TEXT

The way text looks and is read on the web can be very different than how it looks and is read on a printed piece.

The following are guidelines for how pages should be formatted to read the best on a computer screen and to match the look of MLT's web design.

Our Products

MLT, MLT Vacations, Worry-Free Vacations, WorldVacations, WorldAgent Direct

Formatting for the Web

Registration Marks, Copyrights, and Trade Marks
Not to be superscripted on the web.

• Superscripting on the web throws off paragraph leading (too much space between the line of text and the one above it).
• Also, superscripting at our normal font size makes the superscripted text difficult (if not impossible) to read.
• Trade marks should be coded ™ (see HTML Special Character Codes) and will appear superscriped on the web, without adding extra line space/leading.

Prices
Use a comma to separate thousands on the web.

• Large numbers are easier to scan on the web if commas are used.

Times

• Use lowercase am/pm next to time (no separating space, no periods) to make the time readable as one word/phrase and to eliminate line-wrapping issues.
• Use n-dash on static web pages (pages that are always live); hyphens ok to use on temporary pages (deals/specials)

* Times used in the booking path may be formatted differently due to incoming Suntrac data.

Dates

• Use lowercase 3-letter month (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec) for easy web scanability
• Use full month name when only accompanied by a year and not a specific date
• Hyphens display very small on the web; to give more separation, use an n-dash to separate date spans (Sep 4 – Oct 7, 2007)
• Hyphen ok to use to separate date spans within a single month (Oct 4-30)
• Use n-dash on static web pages (pages that are always live); hyphens ok to use on temporary pages (deals/specials)

* Dates used in the booking path may be formatted differently due to incoming Suntrac data.

Phone Numbers

• Don't use parenthesis to separate out the area code. In smaller fonts, it can be harder to read the numbers inside the parenthesis, and the parenthesis can look like a number 1.

Underlining and Italics
Underlines are reserved for links only and might confuse the user. Use bold, italics, or quotes instead.

U.S.A.
Always use periods with no space when writing U.S. or U.S.A.

Exclamation Marks and Ampersands
Use exclamation marks sparingly. If used in a headline, only use once (and don't use on every headline).
If an ampersand means "in addition to" or "plus", use a plus sign instead. (Only applies to headlines and charts; if in a paragraph, spell out the word "and" or "plus".)

• Don't use an ampersand next to a dollar sign; the shapes are too similar and make it hard to scan
• Use a plus sign in headlines, one-liners, and charts when combining package info (air + hotel + car)

"New," "Extended," "Limited time," and "Final week" flags on Deals pages/Welcome banners
These flags are always followed by a colon (:); never use an m-dash or exclaimation mark to separate the flag from the headline. NEW can be in all-caps, Extended, Limited time, and Final week are in initial caps.

• Use a colon to conserve space
• Word following colon to have initial capital letter (should read the same if there wasn't a "flag" preceding it)

Web Words

Internet, web, website, web page

• The word "web" should be lowercase, unless at the beginning of a sentence
• Internet should be capitalized
• Website is one word, lowercase, unless at the beginning of a sentence
• Web page is two words, lowercase, unless at the beginning of a sentence

Log in, Log-in
"Log in" is an action verb; "log-in" is a noun.

MLT E-Certificate, e-certificate, e-mail

• "MLT E-Certificate" is a proper noun and should have a capital E and a capital C, otherwise e-certificate should be lowercase.
• E-mail should always be hyphenated and be all lowercase, unless at the beginning of a sentence.

Other hyphenated words to consider:

• E-Technology, E-Marketing (proper nouns) (NOT E-technology, E-marketing)

Copywriting for the Web

Headlines
Web headlines are like newspaper headlines and should use sentence-style formatting. (Initial capital with capital proper nouns.)

• Sentence-style headlines are easier to scan on the web
• An m-dash is a pause in the middle of a sentence; the word following an m-dash should be lowercase unless a proper noun.

Descriptions
For easy web scanability, use a break after the hotel/destination/activity name to separate it from the descriptive paragraph.

Keep it simple.
Keep headlines and sentences short and to the point. Don't use unnecessary words, such as:

• In cases of "And more", all effort should be used to list out what's "more." Users will expect full details from the web (vs. print) especially if a printed piece says to see the web for more info.