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Article Title: Style Guide
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Friday 26 March 2004 - 22:55:30

Style Guide
For


Armchair Arcade, Inc.
Web: www.armchairarcade.com
E-mail: info@armchairarcade.com


October 27, 2003

This style guide contains information that is not to be shared, copied, disclosed or otherwise compromised without the written consent of Armchair Arcade, Inc.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
General Formatting and Usage
General documentation Font
Armchair Arcade Logo Font
Official Contact Information and Formatting
Address
Telephone and Fax Numbers
Hyperlinks
E-mail Addresses
Standard Graphics
General Tips
Armchair Arcade Logo
Important Grammatical Tips and Usage
Commas
Hyphens
Quotes
Periods
Possession
Common Usage
Diction/Usage
Redundancies to Avoid
How do I Write … ? Glossary
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Introduction

The Armchair Arcade Style Guide is a complete style reference. It compiles grammar and punctuation guidelines, typographic conventions, graphic formats, and more, as well as overall pointers on presenting a consistent and professional image. This document is intended both for internal use and for those individuals or entities approved to do work for or with Armchair Arcade, Inc.

General Formatting and Usage

General documentation Font

Use Arial as your default font for all documentation. Font size 10 - such as the text in this sentence - is generally preferred for normal text. Headings can scale from there as appropriate. (NOTE: This only applies to print documents.)

Armchair Arcade Logo Font

Please send e-mail to webmaster@armchairarcade.com for the correct formatting and specifications for the Armchair Arcade logo font. (NOTE: This only applies to print documents.)

Official Contact Information and Formatting

Address

As follows:

Armchair Arcade, Inc.
Line 1
Line 2
City, ST #####-####

Telephone and Fax Numbers

As follows:

(###) ###-#### or (###) ###-####x###

Each individual circumstance determines whether a toll free or toll number is used, and whether an extension is used. Format is (###) ###-#### or (###) ###-####x###.

Hyperlinks

As follows:

http://www.armchairarcade.com or www.armchairarcade.com

E-mail Addresses

As follows:

yourname@yourisp.com, as in info@armchairarcade.com. NOTE: You can force an e-mail hyperlink by placing mailto: before the actual address, as in mailto:info@armchairarcade.com. The “mailto:” command is standard HTML.

Standard Graphics

General Tips

There are two major types of graphic formats: bitmap and vector. Basically, bitmaps are made of dots or pixels, while vector graphics are made of lines or geometry. Generally speaking, bitmaps do not scale (grow or shrink) well, while vector graphics do. If you wish to scale a bitmap, be sure that you only go from large to small, rather than small to large. This will help retain as much of a bitmap’s quality as possible (and in some cases “increase” quality). The disadvantages to vector graphics are diversity of content and overall compatibility. Web graphics (except in the case of special plug-ins) are almost universally bitmapped, and any type of photographic imagery is always bitmapped (due to the nature of the content).

Files of type or extension BMP, TIFF, GIF and JPEG are the most popular bitmapped formats. Bitmapped graphics generally fall into two different categories: compressed or compressible (“lossy”), and non-compressed or compressionless (“lossless”).

BMP and TIFF are “lossless” formats, meaning that when output is directed to one of these file types, no compression takes place and the majority of the image’s qualities are retained. The major disadvantage to “lossless” file types is file size, which can easily run into megabytes. With this in mind, these are poor for Web or for any other use where the smaller a file size is the better.

GIF and JPEG are “lossy” formats. For the advantage of very small file sizes, image quality is often degraded. GIF format graphics can have a transparent color set, which is ideal for certain Web graphics, but is limited to a maximum of 256 total colors. JPEG format graphics cannot have transparency, but do support millions of colors. This makes JPEG’s ideal for Web photos and other color-intensive graphics. Occasionally, GIF’s yield better results than JPEG’s, and vice-versa, often in unexpected ways. Experimentation between GIF and JPEG compression levels and usage often yields advantages in the smallest possible file sizes with the lowest amount of quality loss.



