2021 New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency Style Guide

STYLE GUIDE

2021 NEW JERSEY HOUSING AND MORTGAGE FINANCE AGENCY STYLE GUIDE

Good content in government and financial agencies is the same as good content anywhere else: it is easy to understand, it answers questions, and it helps people do what they want to do. This style guide reflects proven best practices to help produce consistently effective content.

STYLE GUIDE New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA or HMFA) follows AP style, while also incorporating an agency-level style guide. AP is one of three main style guides. The AP Stylebook, also known by its full name, The Associated Press Stylebook, is an American-English grammar style and usage guide created by American journalists working for or connected with the Associated Press.

NJHMFA does not seek to address every possible grammatical or style issue that will arise in agency drafting. This guide exists to provide an easy reference that promotes grammatical accuracy and narrative consistency. This guide includes: • General notes about voice and tone • Usage guidelines • Acronyms and abbreviations • Capitalization • Names • Numbers and percentages • Punctuation • Grammar • Specific words and phrases • Inclusive language • Filenames and URLs • Trademarks and brands • Formatting (forms, letters, announcements, and emails) • Font style and size

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NJHMFA invests in people and changes lives.

ACTIVE VOICE Our writing should be concise and direct. We prefer the active voice because it supports brevity and makes written content more engaging. The active voice helps the reader identify the subject of the sentence. In the following example, the person who submits the form is essential information. Omitting that information makes the sentence confusing and impersonal.

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Passive: The request form must be submitted to the approving official.

Active: Submit the request form to the approving official.

We prefer the active voice.

Passive voice deemphasizes who should take an action and is usually longer. Wordy instructions are harder to follow.

Passive: The case number should be saved in your records. It will be required for future inquiries.

Active: Save the case number in your records. You will need it for future inquiries.

When in doubt, cut directly to the verb and give the reader clear directions.

WHEN TO USE THE PASSIVE VOICE You may occasionally need to use the passive voice to make something easier to understand.

Never use the passive voice in a way that makes actions seem like they happen without anyone doing them.

Rewording either of these sentences to use the active voice would complicate the sentence or pull focus away from its main point: Forms issued by the Office of Government Ethics include the OGE-450 and the OGE-278.

The agency is required to respond to requests within 20 working days.

VOICE AND TONE If you’re like many people, you might not be sure of the difference between voice and tone.

Not to fret! In this section, we’ll discuss the differences between voice and tone, how we describe our organizational voice, and how to choose a tone that’s appropriate for whatever you’re writing.

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Our voice is our unique personality. It can be helpful to think of voice as analogous to a person’s voice.

Just as you can identify your best friend in a crowd as soon as you hear her distinctive laugh, you can use an author’s or organization’s voice to identify a piece of writing even if you haven’t seen the byline.

A well-crafted voice communicates personality and values — it’s a distilled representation of an author or organization. For example, readers discovered Stephen King was also writing under the pseudonym Richard Bachman when many recognized his distinctive narrative voice.

Communicate in a friendly, straightforward way.

Tone is more like attitude. It provides the emotional context of a piece. It can be helpful to think of authorial tone as

analogous to a person’s tone of voice. Just as a person would use a somber, sympathetic tone of voice to console a friend about the loss of a pet, an author writing a story about a natural disaster would most likely use a somber, serious tone.

Conversely, an author writing a blog post about the launch of a new product might use an enthusiastic, upbeat tone.

OUR VOICE At NJHMFA, we communicate in a friendly, straightforward way. Our voice is: • Authoritative • Conversational • Instructive • Welcoming to all audiences We believe that our communications can — and should — be inviting and easy to read. Our voice represents this.

USE OF CONTRACTIONS In all the communications we produce, we want to create a strong connection with our users. We want to get them the information they need in a straightforward way and show that we know what’s important to them. As an agency, we need to convey authority, but sounding official doesn’t need to translate to archaic or aloof.

For this reason, we use contractions in the writing we create for the agency, though we recognize this may not be the right choice in all contexts.

