Standards

HTML

We use the WWW Consortium (W3C) HTML 5 standard.

We follow our internal HTML guidelines:

  • Refer to HTML elements as elements, not tags.
  • Reference elements using the actual tag, with angle brackets, formatted as code.
    • Example: <a>
  • Format classes as code, with a leading period.
    • Example: .c-arrow
  • Format ids as code, with a leading hash.
    • Example: #main-content
  • Use soft tabs with four spaces.
  • Nested elements should be indented once (four spaces).
  • Don't include a trailing slash in self-closing elements.
    • Example: <hr>
  • Don't omit optional closing tags.
    • Examples: </li>, </body>
  • Use lowercase element names.
    • Example: <table>
  • Use lowercase attribute names.
    • Example: <table class="c-table">
  • Always use double quotes, never single quotes, on attributes.
  • Don't add blank lines without reason.
  • Short comments should be written on one line.
  • Long comments, spanning many lines, should be written on separate lines.
  • Use lowercase file names.
  • Don't use capitalisation or camelCase in file names.
  • Strive to maintain HTML standards and semantics, but not at the expense of practicality.
  • Use the least amount of markup with the fewest intricacies whenever possible.

CSS and JavaScript

For CSS, we use the W3C CSS 3 standard.

We follow our internal CSS and JavaScript Guidelines.

Accessibility

We aim to meet the W3C AA accessibility standard.

We use Code Sniffer (If you have difficulties viewing this link please try in Internet Explorer) and WAVE evaluation tool for accessibility testing.

Editorial

We aim to meet the standard below on all content:

  • Style, format and message are AQA brand friendly and work for the audience.
  • Readability score of 55 or above (similar level to BBC News website).
  • No spelling mistakes or obvious factual errors.

We follow our Editorial House Style and Tone of Voice guidelines.

Brand guidelines

Our brand guidelines explains the use of our logo, colour palette and the most important elements of our house style.