General Formatting Tips

• Avoid using ALL CAPS in text and in headlines. Just as in an email, using all caps creates the feeling that you're shouting at your readers.
  
  

• Similarly, avoid using “Header” style for anything other than actual headlines. This also creates a negative shouting effect.
  
  

• Avoid using more than two formatting styles in either headlines or body text. Using bold, italic, and underlining on one word or phrase is overkill.
  
  

• Using lots of exclamation points in headlines and text will end up having the opposite effect!!! They lose their emphasis, people will start to read over them, and you'll appear to be shouting!!! Use judiciously!!!
  
  

• Similarly, avoid using italic or boldface text for large blocks of text. Consider this rule: If everything is bold, then nothing is bold. Save bold and italic formatting for when you want to emphasize a word, phrase, or subhead. Then it will really stand out.
  
  
• Consistency is key. You should decide whether you want to use italics or bold for emphasis and stick with your decision throughout the site. Ideally, you should use bold for emphasis of keywords/phrases and italics for things like names of books and films (like in AP style).
  

Avoid Blank Pages