Sponge Project Blog ~ Web design in Tewkesbury

It’s amazing what a quick Google search will turn up, in this case the BBC News Styleguide. What I was actually looking for was the original use of the analog clock now housed on the BBC Homepage Beta (see top right hand side of screen), which I still can’t find!

Since I found the style guide, I thought I’d have a read. It turns out to be a fascinating and very useful document, particularly for someone who publishes via a blog. In essence the guide is to ensure a layer of governance in any spoken or written English that BBC News puts broadcasts or publishes. As they say:

Every time anyone writes a script for BBC News they are potentially touching the lives of millions of people ? through radio, tv and the internet.That is the privilege of working for one of the biggest news organisations in the world.

The first part of the document takes you into the very basics of writing articles or scripts, correct use of grammar for example. Details are provided on the correct way to address certain issues and when to use certain foreign phrases like ad hoc or de facto. There’s also sound advice for “politically correct” issues surrounding people’s disabilities, ethnicity or creed and aims to ensure no-one is offended by the words used. Guidance is also offered for superlative words, for example rather than use “A large proportion of”, you should choose “many” instead. Much more concise.

So all in all a worthy find, one that bloggers and web publishers can learn from if they want to maintain a high level of professionalism in their writing. Still don’t know where that damn clock came from…