Our agency is run by people for the benefit of people, and we never want users to forget that NJHMFA is a group of enthusiastic, dedicated, hardworking (and friendly) people. This desire informs how we craft our voice.

CHOOSING A TONE As we mentioned earlier, your voice is a constant, but your tone is a variable. Think about your users’ needs in different situations.

Let these needs dictate your tone.

Let’s consider three examples that target three different reader groups. Lender bulletins, broadcast emails to agency staff, and social media posts have vastly different tones. Why? The three types of writing correspond to audiences in three distinct emotional states.

If you’re having trouble identifying an appropriate tone, try reframing the situation: How would you talk to a friend who’s in the same situation as your audience?

Remembering that written communication is a conversation can help you identify the best tone for your purpose.

TYPE OF WRITING

Lender Bulletins

Create a strong connection through communications.

INTENDED READERSHIP TONE

DPA lenders

Broadcast email announcing Agency team HR training members schedules

Social media post on the DPA program

EXAMPLE

Professional, direct

“This bulletin details the 2021 updates to the Policy and Procedures (Seller’s Guide) for NJHMFA Participating Lenders. The 2021 version of the Seller’s Guide will take effect on January 1, 2021 and is available to review on the Agency’s website.”

Direct, impartial

“In July 2020, NJHMFA revised Workplace Violence Policy #19.00. All HMFA employees must read the attached 2021-Workplace Violence Policy #19.00 and sign the HMFA Acknowledgement Form 2021 by February 8, 2021.”

First-time Enthusiastic, homebuyers earnest (ages 28 through 38)

“Thinking about buying your first home? The New Jersey Down Payment Assistance Program (DPA) can provide $10,000 towards down payment and closing cost for qualified first-time homebuyers purchasing a home in New Jersey. Visit njhousing.gov to learn more about the program. If you’re interested, we can match you with three lenders in your area to help you along the path to homeownership.”

FURTHER READING • MailChimp’s voice and tone guide allows you to select different content types and learn more about what the user might be feeling while reading them. It also provides examples of tones appropriate to those content types. Super simple to use, this is a great quick reference for creating diverse content.

• If you’re still a little confused about voice and tone, Wheaton College provides an excellent breakdown of those — and more — writing components.

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ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS Abbreviations are any shortened or contracted word or phrase. For example, writing St. instead of Street, or Rx for prescription, or DC for District of Columbia.

Acronyms are a type of abbreviation. They shorten phrases in a specific way— using parts of the initial word or phrase (usually letters) to form an abbreviation. For example, DIY or ASAP. In the most technical sense, there is a difference between acronyms (abbreviations pronounced as words, like NASA) and initialisms (abbreviations pronounced as letters, like FBI). For simplicity, our content guide refers to both as acronyms.

The readability issues that acronyms and initialisms create tend to be similar, and “acronym” is the more common term.

Acronyms often confuse readers. Avoid them when possible.

If an acronym is necessary and will recur throughout a document, spell out the words in its first appearance, then follow with the acronym in parentheses. For example, New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA) or Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC).

When using the acronym for our agency, use HMFA for communications with New Jersey government entities and NJHMFA for all other communications.

Don’t use the definitive article the before New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, NJHMFA, or HMFA. Avoid using the below acronyms in all external communications: SLEG, for Small Landlord Emergency Grant FMAP, for Foreclosure Mediation Assistance Program FO, for front office

NJHMFA

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CAPITALIZATION Follow a consistent capitalization scheme. Creating trustworthy internal and external communications relies, to a large extent, on the content’s consistency. Inconsistent spellings and capitalizations undermine your narrative authority.

We follow these capitalization guidelines: • Do capitalize proper nouns, including names of individuals, places, and agencies.

• Don’t capitalize federal or government.

• The word state is lowercase in cases like “the state of New Jersey.” State would be capitalized, however, when referring to the governmental body.

• Avoid overcapitalization.

When you’re deciding whether to capitalize noun phrases, keep in mind that in English, title case is often a marker of formality.

