Language
Administrative Style and Usage
Email Best Practices
SUBJECT HEADERS
Don’t use words such as free or sale in subject headers; they can get flagged as spam by the recipient’s email client. Look in your email spam folder for more examples.
PREHEADER TEXT
This is short summary text that follows the subject line in the email inbox view. This is an opportunity to expand upon your subject line or summarize what is in the email.
- Homecoming October 18–20
If you don’t include custom preheader text, what those who do see the email in preview mode will see is the first line of the email. For example: Office of the Vice Chancellor for Resea
The last word should be “Research” in the example above, but it is cut off in the space allowed. You may need to adjust the length of the first line if you aren’t including custom preheader text to avoid this.
Screen size, web browser, and other factors affect what shows up as preheader text. It may be best to include preheader text in order to avoid repetition or material that doesn’t make sense in relation to the email.
ALT TEXT
Alt text (alternative text) is descriptive text in place of an image when a website is visited using screen reading software for the visually impaired. Some browsers may also display alt text if an image fails to load. The following phrases should never appear in alt text: “picture of,” “image of,” or “graphic of.” These don’t add context. On the other hand, “photo of…,” “painting of…,” “illustration of…” or even “13th century woodcut of…” do provide additional context that might be useful to the user and are acceptable though not required. Most screen readers stop reading alt text after 125 characters so keep alt text reasonably descriptive but not too long.
Address Formats
EMAIL
In text, electronic addresses are lowercase. Do not omit the period when an email address falls at the end of a sentence.
INTERNET
Do not omit the period when a web address falls at the end of a sentence (for digital or print). When linking text to a URL in a digital publication (email, web page):
- Do not include: http:// or www.
- BigGive.berkeley.edu
- berkeley.edu/campus-life
- Do not link text such as: click here or here.
- Make link texts descriptive: Find more details on the commencement website’s FAQ
Do not capitalize the b in berkeley.edu.
MAIL
Return addresses on all campus mail pieces must be formatted as follows:
Institution name University of California, Berkeley
Optional name and title Jane Doe, Director
Optional subunit name Office of Gift Planning
Department name University Development and Alumni Relations
Address 1995 University Avenue, Suite 401 Berkeley, CA 94704
The bottom three lines of the return address should be: department name, delivery address, and city/state/ZIP in that order.
Institution name University of California, Berkeley
Department name University Development and Alumni Relations
Address 1995 University Avenue, Suite 401 Berkeley, CA 94704
If additional information must be included in the return address, it can be inserted between the institution name and the department name. In some cases, an event name may be at the very top.
Event name Big Give
Institution name University of California, Berkeley
Department name University Development and Alumni Relations
Address 1995 University Avenue, Suite 401 Berkeley, CA 94704
In most cases, collateral from Cal Athletics requires a different address. See Athletics Style Guidelines.
For more information about mailing requirements, contact UC Berkeley Mail Services at 643.MAIL (643.6245) or visit mailservices.berkeley.edu.
Copyright and Trademark Information
All printed and electronic materials produced at the university are copyrighted by the UC Regents. While it is not required by copyright law to receive copyright protection, a copyright notice is always a good thing to include.
- Copyright 2020 UC Regents
- Copyright 2020 the Regents of the University of California
- © 2020 UC Regents
- © 2020 the Regents of the University of California
The university seal and other campus symbols such as the Cal script and some images of Oski are trademarked.
For details on copyright and trademarks, contact Business Contracts and Brand Protection at bcbp@berkeley.edu or 510.642.9120.