Quick Digital Style Rules

Only introduce an acronym if you are going to use it throughout the rest of your text.

Initially, spell the word out in full followed by the acronym in brackets. That way people will know what you are talking about.

Avoid using lots of acronyms as it can be confusing.

Museum Act 1976

Unless otherwise advised, we use Before Common Era (BCE) and Common Era (CE).

BCE covers the same time range as BC.

CE covers the same time range as AD.

The common use for apostrophes is to make a word possessive.

You do this by adding an apostrophe + s ('s) to the end of the word.

If the word is a plural noun and ends in an s, just add the apostrophe.

"They found their answers in the Museum's Digital Style Guide."

When the word 'collection' is part of a collection name, it is capitalised.

When the word 'collection' is used as a generic descriptor it is not capitalised.

"This display showcases our Meteorite Collection."

"The Museum's collections are wide and varied."

If you're unsure when to use a comma, read your sentence aloud. Insert a comma where you find yourself taking a breath.

We use standard comma rules.

When we write lists that may cause confusion we use the Oxford comma. This means we use a comma to separate every list item.

Use a hyphen (-) without spaces on either side to link words into a single phrase, or to indicate a span or range.

When we are creating a sentence break or adding emphasis, we use a true em dash without spaces on either side (—).

Remember, an em dash is its own character. Do not use a single or a double hyphen (- or --).

Hyphens:
"Emily was a first-time user."

"Tickets are available for purchase Monday-Friday."

"The Museum is open 9.30am-5pm."

Em dash:
"Alec Coles—the Museum's CEO—opened the exhibition on Friday."

When we write dates we use the format:

Day name - Numerical day - Month - Year.

• The "day name" can be dropped if it interrupts the flow of a sentence.
• We do not shorten the day name ("Monday" not "Mon")
• We do not use ordinal indicators (-st, -nd, -rd, -th) unless we are referring to whole centuries.

If we are writing about a decade we use the format YYYYs.

We use ellipses when we are omitting words from a quote.

Although they can be used in general writing for emphasis and drama, we try to avoid this and use them sparingly.

"Visit Dinosaur Discovery: Lost Creatures of the Cretaceous this September!"

When referring to a file extension type, use all uppercase without a period. Add a lowercase "s" to make it plural.

When referring to a specific file, the filename should be lowercase.

File extension type:
GIF, PDF, JPGs

Specific file name:
EscapePompeii.png

WA_Shipwrecks.pdf 

• Use italics for the title of a long work (like a book, movie, or album) or to emphasise a word.
• Don’t use underline formatting as people will assume it is a hyperlink.
• Don't use any combination of italics, bold, caps, and underline.
• We always left-align our text.

Links to all files should include in square brackets:

• File type
• File size
• Duration when it is audio or visual

When your text is hyperlinked, the correct formatting will be automatically applied, so don't worry there is no need to add an underline.

When you are hyperlinking to an external website, include the word 'website' in the copy to make it clear the user will be leaving your site.

Avoid spelling out URLs, but when you need to, leave off the http://www.

Linked content:
Western Australian Museum Annual Report 09-10 [2MB PDF]

Identifying Backyard Bugs [3 mins 3.2MB MP3] 

Linked websites:
"To explore more archival resources visit the State Library of Western Australia's website."

"Find out what events are on near you by visiting museum.wa.gov.au"

The first time the Museum is in a piece of content we need to write our name out in full. After that we can say "WA Museum" or the "Museum".

Do not ever say "WAM".

Our site names are:

• New Museum Perth
• WA Maritime Museum
• WA Shipwrecks Museum
• Museum of Geraldton
• Museum of the Great Southern
• Museum of the Goldfields

We write numbers zero through ten out in full. After that we use numerals.

When a number has four or more characters we use commas instead of spaces to separate them.

We only use a decimal point if the number cannot be easily written out as a fraction.

We write all ages as numerals.

Writing numbers:
Nine, ten, 11.

Separating numbers:
123
1,234
1,234,567 

If it is a Museum event or program, we spell Nyoongar with a 'y'. We drop the 'y' if the event or program is related to Albany.

If another group or organisation send their material to us, we use their spelling.

Only include a decimal if it is present.

We check the current edition of the Australian Oxford Dictionary for spelling preferences.

However, some basic spelling rules include:

• ‘ise’ rather than ‘ize’ - recognise
• ‘ll’ not ‘l’ - traveller
• ‘re’ not ‘er’ - centre, kilometre
• ‘our’ not ‘or’ - colour, flavour
• program not programme
• acknowledgement and judgement, not acknowledgment and judgment.
• okay not OK
• while and among, not whilst and amongst
• Archaeology and foetus, not archeology and fetus

• Use single quotation marks when quoting a person or a source. Use double quotation marks for a quote within a quote. The exception is for standalone quotes.
• Periods and commas go within quotation marks.
• If a question mark is part of the quotation, it goes inside the quote. If you’re asking a question that ends with a quote, the question mark goes outside the quote.
• If the quote goes over two lines, it is separated from the main paragraph.
• Remember to always attribute your quote and include source details if relevant.

Scott was asked by Emily, 'What is the best advice you have received?'

Scott said, 'A wise man once told me, "Have no fear!"'

"Have no fear!"

- Danny Murphy, 2018

Make sure all species names are in italics, with the genus capitalised and the species in lower case.

You should, wherever possible, provide the common name with the scientific name in parenthesis.

"Attenborough’s goblin spider (Prethopalpus attenboroughi)."

We italicise all ships and boat names.

If we are including a staff member's position, it is important we use the correct title.

You can find everyone's staff title by visiting our organisation chart on Pulse.

We only include a decimal if it is present, and we choose to use a period over a colon.

We do not use the 24 hour clock.