Using it judiciously can help clarify that you’re speaking about a specific, official thing (such as a form, office, or person). For instance: • It makes sense to capitalize the phrase Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return because you want users to know the exact, official title of that specific form.

• It could confuse users to capitalize income taxes or income tax forms, because those phrases could refer to any number of possible forms.

See additional capitalization rules in the specific words and phrases section.

Personal titles

Don’t capitalize personal titles unless they precede a name. For example, the executive director got approval or Executive Director Walter got approval. Whenever possible, keep titles gender neutral. For example, we prefer chairperson to chairman.

Headings

Headlines, page titles, subheads and similar content should follow sentence case, and should not include a trailing colon.

For example: • Order Directs Department of Banking and Insurance to Develop Plans for Health Care Cost Growth Benchmarks • Privileges and Responsibilities

A

Aa NJHMFA

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NAMES Personal names

Use full names on first reference. On second reference, follow AP style, which is to use last names on second reference.

If the context means that there’s a chance of confusion on second reference when using only first or last names, use full names.

State names

• Spell out state names, such as New Jersey.

• When referring to a number of states, “states should be lowercase. For example, All 50 states responded.

• When used with a city, spell out the name of the state. For example, Trenton, New Jersey.

Use full na at first refer

Trenton, New Jersey

ames rence.

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NUMBERS AND PERCENTAGES Numbers

Generally speaking, we follow the guidelines outlined in the AP Stylebook. In body copy, we prefer to spell out numbers one through nine, and use numerals for numbers 10 and greater. This is true of ordinal numbers, as well.

Spell out first to ninth and capture 10th or greater with numerals.

Often, the government writes about very large numbers: millions, billions, or trillions. We express these numbers with a numeral and a word. For example, 1.6 million people. When referring to amounts of money in cents or greater than $1 million, we use numerals followed by words: 5 cents or $2.7 million. For amounts of money less than $1 million, we use only the dollar sign: $17,000.

In titles, subheadings, and interface labels, we use numerals instead of spelling out numbers. For example, 10 digital tech leaders you should know now or 6 ways to incorporate plain-language strategies. We do this to promote ease of reading and scannability — in titles and headings, it’s easier for readers to scan numerals than it is for them to scan written-out numbers.

Dates

Use the full, four-digit year.

If you are referencing a date by month and year alone, do not put a comma between month and year, i.e., March 2015, not March, 2015.

Percentages

In keeping with AP style, we spell out percent in most cases, with a few exceptions.

We use the percent sign (%) in these circumstances: • Tables and in technical writing: 60% of participants reported experiencing negative side effects.

• Headings and subheadings: Candidate Woof takes 7% lead in the election for best dog.

• Captions and infographics We choose to use the percent sign in these cases to improve content’s scannability, allowing readers to digest the content more quickly.

n o i l l i $2.7 m 16

PUNCTUATION Apostrophes

Do not add apostrophes when you make something plural. Apostrophes denote possession (except It, described below, but that’s just a weird one you must know).

Incorrect: LFN’s/CFO’s/Ch. 159’s.

Correct: There are several LFNs on point, Chapter 159s are filed, or the Councils are busy are all plural.

OR The LFNs purpose or the Councils letter are possessive.

Bulleted lists

Capitalize the first word of every bullet. Don’t use semicolons after points in a bulleted list.

Include a period at the end of the bullet only if that point is a complete sentence. For example:

.,;:!?

When you go to the store, please buy: • Apples • Bananas • Naan chips When you leave the house: • Please buy apples, bananas, and naan chips.

• Fill the car with gas.

Colons

In a sentence, capitalize the first word after a colon only if what follows is a complete sentence. For example: I have several favorite foods: apples, bananas, and naan chips.

I have several favorite foods: Apples were my first favorite snack, but naan chips are a rising star in my life.

Commas

We use the serial comma (sometimes called the Oxford comma). In a list of three or more, include a comma before the conjunction. For example: Please buy apples, bananas, and naan chips.

A comma should be used after an introductory word, phrase, or clause. This gives the reader a slight pause after an introductory element and often can help avoid confusion.

