SAPAA follows the Web Style Guide of the Alberta Government.

1. Basic SAPAA web page structure
2. Formatting & Binomial Nomenclature
3. Numbers and measurements
   1. Currencies
   2. Dates
   3. Imperial vs. metric
   4. Measurements and weights
   5. Numerals, Percentages, Temperatures, and Time
   6. Directions and Compass points
4. Other Writing Conventions
   1. Writing Style
   2. Punctuation
   3. Quotation marks
   4. Slashes
   5. Common Abbreviations
   6. Constructions of Bulleted and Numbered Lists
   7. Spelling and preferred terms (A to Z)

Basic SAPAA web page structure

• Basic web page elements that help a reader scan content and improve search results on browsers; same structure for both pages and posts (blogs).
• GoA Reference: Web writing style guide – Basic web page structure | Alberta.ca

For more details, see: Protected Area – Style Guide and Blog Style Guide.

1. Page Title, H1.
2. Hook or Lead, Paragraph style, ideally < 200 characters.
3. — MORE —
4. Image, relevant and engaging for the page’s content
5. Leading paragraph or page summary
6. Table of Contents for more than 2-3 Headings
7. Other Information as applicable
8. References and Further Reading

Formatting & Binomial Nomenclature

• Italics: for full name of legislation
• Scientific names of living species name of a living species (binomial nomenclature): bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis)
  • Capitalize the first genus and lowercase for the species.
  • When used with the common name, the scientific name should follow in parentheses; not required when presenting the scientific name on its own.

Numbers and measurements

Currencies

Currency standards are unlikely to be required by SAPAA but use the GoA standards if needed.

Dates

Spell out months in full. Format dates as month, day and year in writing. Do not add superscript when writing dates. Use YYYY-MM-DD for file names, etc. Examples:

• January 1, 2010 (not January 1st, 2010)
• 2019-20 fiscal year
• When expressing a multi-year range, use ‘to’ in between the years:
• 2019 to 2026

Imperial vs. metric

List all measurements in metric unless imperial is required and for acre.

Measurements and weights

Abbreviate measurements and weights when using a number. With the exception of litre, use lower case and a space between the number and the unit of measure. Examples: 5 km, 6 cm, 10 kg, 8 km/h or 8 km per hour, 14 L, 5 mL

Spell out measurements when a number is not used. For example: ‘How many kilometres between Calgary and Edmonton?’

Numerals, Percentages, Temperatures, and Time

Use numerals for all except those that start sentences and the number ‘one’
monetary units. Do not use decimals unless cents are included. For example: $500.85. When expressing a range, repeat million or billion. For example: 25 million to 30 million.

Use a percentage symbol ‘%’ without a space instead of writing ‘per cent’: 50% not 50 per cent.

Use Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. If needed, (Fahrenheit) after the Celsius measurement. When writing the measurement, do not use spaces between the number, and the capital “C” or “F”. For example: 37C, -12C, 24C (75.2F). SAPAA does not use the degree symbol (°).

Use lowercase and no periods for am and pm for time measures. Use figures for all time-of-day references. Write out the full name of a time zone within brackets after the time figure. Adding the time zone is optional. For example: 10 am, 8 pm (Mountain time), 5 hours

Directions and Compass points

• Cardinal directions are written in Proper case (e.g. North, West…).
• Abbreviations for directions are in Upper case (e.g. SE, SW, ESE…).
• Road descriptors are capitalized or abbreviated (e.g. Range Road, RR; Township, TWP; or Highway, HWY).

Other Writing Conventions

Writing Style

Write in plain language, using a consistent voice. This includes: an active voice (subject-verb-object), short sentences and paragraphs, Grade 8 reading level. Avoid contractions.

Punctuation

Traditional print writing styles vary from online web writing as the the web uses less formal punctuation and grammar to help ensure clarity and ease of reading. See Web writing style guide – Punctuation | Alberta.ca for suggested formatting.

Quotation marks

‘Single quotes’, within text, use single quotes: around letters, words or phrases being emphasized; around publication titles, articles, documents, chapters;
within page titles, headlines and leads.

“Double quotes”, Within text, use double quotes when directly citing: a text, an individual, for example, a spokesperson.

Slashes

A forward slash used between 2 words can mean ‘or’ or ‘and/or’. If both options are needed, use ‘and/or’ or write ‘or both’ after the option. For example, ‘department and/or program’, or, write ‘department or program, or both’.

Common Abbreviations

Constructions of Bulleted and Numbered Lists

An introductory sentence should end with a colon followed by the numbered or bulleted list. Use a numbered list to show ordinality (e.g., importance). A list will not have ending punctuation for each item including the last item, for example:

• This is the first item
• Second item
• Last item

Spelling and preferred terms (A to Z)

Spelling conventions most relevant to SAPAA

• AB – Alberta
• Aboriginal – always capitalize but use Indigenous instead, except when referring to specific constitutional rights, programs or business units.
• Alberta government (informal).
• First Nations – see also Indigenous
• GoA (acronym for Government of Alberta)
• Indigenous – always capitalize and use broader terms such as First Nations, Inuit and Métis
• Métis – always use an accent over the ‘e’ except when referring to the Metis Settlements Act, Metis Settlements or entities established by its legislation
• minister, ministry – lowercase generic titles, for example, ‘the minister’
• Minister, Ministry – capitalize proper titles, for example, Minister of Health, Minister Smith or Ministry of Health