STYLE GUIDE

E-mails and the web

This section gives some tips about how to present electronic communications such as e-mails and websites.

Electronic publications are rather different from printed ones in that their appearance depends to some extent on the recipient's computer setup. For instance, you may choose to use Gill Sans for your e-mail, but if the recipient's computer doesn't have access to that font, your e-mail may be rendered in Arial or another font instead. In other words, you as a designer have less control over the way an electronic communication appears to others than you would have with a conventional printed document. This imposes some necessary restrictions on design.

Know your netiquette.

If you spend a lot of time working with e-mails or writing for the web, you may find it useful to skim-read an introductory guide to netiquette. A good source is http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html.

Use a simple font.

If you choose Arial or Verdana, nearly everyone will be able to view your text as you intended. Gill Sans is not quite common enough to make it worth the risk, and anything more obscure is definitely a bad idea.

If need be, use Plain Text for e-mails.

If you think the recipient of your message might be using an old or text-based system, or software very different from yours, consider sending your e-mail in Plain Text format, with no formatting information at all. This is always the best option when writing to someone whose first language uses a different alphabet, such as speakers of Chinese, Arabic or the Cyrillic languages.

Changing format is easy enough to do in Microsoft Outlook: when you're writing an e-mail, choose Format > Plain Text. Your e-mail becomes a little uglier, but at least that way you know that the recipient will be able to read it without any problems.

Don't embed a logo or image, or use e-mail 'stationery'.

Outlook will allow you to embed images into your e-mail, such as the HYMS logo or a fancy background, to create the effect of e-mail 'stationery'. Unfortunately, unless the recipient is using the right software, he or she might experience some unexpected effects:

• The image may be delivered as an attachment rather than in the body of the e-mail.
• The e-mail program may display a 'missing image' icon in place of the proper image, or remove it altogether.
• The e-mail program might remove the image and substitute some ugly code instead.
• The e-mail program might trigger a security alert, designed to protect people from offensive images or embedded objects that could damage their computer.

Whether or not the recipient suffers any of these effects, embedding an image will also increase the size of the e-mail, both in the recipient's Inbox and in your Sent Items.

For all these reasons, Outlook stationery effects are best avoided.

Be conservative with e-mail signatures.

A fancy signature in a frilly font is all very well, but bear in mind the advice above about recipients who don't use Outlook. If you really must use a signature that simulates handwriting, or lights up in green, or is tugged across the screen from right to left by a comical cartoon reindeer, please keep it for internal, informal notes only. Use something smarter and more professional for external messages.

On the web, less is more. Really.

The move from print design to web design opens up a whole new world of potential naffness beyond your wildest dreams. Just because you can have a scrolling news ticker, a full-screen welcome video or atmospheric background music, that doesn't mean you should.

Of course, multimedia elements have their place. Used correctly, they are one of the web's great strengths, offering new ways to present content which otherwise would be laborious to describe or difficult to convey.

But before you add a flashy interactive, animation, video or sound file to a web page, ask yourself: is this really enhancing the communication of information? Or is it just showing off?

If it's the latter, then think again. HYMS is a professional academic organisation, and our communications must reflect that. That doesn't mean they can't be lively, but it does mean they should prioritise clear communication above show-offy naffness.

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