Incorrect: In case you haven’t noticed my real name doesn’t appear in the article.

Correct: In case you haven’t noticed, my real name doesn’t appear in the article.

Avoid superfluous commas: Example 1: Incorrect: He wants to get a degree in engineering, or medicine.

Correct: He wants to get a degree in engineering or medicine.

Example 2: Incorrect: Sam knew immediately, what was going to happen next.

Correct: Same knew immediately what was going to happen next.

Example 3: Incorrect: Old cars, that have been left in a junkyard, are an eyesore.

Correct: Old cars that have been left in a junkyard are an eyesore.

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Dashes

When offsetting a phrase with dashes you should use the longer em dash (—), which is Option + Shift + - on Macs, with a space on either side of the dash. For example: We emphasize open, digital record keeping, and — whenever possible — we illuminate our processes.

Although we advocate using words rather than symbols, in some contexts you may use an “en dash” to convey a range of numbers. For example, both 10–20 students and 10 to 20 students are acceptable options.

En dash is Option + - on Macs.

We assign 2–3 people to each development team.

Quotes

These quotations are correctly punctuated: “Would you like a banana?” he asked.

“I hate bananas,” she said. “You know I hate bananas.”

He paused before saying “bananas are not something people should hate.”

Do not misuse quotation marks. Quotation marks are not used to provide emphasis.

They either capture sarcasm or mark a direct quotation.

Sarcasm should rarely, if ever, be used in professional writing.

Periods and commas are always placed inside quotation marks.

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Single space

A colon, semicolon, question mark, or exclamation point should be placed inside the quotation marks if it is part of the quoted material; otherwise, it is outside the ending quotation mark.

Block quotes should be indented 1”. The citation under the block quote should be framed by brackets with the period inside, e.g. [Id. at 20.] with the bracketed citation on a new line with a line in between.

If words are being omitted from an indented quotation, use three periods ( . . . ).

Ellipses should always be set off by a space before the first and after the last period, with a space between each period.

Spaces

Sentences should always be separated by a single space. Never two spaces.

Keep consistent spacing between sentences and between paragraphs.

There should be no space between a word and a subsequent comma or period.

Ampersands or plus signs

Use and instead of an ampersand or plus sign, unless they’re part of an official title or company name. For example, D.C. Tech Lady Hackathon + Training Day

Slashes

Avoid using the slash / symbol. Replace it with words or commas as appropriate.

Underlining

Underline the period in citation signals such as e.g. and ibid.. In this context, they are part of the signal, not punctuation.

GRAMMAR The grammar guide is a collection from various internet sources to assist in self-editing to avoid making common grammatical errors. Ensuring these basic rules of grammar are adhered to in correspondence, research, and other documents is a great way to save time for yourself and those reviewing your work.

Make sure that your subject and verb agree. If the subject is singular, the verb must also be singular (he has/is) and vice versa (they have/are).

Incorrect: The two best things about the party was the food and the music.

Correct: The two best things about the party were the food and the music.

Refer to entities as it, not they. The council is it. The council members are they. A single council member is he or she.

Do not personify objects. Things are not people. As non-people, they do not discuss or consider or take a position.

They lack mobility and cognition.

Ensure that It’s and Its are used correctly. Its is possessive (the referenced thing belongs to It). It’s is the contraction of it is.

This one is tricky because we use an apostrophe in most other possessives, but here, English is just weird.

Please make sure you check your usage.

Example: “It’s pretty clear that a zebra can’t change its stripes.”

When two words modify a noun, use a -. (full-time, part-time).

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Avoid vague pronoun references. Make sure a reader will be able to understand the person, place, or thing to which the pronoun refers.

Incorrect: When Jonathan finally found his dog, he was so happy. (The dog or Jonathan?)

Correct: Jonathan was so happy when he finally found his dog.

Pronoun agreement

Maintain parallel structure in sentences. Your references should be of the same kind across a series: Incorrect: He wanted to learn more about careers in programming, engineering, biochemist, and research scientist.

