We will judge documents on how well they meet the criteria below.
In General
- Identifies the audience and is written clearly for those readers.
- Makes information easy to find, understand, and use.
- Where possible, adopts a relaxed, conversational style — rather than a
stuffy, bureaucratic style. Is simple and direct without being too informal.
- Omits unnecessary information.
- Puts the most important information first.
- Tells readers where to go for more information.
- Ideally, has been tested on typical readers. The more readers there will be, the more important testing is.
Design
- Identifies the audience and is written clearly for those readers.
- Avoids dense, cluttered text.
- Uses white space effectively in the margins and between sections.
- Uses a readable type size and typeface.
- Uses vertical lists — with hanging indents — to make a group or series of items easy to identify.
- Uses diagrams, tables, charts, and pictures as needed to help explain the text.
Organization
- When appropriate, provides a short summary at the beginning containing the
central message or answering the main question.
- Orders the information in a sequence that’s logical for the readers.
- Uses short sections or paragraphs.
- Uses informative headings to guide readers and help them scan for the information most important to them.
- Minimizes cross-references.
- In explanatory documents, creates a smooth flow with effective transitions and topic sentences.
- Minimizes number of levels.
Sentences
- Uses mainly short and medium-length sentences. Has an average sentence length of no more than 20 words.
- Keeps the subject and verb close together in each sentence.
- Uses the active voice unless there’s a good reason for the passive.
- Avoids unnecessary multiple negatives.
Example
Instead of
No approval of any noise compatibility program, or any portion of a program, may be
implied in the absence of the agency’s express approval.
Write
You must get the agency’s express approval for any noise
compatibility program or any portion of a program.
- Regularly puts a series of conditions or qualifiers after — not before — the main clause.
- Avoids ambiguity by placing modifying words next to what they modify.
Words
- Prefers common words — usually the shorter ones.
- Omits unnecessary words.
- Avoids abstract nouns that should be replaced with strong verbs.
Example
Carry out a review of the document.
Write
Review the document.
- Generally avoids words unfamiliar to the audience. If a word unfamiliar
to the audience is necessary, defines it clearly.
- Uses pronouns wherever possible.
- Minimizes abbreviations.
- Gives common words their common meanings, and doesn’t define them.
Never defines a word to mean something other than its commonly accepted meaning.
- Consistently uses the same term for the same thing or idea.
Additional criteria for websites
We will judge websites on how well they meet the criteria for documents and the following web-specific criteria.
General (Audience, Message, and Task)
- Focuses on the site's major audiences and their top questions and tasks. Does not try to be everything to everyone.
- Helps site visitors to quickly complete top tasks and find key information.
General (Audience, Message, and Task)
- Breaks content into topics and subtopics that match site visitors' needs for information.
- Uses even more headings with less under each heading than a comparable paper document would.
- Uses even shorter paragraphs than on paper.
- Uses even more lists and tables than on paper.
- Layers information appropriately, not putting too much on one page, and offering more
details – where appropriate – for people who want more.
Design
- Uses illustrations effectively.
- Indents information no more than two levels.
- Uses color well, achieving high contrast for reading. (Usually this will mean
black text on white or light background in the content area.)
- Makes the navigation areas also easy to read with high contrast colors.
- Uses white space effectively in the content and navigation areas so that site visitors
can quickly select the information they need. (Margin space is less critical on the screen than on paper.)
Links
- Has meaningful links in site visitors' words. Does not use “click here” or "more"
as the only link to further information.
- Makes links visually obvious.
- Matches links with page titles. (The title of the page that the link goes to is
identical or almost identical to the text of the link.)
Writing
- Lets go of words. Uses fragments when appropriate.
Other
- Provides contact information.
- Specifies when the page was last updated.
