Content Style Guide: Numbers, Phone Numbers, Dates, and Time

One of the best ways to ensure that our website is user-friendly is to follow industry best practices, keep the content focused on key user tasks, and keep our content up-to-date at all times.

Use standard formatting for numbers, phone numbers, dates, and times.

Use numerals and ordinals. Spell out numbers when at the beginning of a sentence.

  • Three services are available…
  • Professor Smith is the 1st Anthropology professor to receive tenure.
  • This process has 3 steps.

Use standard formatting for phone numbers.

  • Yes: (616) 331-3500
  • No: 616.331.3500
  • No: 616-331-3500

Use standard formatting for dates and times.

Spell out days of the week and months:
  • Monday, April 18, 2016
  • April 18, 2016
  • April 2016
  • 2016
Don’t use abbreviated date formats:
  • 4/18/16
Include am and pm:
  • 7:00am

I'm here to help!

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Matthew Reidsma
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Contact:
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(616) 331-3577
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Credits

Guide content originally created by Suzanne Chapman for the University of Illinois Libraries. Licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons By 4.0 license.

  • Last Updated: Aug 29, 2024 11:45 AM
  • URL: https://libguides.gvsu.edu/styleguide