Correct: He wanted to learn more about careers in programming, engineering, biochemistry, and research science.

Do not leave dangling participles. They can create awkward sentences. The participle in a subordinate clause should always describe an action performed by the subject of the main part of the sentence.

Incorrect: Driving like a maniac, the deer was hit and killed.

Correct: Driving like a maniac, Joe hit and killed a deer. (unless the deer was driving)

GRAMMAR (CONT) Whether means will it or not, so just say whether, not whether or not.

While = a temporal limitation. Although = Despite the fact that. Many people use while to mean although.

Where an element of time is involved, this can be very confusing. (Example: While he was sleeping, it didn’t matter) When in doubt, consider using although.

Your/you’re: Possessive v. contraction again. Do you mean belongs to you or you are?

There/Their/They’re: “There” refers to a place. “Their” is the possessive adjective used before a noun. “They’re” is the contraction of they are. Here’s all of them in one sentence: “They’re not happy that their drink order is still sitting on the bar over there.”

Effected/Affected: “Affect” is the verb meaning “to change or influence” while “effect” is the noun indicating that a change has occurred. The part that confuses most writers is the fact that the past participle of “effect” is also a verb that means to “produce or bring about.”

Then or Than: “Then” with an “e” refers to time, while “than” with an “a” is a conjunction used in making comparisons between two things. Check them both out in this sentence: “I thought about it for a while, then finally decided that I like chocolate better than vanilla.”

Eliminate dangling modifiers. This grammatical error occurs when an adjective, adverb, or modifying phrase is used in a sentence, but it’s not clear exactly what the writer is modifying.

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ngling odifier

Incorrect: After finally setting off on the trail, the morning felt more exciting.

Correct: After finally setting off on the trail, he felt the morning was more exciting.

Incorrect: “Confused, the question went unanswered.” Who is the confused person that the writer is referring to in this sentence? The question itself isn’t confused, but at this point, the reader is.

Here’s the corrected sentence without the dangling modifier. “Confused, the professor chose not to answer the question and just moved on to a different topic.”

Which/That: When deciding whether to use “which” or “that,” the easiest thing to do is determine whether the clause that follows “which” or “that” is essential to the sentence, or just descriptive. If it contains non-essential information, use “which.” If the clause is essential to the meaning of the sentence, use “that.”

Check out the difference: “The apartment, which had two bedrooms, was located on the fourth floor.”

“The apartment that had two bedrooms was located on the fourth floor.”

In the first sentence, the words following “which” merely give more information about the fourth-floor apartment. In the second sentence, it’s clear that the writer is identifying a specific apartment.

The apartment on the first floor may be a one-bedroom. The apartment on the third floor, perhaps, has three bedrooms. The apartment that has two bedrooms, however, is on the fourth floor.

SPECIFIC WORDS AND PHRASES Below are rules for how we use common words and phrases. The bold term shows the accepted form (capitalization, hyphenation, punctuation), with accompanying text explaining usage.

• ages, avoid hyphens in ages unless it clarifies the text. For example, a group of 10 18-year-old White House tourists.

• affordable housing, not affordable-housing or Affordable Housing • a.m., not am or a m • Black, not black. African American should only be used if you are referring to an individual or group specifically of African descent.

• Congress refers to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

• congressional is lowercase unless part of a proper name. For example, Congressional Record • email, not e-mail • executive branch • federal, unless part of a proper noun. For example, Federal Bureau of Investigation low-inco • federal government, not Federal Government or Federal government • fiscal year is lowercase. It’s okay to abbreviate as w on the second reference.

• Governor’s office, not FO • government, unless part of a proper noun. For example, Government Printing Office • Latino, not latino or Latinx • low-income, not low income • moderate-income, not moderate income • NJ, not N.J. • supportive housing, not special needs housing • very low-income, not very low income • White, not white when referring to race.

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ome

Black

email

Latino NJ

executive branch

supportive housing

INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE The words we use can make the difference between forging positive connections or creating distance in our personal and professional lives. Particularly in writing, impact is more important than intent.

