Autumn is certainly taking root and, having gone back to GMT at the end of October(*), the nights are really drawing in. It always seems a surprise despite it happening every year.

November usually starts with a bit of a buzz with my charity firework display but alas, this year, the weather got the better of us and we had to cancel. A bit of a downer for all involved at Southend Round Table but I’m sure we’ll be back and bigger in 2020.

Anyway… Style sheets: what are those you say?

Well, anyone publishing written material, particularly if more than one person is writing it, should seriously consider putting together a style sheet. This outlines how your organisation wants to treat those grey areas of spelling, punctuation and grammar.

For example, do you organise or organize? Do you prefer Thomas’ books rather than Thomas’s books? How do you like your headings? Do you prefer ten or 10? 1000, 1,000 or 1 000? Do you need to use US or UK English? When do you hyphenate? How do you present your dates? Oxford comma, anyone?

All these things require a moment’s thought.

If a multitude of people are creating your content then you can end up with inconsistencies across your website. This is how a style sheet helps: it sets out how you want to present certain things and prevents your writers having to make the decision again and again. Give them a style sheet and they know how they should do it.

Not only does it set out how you wish to deal with variable spellings it also sets out your voice, eg passive, for your writing. Some like to write in the first person (I or we) others not. You may even have industry-specific spellings to point out. For example, in psychological circles phantasy is perfectly acceptable – because it is something different to fantasy.

As a proofreader, a style sheet is essential. It helps me to know what you wanted for your written material so I can check against it. However, not everyone is confident in producing one and so I can help. This could be a one-off project, looking at your audience(s) and giving recommendations on style, or as a fluid or living document – evolving as we work together on particular projects such as blogs or reports or other regular documents.

So, if you want help to ensure that your website doesn’t organize when your reports organise, why not get in touch?

Kindly proofread by Janice Gilbert, WordperfectVA.

(*) thus making the last Sunday of October the longest day of the year at 25 hours.