How to use the online style manual

Follow the writing standards in this online manual for all external and internal county materials for broad public or employee use. Affected county documents include articles, brochures, business correspondence, displays, official e-mail messages, fliers, manuals, memos, newsletters, news releases, pamphlets, presentations, reports and Web pages (Internet and intranet).

This manual is in alphabetical order. Click on the letter that begins the word or term you have a question about, and you will go to the appropriate page:

• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• Q
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• X
• Y
• Z

Broad topics—listing hyperlinked cross-references—include abbreviations and acronyms | capitalization | Internet | myths of writing | numbers | punctuation | spelling. Under capitalization, you'll find guidelines specific to King County, including council committees, facilities, independently elected officials, job titles, organizational terms, Metropolitan King County Council, and programs, projects and plans. Please note: In Intenet Explorer, hyperlinked cross-references will take you to the Web page with the term you're seeking. For the time being, you may need to scroll to the specific term.

See a few exceptions or variations for these standards under correspondence. Motions and ordinances of the King County Council also follow some differing style guidelines.

Searching the online manual. You can search the manual in two ways:

• Within a style manual page, you can search for particular words or terms using your Web browser's Find function (under Edit); pages are organized alphabetically. Many terms are cross-referenced and hyperlinked. Click on the highlighted text to view cross-referenced terms.
• On King County Internet pages, press the Search button in the King County banner. Type in the word(s) or term(s) you're looking for. The results will list county Web pages that contain the word or term you typed. Here's a direct link to the County's Internet Search Engine. Because the style manual is an Internet site, searches for style manual terms do not work on county intranet (internal) pages.

What's new —Significant new, updated and improved entries in the King County Editorial Style Manual.

Top 20 tips —Excerpts to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the King County Editorial Style Manual.

Online and Print Resources--Includes advice on using the Spelling and Grammar tool in Microsoft Word.

King County Editorial Style Guide (DOC, 468KB)—A summary of key entries in the County's online Editorial Style Manual. If you need a printed version of the manual, download this condensed style guide. Except for this Word document, there is no print version of the whole style manual. Updated July 20, 2010.

Back to Top

Other communications resources

• Online and print
• Staff contacts
• On the intranet
• Writing tools