As we provide government services, we must ensure they are accessible and welcoming to everyone who needs to use them.

Inclusive language helps us to be more accurate and build trust with our users.

This guidance is influenced by the Conscious Style Guide, which is an excellent resource for learning more about the conversations behind terms, categories, and concepts. Other resources we used: • Diversity Style Guide • Disability Language Style Guide • Associated Press Stylebook • Syracuse University Disability Cultural Center Language Guide This page is not exhaustive, but aims to provide principles, resources, and specific suggestions for writing and talking about diverse groups of people.

Avoid terms that contribute to stigmas.

Ability and disability

Every person is a whole person — no matter how they interact with the world. Focus on what they need to do, what tools they use, and avoid making assumptions. If a person’s situation, medical condition, illness, or injury is relevant to the content, be as specific as possible and avoid inserting value judgements about their circumstance (for example, use has multiple sclerosis, not is afflicted with or suffers from).

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Just like with language around race, gender, or other identities, it’s always best to ask people how they identify rather than assuming. For help finding appropriate or accurate language, see the Disability Language Style Guide from the National Center on Disability and Journalism.

• •

• •

Avoid describing people as disabled, handicapped, or confined to a wheelchair.

Avoid terms that contribute to stigmas around disability or mental illness: crazy, dumb, lame, insane, psycho, schizophrenic, or stupid.

Avoid terms that contribute to stigmas around sensory disabilities: blind spot or tone deaf.

Instead of special needs, we use supportive services.

Age

Avoid referring to someone’s age, unless it’s relevant to what you’re writing about (for example, when referring to benefits that are available to people of certain ages).

Age, Gender, and Sexuality

• Don’t use women or older relatives as substitute for novice or beginner.

For example, don’t say something is so simple your mother can use it.

• We prefer using older person or senior to elderly.

Gender and sexuality

Make content gender neutral wherever possible, and strive to write in a gender-fair way. If you’re writing about a hypothetical person or if you’re unsure of the person’s pronouns, use they or them instead of he/she.

Avoid words and phrases that indicate gender bias, such as irrelevant descriptions of appearance.

Use descriptors of gender identity or sexual orientation as modifiers, not as nouns (for example, transgender person, cisgender person, or lesbian woman). Avoid guessing sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation. When in doubt, either reconsider the need to include this information or ask the person you’re referring to how they identify and what terms they prefer.

• Use different sex instead of opposite sex (because this recognizes gender as a spectrum, rather than a binary).

• We support using they or their as singular pronouns.

For more detailed guidance, see the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association Style Guide or the GLAAD Media Reference Guide.

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Nationality

Avoid using citizen as a generic term for people who live in the United States. Many government programs serve non-citizens and individuals with a wide range of immigration and visa statuses, often making this descriptor confusing.

• How you refer to the public is largely dependent on context. Feel free to choose from any of these words: people, the public, or users.

• Be as specific as possible. Depending on the situation, you may want to say something like people who need healthcare or people who need to access government services online.

• Use citizens for information related to U.S. citizenship, for example, when describing who is eligible to vote in federal elections.

• Be careful with Americans or the American public. These terms are ambiguous and are often used as synonyms for citizens.

In most cases, the public is equally clear and more inclusive. That said, referring to Americans or the American people can be useful if you want to inspire readers or take a more patriotic tone.

Race, ethnicity, and religion

Avoid using words, images, or situations that reinforce racial, ethnic, or religious stereotypes (even stereotypes that may appear to be positive). Avoid the term non-white, or other terms that treat whiteness as a default.

Don’t make assumptions: ask how people identify themselves, and be aware of complexities within racial, ethnic, and religious identities. For example, not all Arabs are Muslim, and many nationalities and ethnicities include various religious practices and traditions.

When referring to a person’s race or ethnicity, use adjectives, not nouns: For example, a Hispanic person, not a Hispanic.