Example of a Bitmap Image
Resizing may cause a loss of image quality


Files generated by programs like Paint Shop Pro (psp), CorelDRAW (cdr) and Adobe Illustrator (ai*) are generally vector format. There is no one universal standard since specialized graphic software is needed to create files of these types. Because of incompatibilities between different software, this is a more challenging and advanced format to work with. However, the quality is perfect for non-photographic imagery and can be scaled (varied in size) almost to infinity with no appreciable quality loss. The Armchair Arcade logo for instance is available for regular use in bitmapped formats, but any time the logo is sent to a professional printing shop, the vector version is requested.



Example of a Vector Image
May be resized or reshaped without degrading quality


Scaling, or resizing a graphic, should always be done from the corner of an image, or when possible within the software program, using controls or percentages to lock down the aspect ratio. There is nothing more unprofessional looking than an image resized incorrectly. Never use your eyes when trying to do this, as pushing a little from the top, then some from the sides, then a little more from the top (as an example) NEVER works. To see what can happen, examine these four images:



Original




Scaled Correctly



Scaled Incorrectly (too tall)



Scaled Incorrectly 2 (too wide)


Armchair Arcade Logo

Only use of the current version of the logo is acceptable. For usage, please query webmaster@armchairarcade.com.

Important Grammatical Tips and Usage

Commas
, Utilize commas for natural pauses within sentences. Example: This time, builders have taken no chances.

, Utilize commas in place of “and”. Example: StateStaff is the high-tech, exclusive source for all your Information Technology staffing needs. (which could be written as: StateStaff is the high-tech and exclusive source for all your Information Technology staffing needs.)

, While commas before “and” and after a list of items is acceptable, we have standardized on the alternate format. Example: The number eight follows four, five, six and seven. Not: The number eight follows four, five, six, and seven. The exception is when a list needing commas has an “and” preceding the final “and”. Example: Bob Martin, Sarah and Josh Houtin, Jennifer Worth, Morgan Greely, and Sam Houston all need assistance.

Hyphens

- The dictionary will tell you whether to treat a compound word as a hyphenated compound (water-repellant), one word (waterproof), or two words (water table). If the compound word is not in the dictionary, treat it as two words. Do not use a hyphen to connect –ly adverbs to the words they modify (as in slowly-moving; should be slowly moving).

Quotes

“ ” Proper utilization is always outside punctuation, as in the following examples: “Hello,” he said. He said “gee-whiz” when I asked him. Mark said, “I knew that.” Exception - Single phrases, as in: This information explosion has caused many professionals to experience what can only be called “information overload”.

Periods

. Always use one space after a period.

Possession

‘ Possession is only applicable to something taking ownership. ‘ is also used in contractions. Examples: Bob’s friend, Burns’s books. A common error is to write it’s for its, or vice versa. The first is a contraction meaning “it is”. The same rule applies for like words. Example: It’s a wise dog that scratches its own fleas.

Common Usage

e.g. - for example: for or as an example

etc. – (et cetera) and other unspecified things of the same class; and so forth.

et al. – et alii (and others)

i.e. – id est (that is)

Diction/Usage

a lot – a lot is two words. Do not write alot. Also, avoid the use of a lot in general since it is generally too casual in regards to business use.

accept, except – accept is a verb meaning “to receive.” Except is usually a preposition meaning “excluding.” Except is also a verb meaning “to exclude.”

affect, effect – affect is usually a verb meaning “to influence.” Effect is usually a noun meaning “result.”

Effect can also be a verb meaning “to bring about.”

all right – all right is always written as two words. Alright is non-standard.

and/or – avoid the awkward construction and/or except in technical or legal documents.

now and then versus now and again – now and then means now versus the past, while now and again means that something happens on occasion.

toward/towards – toward is preferred, but either form is fine.

via – means through or by way of.

Redundancies to Avoid



How do I Write … ? Glossary

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This article is from Armchair Arcade
( http://www.armchairarcade.com/aamain/content.php?article.15 )