The Many Stories of 1704 - Editorial
1704 Website Writing Guidelines
last revised: 12 May 2003

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intro tabs | perspective tabs | character narratives | artifact descriptions | rollovers | using templates | writing style | capitalization | spelling | terminology (includes native names)

1. Writing Content

A. Intro Tab [Other suggested titles for this tab: Scene Summary, Scene Overview, In This Scene...]

• Non-biased
• Neutral in language
• Non emotional
• Who, what, where, when, a continuation of the story.
• Use past tense.
• Make more lively, specific, visual, and concrete with choice of words and sentence structure
• Angie and Barbara indicate if you want Freda to include specific words or phrases (*)
• First paragraph should be tied to the illustration. Who, what, where, when, a continuation of the story.
• We WILL have provocative questions at the end of the Intro tab. These questions should:
- Make the user think
- Propel you forward out of interest
- Highlight the fact that there are multiple perspectives
- Give focus to the tab
- Allow user to form the answer to the question
B. Perspective Tabs
• The WHY - motivations, but in many scenes this boils down to unique history bringing them to this place, their feelings, concerns and responses. It will be different for each scene, and maybe each tab.
• Tie in first paragraph to illustration only if it seems natural to do so.
• Write primarily to this one illustration and this one point in time, but you can go beyond this if necessary to provide context.
• Unique histories will come out here, histories that the user will not be able to "see" in the illustration.
• Use descriptive language, examples, quotes (use sparingly since other groups have no direct quotes - Angie and Barbara include quotes you would like to see used - Freda can use her judgement to use some she's found.)
• Use language that is specific, visual, concrete
• Personalize
• It's OK to stray from the literal wording from Angie and Barbara (unless indicated), but be sure you include the fact behind the bulleted point.
• In general, we will link longer quotes to a citation on a separate page by putting a number in parentheses after the quote.
• Do not refer specifically to the question in the Intro tab. The "answers" should be subtle in the perspective tabs, allowing the user to formulate his/her own answer to questions.

C. Character Narratives

Character Narratives are more "storylike" than either the introductory or the perspective tabs. Unlike the tabs, character narratives should be written from the particular vantage-point of the individual in question. Thus, the narratives will hopefully give visitors various views of the world in which these people lived and the events they experienced. That is, Stephen's narrative is not simply about 1704 but about 1704 from the perspective of a 10-yr-old English boy. The same goes for the characters like Jacques Bruyas, the Jesuit priest who appears in the Great Peace scene. Bruyas' narrative is an opportunity to communicate a Jesuit perspective on the Oneida, Mohawk, English, etc. The writer might use period phrases and other literary devices that give the visitor a sense of Bruyas' beliefs and experiences. For example, Bruyas' narrative also might very unselfconsciously use words like heretics, damnation, etc. when describing non-Catholics, or ethnocentric language when it describes Bruyas' interactions with non-French people. Similar strategies can be used for other character narratives.

The character narratives are the only place in the site that can contain individual viewpoints or experiences. This is important because an individual's perspective can diverge from the group's perspective in interesting, illuminating and controversial ways. For example, Thavenhosen and his actions on the march weren't typical of his group's traditions. The relationship of the individual to his/her group is something to keep in mind.

• For character narratives, the writer should:

- Place the character at the center of the story, using third person singular to describe his/her actions. For example, when addressing the situation of Wattanummon and other Pawtucket people in the 1660s, the writer might convey this point by writing something like, "Mourning the loss of family members killed by disease and warfare, Wattanummon and his family made the difficult decision to join other Pawtuckets fleeing northward."

- When dealing with background for a character that is deemed necessary to reinforce readers' understanding of the character and his/her perspective, use a semi-omniscient voice. For example, to convey the background surrounding the situation in which the Pawtuckets found themselves in the 1660s with regard to the Iroquois, the writer might write something like, "Around the time Wattanummon was born, the powerful Iroquois League to the west launched a series of bloody attacks on the weakened Pawtucket and other native peoples of the region." Note the way in which the character (in this case Wattanummon) remains the focus even as the writer places the character's experience in the context of Iroquoian politics and expansion.

- The bulleted points are intended to serve as an informational foundation for the final narrative. They are not guides for sentence structure or organization of the narrative. Rather, the bulleted points are simply a tool to communicate to the writer information that applies to that character and his/her circumstances.

- Tie character to scene - explain who this person is and why this person is here in this scene (but not as directly as rollover). The "why this person is in the scene" should provide immediate and basic information that helps the reader to understand who the character is and their role in that particular scene. It is OK to refer to incidents or events that may refer to earlier stages of his life the narrative previously covered. For example, in the Attack scene the writer might briefly identify Wattanummon as a Pennacook sachem but should not feel obliged to recap Wattanummon's earlier life experience of exile from his Pawtucket homeland, etc.

- Highlight character's characteristics, thoughts, feelings, motivations. We have to be careful here; when necessary, use words like: likely, probably may have, typically...

