Writing style

Content should always be easy to read so people are able to scan the page to quickly find the information they need. 

Jargon, abbreviations and technical terminology can make this difficult and give the impression that a page is written for experts rather than for everybody. This may lead to people contacting us unnecessarily and using other websites to find information. 

Good content uses: 

• short sentences  

• subheadings 

• simple vocabulary 

The main purpose of arun.gov.uk is to provide information - there’s no excuse for putting unnecessarily complicated writing in the way of people’s understanding. 

Plain English 

Being clear in your language is the fastest route to making someone else understand what you’re trying to communicate.  

We do not use formal or long words when easy or short ones will do. Using ‘buy’ instead of ‘purchase’, ‘help’ instead of ‘assist’, and ‘about’ instead of ‘approximately’. 

If we write clearly with good structure, short sentences and plain language we are helping people get the information they need. 

You and us 

We write in the active voice. Unless we need to do so formally, we refer to services or the council in general, as ‘we’ and ‘us’ and we refer to readers as ‘you’ where appropriate, so they feel we’re talking to them personally. 

Examples: 

Active voice: We launched our website in 2017 

We (subject) are doing the launching (verb) 

Passive voice: The website was launched by the council in 2017 

The website (subject) is being launched (verb) 

Gender-neutral text 

Text is gender-neutral wherever possible, using ‘them’, ‘their’, ‘they’ for example