Media style guides for race, ethnicity, and religion • National Association of Black Journalists Style Guide • Asian American Journalists Association Handbook • Native American Journalists Association Reporter’s Indigenous Terminology Guide • Religion Newswriters Association’s Religion Stylebook

TECHNICAL WRITING At NJHMFA, we often write technical documentation, guides, and forms. These guidelines will help you write clear, concise instructions, which will provide your reader with the best possible experience.

Basics

Do the hard work to make it simple.

Help the reader follow along. Break instructions or processes down into individual steps.

Use short, simple sentences with words people use in everyday conversation. Refer to navigation labels, buttons, and menus as they appear in the website. Verify the spelling and capitalization as you write. Be specific.

Instead of: Open a new meeting invitation.

Use: In Google Calendar, click Create.

Direct the reader.

Start your sentences with active verbs or clear objectives.

Instead of: Help us understand what kind of help you need by creating a web content update request in SharePoint.

Use: Request a web content update with details about your needs.

Or: To get started, request a web content update in SharePoint with details about your needs.

Focus on what the reader can do rather than what they can’t. (This is known as using positive language.)

Instead of: You cannot continue without signing in.

Use: Sign in to continue.

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Write clear, concise instructions.

.

Titles and headings

Be consistent with how you phrase titles. If your guide or tutorial has several pages, stick to the same naming convention for scannability, such as: • Nouns: Policies, Teams, Offices • Verbs: Create an account, File a report, Download our data Use sentence case for headings.

Introduction

Include a short two- or three-sentence summary about the document to help the reader confirm whether they’re in the right place, and to improve search engine indexing.

Interface elements

Use clear verbs to tell readers how to interact with interface elements: • Choose from drop-down menus.

• Select or deselect checkboxes and radio buttons.

• Click or tap buttons.

• Follow or open links.

For example: 1. In the File menu, choose Save.

2. Select I agree.

3. Click Continue.

Tables

Tables are generally suitable only for data: two or more “objects” (rows) that share two or more “values” (columns). In tables, column widths are the same for all rows, which can make them easier to scan visually. Here are some other guidelines to consider: • When listing numbers, align them to the right of their cell, with the same decimal precision (“40.50” and “1.00”) so that the numbers are easier to compare while scanning.

• Always center column headings.

Links and additional resources

It’s rare that a document lives on its own. Tell people where to go for help if they have questions.

For documentation and guides, you might say: For more information, see the 2020 Tax Credit Application Updates.

If your work relates to several other documents, pick the most important ones or gather the relevant links in a section at the bottom labeled Additional Resources or Related Documents.

https://www.njhousing.gov/

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TRADEMARKS AND BRANDS Avoid using a trademark unless you’re referring to a specific product.

In other words, refer to tissues not Kleenex, or copiers not Xerox machines.

Careful use of trademarked names and brands is important because the government shouldn’t endorse specific brands or products. When writing about corporate brands or products to illustrate a point, mention a range of related companies instead of a single provider.

For example: Social media outlets including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube can help you connect with users.

Avoid linking to products or services, because people can see it as an endorsement. The same rule applies to individual brands and products, such as personal websites or websites where you can buy a presenter’s book. Do link to useful resources, like slide decks or how-to guides, from private individuals or companies.

If you mention a trademark, capitalize and punctuate it in the trademark holder’s preferred style.

FILENAMES AND URLS

https://www.njhousing.gov/

Creating filenames

Use hyphens to separate words.

Lowercase is better, because it’s easier to type and to remember.

Use the right extension — PDFs should have .pdf at the end, JPGs should have .jpg at the end, etc.

Shorter is better, but the content should be descriptive to the user, and it’s better to have long descriptive filenames than short obscure ones. summary-of-pay-gap-findings.pdf is better than paygap.pdf or smmrypgpfnds.pdf.

If the file content is based on a date or time, include that: the 1998 report for an organization should have 1998 in the filename.

A February issue of a magazine should have the year and the month. A PDF of a daily newspaper should have year, month, and date. When including dates, use the YYYY-MM-DD format, i.e. 2015-10-13.

