When you need a word or phrase to stand out, it’s tempting to simply change the font size, title casing, or color. However, to maintain UC Berkeley’s brand identity and accessibility standards, such changes are not always possible or best practice. Here are some ways to highlight your content effectively while staying within template and content guidelines, and some things to remember about capitalization.
To capitalize, or not to capitalize
- Use sentence case for headings. Lowercase each word, except for the first word, proper nouns, and the first word after a colon. When in doubt, use sentence case and roman type (i.e., no italics or bold)
- Capitalize titles of individuals when unmodified
- Capitalize a course’s official designation, but do not italicize
- Academic degrees should be in lowercase when referred to in general terms. Majors and minors should only be capitalized if proper names as subjects are being used
- Seasons are not capitalized. Exceptions if used as a proper noun, such as “Spring Term 2027”
- Class and course should only be capitalized based on circumstance. Capitalize “class” when referring to a specific class, such as “Class of 1984”
- Don’t use ALL CAPS. Sentences or phrases in all capital letters are harder to read and can be misinterpreted by screen readers as acronyms.
Best practices for emphasis
To quote one of our SA Comms web trainers: “If everything is important, then nothing is important.” Keep that in mind when you’re thinking about how you want to emphasize your content.
- Bold font: Use sparingly to highlight specific keywords or short phrases. That said, don’t over-bold and highlight everything. Consider using headers and lists to reduce the need for bold text. And don’t combine bold with italics.
- Don’t underline text: On the web, users assume underlined text is a link. Underlining regular text for emphasis is confusing and frustrating.
- Bulleted and numbered lists: These are great for breaking up walls of text, creating white space, and making content easier to scan.
- Descriptive link text: Instead of “Click here,” use phrases that describe the destination, e.g., “View the Spring 2027 schedule.” Since links are already colored and underlined, they naturally draw the eye.
- Don’t change font color or size: Stick to the brand palette and template sizes to maintain professional consistency and ensure accessibility compliance.
- Meaningful headings: Use headings like H2 and H3 to give the page structure. Organizing long pages into sections makes the content under them feel organized and important. Don’t use H2 or H3 heading levels just to create “big text.” Headings should only be used to define the structural hierarchy of the page.
- Don’t use buttons for emphasis: Buttons are for actions, like “Submit” or “Register,” not for making a sentence look important.