General Formatting Rules

Every page on the Knowledge Base follows a basic set of rules and principles. These guidelines will ensure consistency and ease of use on all types of Knowledge Base articles.

Headers

Capitalize each word in a header title except for connector words. No colons, semi colons, exclamation marks, or periods should be used.

Headers

Summaries

Always include a summary in every article type, except for FAQs and Current Issues. These serve as a preface to the information that will be on the page, giving the user an idea of what to expect as they read through the present text.

Only utilize Header 2 when writing the summary of an article, rules and qualifications, or a new section that can be categorized into subsections. It should be used sparingly.

Summaries should be concise, short, and to the point.

Sub Headings

Always use Header 3 when beginning a new subsection, as this helps break up the page. Header 3 should also be used as the headers in all invisible tables, excluding hub tables.

Header 4 should always be bold and only used in invisible tables on product pages, and visible tables elsewhere.

Basic Writing Principles

When writing on the Knowledge Base, it is important that we maintain a voice that is formal, simple, and user friendly. Being too loose or too wordy in our writing can lead to confusion for our agents and ultimately, the members.

Basic Writing Principles

Plain Text

Always use “Normal,” not “Format.”

Spacing

When spacing paragraphs, do not add spaces between them. Salesforce will automatically space them for you if you use the “Normal” text format. Paragraphs should be concise and efficient.

Alignment

All information on pages should be flush left unless part of a visible table.

Italicizing

Used for word tracks only.

Underlining

Do not use under any circumstance.

Important Information

Header 4, bold, red. To be used sparingly to separate important information that must be known to decrease in confusion.

Header 4, bold, red. To be used sparingly to separate important information.

Bolding

Used to emphasize important information. Avoid overuse of bolding.
Bold text should be used sparingly to make important bits of information stand out. If bold text is over-utilized, it becomes difficult for the user to recognize what should be more noticeable.
Never use bold text in headers.
Emails should be bolded to make them stand out from the rest of the text.

Red Text

Do not use red text unless a product is sold out or there is vital information that must be recognized.

Bullet Points

Use the bullet point function; do not write them out manually. If bullet point lists exceed four or five bullets, place them in an invisible table to break them up.

Numbered Lists

Use the numbered list function. Do not write them out manually. If numbered list exceeds four or five, place them in an invisible table to break them up.

Numbered Lists Within Tables

The numbered list function should still be used when putting a numbered list in two separate cells within a table. To change the second part of the list to the correct number, right click on the number that needs to be changed, click "numbered list function" and change it to the desired number.

Notes

The word note should be bolded with a colon and applicable information preceding.

Tables

Tables (especially invisible tables) should be utilized in the formatting of most pages. If there are a lot of sub-headers with minimal text, using a table can make the page look cleaner and less lengthy. Tables can also be utilized in breaking up long bullet pointed or numbered lists. Avoid use of visible tables

when possible.

Tables

Invisible Table Formatting

To create an invisible table, set the border size to “0.”

Each table should be “1150” width (this is the width of the entire page).

The table will then be divided into equal sections, depending on how many columns you want (most pages will stay at two or three).

Breaking Up Small Subsections

When creating an invisible table to format short subsections of an article, make the left column 525 (the right column will automatically take the rest of the space) and indent all the text in the right column, including the header. This will space out the text.

Create a row for each header and a separate row beneath for the body of the subsection. The headers should always be on the same row as each other, creating uniformity in the article. If the body of one side of the table is longer than the other, click enter on the smaller side until the bodies line up neatly underneath the header.

Headers in these subsections should always be “Header 3,” and the text within should be “Normal.”

Hub Page Tables

Tables on Hub Pages should have three columns, with each link in its own individual cell. This means that there can be up to ten rows underneath a heading because each link will have its own row.

Each header on a hub page should be “Header 2,” as the links underneath will be green.

Each link should be “Normal,” which will automatically space out the table.

As stated above, each header should be in the same row as the other headers to create uniformity on the page.

General Table Formatting

To create a table with an outline, leave the border size at “1.”

Tables with outlines can have as many rows and columns as needed.

Depending on how many columns there are and how much text is in each one, the columns do not necessarily need to be the same width. However, each column should be at least “150” width.

The headers in these tables should be either “Header 3,” or bolded “Normal.”

If needed, create empty space around the text by pressing enter before and after the text.

If the rows also have headers, color the box of each header by using the color palette (Hex #fafff2) as a guide.

Text in general tables should be centered in the box.

Dashes can be utilized if the box should remain empty.

If the table needs multiple colors, utilize various shades of gray instead of colors not traditionally used on the Knowledge Base.

Style Guide