have an empty alt text, informative needs alt text, complex images need more than alt text
• Alt text never has “This is an image of”, “Photo”, “Photo of”, “Screenshot of”

Media

• Do not embed auto playing multimedia with either audio or visual components
• Captions are required for all videos with at least 99% accuracy
• Audio description is required where visuals are used to deliver meaning
• All audio must include transcription using HTML format

Files

• Do not link to a Google Doc, Sheet, Slides; Microsoft files; or other proprietary format or editing application as a published asset
• Use PDF files sparingly, they lack accessibility; any PDFs that are used must be accessible