Avoid the use of special characters beyond the hyphen and period, unless absolutely necessary.

Do not include spaces (use hyphens in their place).

Presenting URLs and filenames in text

Always lowercase URLs in text. Paths are case-sensitive, however, so their casing must be preserved.

In interactive contexts, particularly web pages, URLs (except when used as examples, as throughout this document) should always be active links. When they’re active links, do not include the protocol in the link text.

In non-interactive contexts, such as print, the protocol can be omitted, assuming http:// and https:// both work and bring the user to the same place.

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There are occasions where URLs should be delimited; use < and > for this. This is not normally necessary in interactive contexts where the link is clearly defined, but is most often relevant in email, where the writer may have to guess what the email program will turn into a link. This is particularly true when a URL contains spaces.

Filenames are case-sensitive, and their case should be preserved when they are referred to in text.

Do not capitalize the first letter of a sentence if it happens to be the first letter of a filename that begins with a lowercase letter.

Filenames may need to be delimited in the same way as URLs. Examples Capitalization on a web page: gsa.gov is the General Services Administration website.

Capitalization in print: gsa.gov is the General Services Administration website.

Link text

It’s important to remember that users of screen readers will often skip from one link to another, skipping the text in between, as a way of skimming for the content they need.

This means that link text should be understandable independent of the text surrounding it. Avoid ambiguous link text like click here, here, or learn more whenever possible.

For example, instead of: Click here for more information about our Mission Statement.

Use: For more information, see NJHMFA Mission Statement.

This has an added benefit of improving search results for sighted users.

FORMATTING Below are rules for formatting formal letters and memos. In all communications, bold, italics, and underlines should be used very sparingly. Please describe the intended point using words alone. If you think further emphasis is needed, try using a shorter sentence.

HMFA letters

HMFA letterhead can be found on SharePoint in the Quick Links section under Forms.

All correspondence should use Times New Roman, size 12 font.

Letters and reports should be justified at the margins.

The date should be centered under the header.

Tab down four spaces and left justify the recipient’s name, title and address.

Tab down a single line before a formal salutation and another before the body of the letter.

For example:

Greetings in formal correspondence should end with a : not a ,.

Commas after greetings are reserved for less formal communication.

The first line of the body of the letter should be indented, as should each paragraph thereafter.

At the conclusion of the body paragraphs, tab down at two lines, then add the formal closing.

Position the formal signature block 7 tabs from the left margin Tab down 4 lines then insert the signer’s name, with title one line below.

These four spaces allow space for a hand-written signature.

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At the bottom, left justify any ending notations, such as C, Cc, or Enc..

These end notations reflect whether any materials are enclosed with the letter and who is receiving a copy of the letter.

March 24, 2021

Honorable Charles Washington, Jr., Mayor City of Salem 1 New Market Street Salem, NJ 08079 Dear Mayor Washington:

Stable, invested homeowners are crucial to a community’s success and sustainability.

The DPA exists to promote and preserve homeownership across New Jersey. In 2020, the median price of a single-family home in New Jersey was $345,000; the average down payment for a single-family home was between 5% and 10% of the sales price. (ADDITIONAL BODY)

Sincerely,

Melanie R. Walter Executive Director

c:Sheila Y. Oliver, Lt. Governor

HMFA memoranda

Memoranda are used to communicate with other government entities, including Governor’s Office.

The font used is Garamond, size 11. If confidential, a header and watermark should indicate the applicable privilege on each page. Page numbers in the same font as the memorandum should be provided at the bottom center of each page.

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All memoranda should adhere to this formatting.

MEMORANDUM

New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency

To: Office of the Governor Date: April 15, 2021 From: NJHMFA Subject: New Proposal Overview Summary of topic, background, and conclusion

Content

Analytical paragraphs

Conclusion Findings

FONT STYLE AND SIZE Font style and size should be consistent throughout our agency communications.

For letters: Times New Roman / Size 12 For memoranda: Garamond / Size 11 For email: Calibri / Size 11 For web-available guidance or manuals: Calibri / Size 12

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