The following guidelines are recommended to achieve consistency in FHWA directives.

Plain language

For more information on how to use plain language in your directives, see the plain language website. Remember, you can use this Handbook as your guide for plain language in directives.

Terminology

1. State DOT - use this term when referring to the State organization responsible for administering the highway program.
   
   
2. Washington Headquarters - use this term when referring to the Washington Headquarters as opposed to "Headquarters," "Headquarters office," etc.
   
   
3. Resource Center and Division Office - use these terms when referring to the resource centers or division offices as opposed to "division," "centers," "field office," etc.
   
   

Capitalization

1. Division and resource center - these words are not capitalized, unless referring to a specific office.
   
   
2. Directive type - the name of a directive type, i.e., Notice, Order, etc., is capitalized.
   
   
3. Federal and State - these two words are always capitalized.
   
   
4. Metropolitan planning organization - do not capitalize unless referring to a specific organization.
   
   
5. Position titles - capitalize titles when referring to a specific position. Do not capitalize titles when referring to a general position, e.g. highway engineer.

Acronyms

1. First usage - when using acronyms, spell out the complete item when first used, followed by the acronym in parentheses. Subsequent references to the term are by the acronym.
   
   
2. Beginning sentences - an acronym is preceded by "the" when the acronym begins the sentence.
   
   

Lists and series

1. To complete a sentence - when a list or series completes the sentence, first words are not capitalized and a comma or a semicolon is used consistently between the components. Example:
   
   
   1. The major factors to be considered by the panel are:

      (1) candidate's potential to contribute to the employing agency's program for environmental protection,

      (2) relevant experience, and

      (3) academic and professional achievements.

2. Independent phrases - when a list or series consists of independent phrases, the first words are capitalized, commas and/or semicolons are omitted, and generally a period is used at the end of the phrase. The period may be omitted if the phrase is short or a one-word item. Examples:
   
   
   1. The major factors to be considered by the panel are listed below.
      
      

      (1) Candidate's potential to contribute to the employing agency's program for environmental protection

      (2) Relevant experience

      (3) Academic and professional achievements.

   2. The major factors to be considered by the panel are:

      (1) Potential

      (2) Experience

      (3) Achievements

Preparing for Web Posting

The following guidelines will help speed the conversion and posting of your directive.

1. Most word processors have a "Widow/Orphan" feature that automatically prevents single word sentences and "dangling lines." Using this feature will save the Web Team from having to go through each document line by line and removing extra hard returns, which translate to broken sentences in HTML.
   
   
2. If inserting headers and footers into the document, use the word processor's header/footer command. Putting them in manually at the top or bottom of the document results in their conversion into the body of the HTML document, which breaks up sentences.
   
   
3. Never use spaces to align text on the screen. Multiple spaces will not translate into HTML. Instead, put horizontally aligned text in tables--each item to be positioned in its own table cell, which ensures proper spacing.
   
   

Note: Always use Spell Check.

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