- Explain cultural attributes that are a part of who this character is; link the character with the daily lifeways of their culture and society. For example, various characters participated in gender- and age-specific chores and other activities. While the bulleted points do not fully re-create the fabric and color of daily life, the writer should identify and include relevant information that will bring the character to life.

- Connect character to artifacts, if appropriate

- Strive to add concrete details

- Explain the character's relationship to other characters in the scene.

NOTE: Character narrative can be used to say more about the scene, as long as that information is not more appropriate on a scene tab. It will often be helpful for the writer to refer to the packet outline for more contextual information. For example, the packet on the attack identifies the houses closest to the Williams home. The writer might find this information useful as she writes narratives for the various members of the Williams family. Make sure the text is not redundant to the scene tabs.

D. Artifact Descriptions

Locating an artifact:

• Angie and Barbara will provide a list of possible artifacts for each scene and mark the ones that are most important - the priorities that should be located first. If an artifact cannot be located in a museum where we can have access to it, then another artifact from the list can take its place. An object should have the following criteria:
- It should come from the same culture that the object in the image is associated with (i.e. the calumet in the Great Peace should be Kickapoo, since the man holding it is Kickapoo (unless we learn that it was someone else's being passes around as people spoke)
- It should be from the same time period or can be slightly before the date it was supposed to be used (unless we can argue that the form and use remained unchanged from the period it was used)
- It would be nice if looked very similar to the drawing
• Consult Francis as a first step in locating an artifact. A second step would be to talk to Louise Poither (or Benoit) since they agreed to assist us in finding objects in Quebec.
• Once the artifacts are located, Angie and Barbara need to see them and "okay" them. (They can be scanned and faxed or emailed to Angie).
• Once they are okayed, they must be obtained - digital image (Juliet will provide specs for resolution issues), or color photograph.
• Once obtained, the label can be written.

Writing a label:
• Use item page from American Centuries as a model for fields.
• Use item page labels from American Centuries as a model for labels. Discuss the object, its function, its use, the ways in which the design informs its use, and then place the object in its wider context.
• It's OK to write about the larger context of the artifact (e.g., you can write about the significance of the soldier's jacket in terms of his rank and standing in the military, or what the patches on his jacket signify.)
• Do not write the label until you have the picture of the artifact in front of you.
• Write the label ONLY about the artifact in the photograph which we obtained (its what the viewer is looking at). (e.g., if the artifact is a soldier's jacket, write only about the jacket, not about the soldier in the illustration's pants and hat.)
Obtaining the image:

We can use either already scanned images or photos that we can scan ourselves.

Already scanned images:

• If already scanned, we need to be sure that they're high enough quality. They should be TIFF or PSD (Photoshop) files at 300 dpi or higher, 24 bit color depth and professionally photographed if possible. This last criteria is hard to judge so, if you're unsure, just get the file and Juliet will take a look to see if it will work for us.
• They can send us files via email if it's not too large (< 4 MB) or on a zip disk or CD.
We'd take an unprocessed file over a badly processed one, so if there's a choice, maybe ask for both.
Unscanned images:
• If the object hasn't been scanned we can use a photograph. We can scan from a good quality continuous tone color print. Please, no already printed stuff from books or magazines--these have half-tone screens in them and are unusable for our purposes.
• We can also scan a 35 mm slide or a 4 x 5 transparency--the latter are much superior. They'd have to mail these to us and we would scan them and then return them. Or, if they'd rather, they can scan them as long as they can do so using the specs above. In Juliet's experience, having just any old historian photograph an object with a digital camera doesn't work-- the resolution is too low, the lighting and framing are unacceptable. If this is their impulse, you can advise them not to bother!

E. Rollovers [Write in the present tense.]

• Rollovers overall should try to squeeze content information in, rather than say a person is "walking" with someone, etc. For instance, rather than "Stephen is walking ..." "Stephen is upset that after a promise of mercy, an infant has just been killed." Rollovers should begin with an abbreviated point that we listed in the packets under a person's character narrative for the first draft. If necessary, explain what the character is doing in the scene, but don't restate the obvious.
• Use identifying language for the rollovers of characters who will only be identified via rollovers. Others with extensive character narratives and/or whose experiences are discussed in the tabs (like the Williams) can get more abbreviated identifiers. For example, maybe Stephen is identified in the Attack rollover as, "Ten-year-old Stephen Williams..." but becomes "Stephen Williams..." in the March rollover and simply "Stephen..." in the Parting Ways rollover. Carefully-chosen verbs also can deliver content-- instead of various people walking, have them "hurrying," "trudging," "struggling," "staggering," etc. depending on their situations.
• Other rollovers (e.g., for the palisade) should try to include content that we couldn't fit into the tab. For instance: "Palisade: Deerfielders fortified the palisade in the spring as a response to the threat of attack." There could be a snow rollover that talks about it drifting and allowing the attackers easy entrance.
• We will have titles for rollovers.
• Possibility of putting question in the rollover.
• Use of generic pop-up to tell users they can use cursor to see pop-ups and click for more information.
2. Using Templates
1. Highlight glossary term and click Glossary button to turn it into a glossary term.
2. If term has space in it or apostrophe, replace each with an underscore.
3. If term is plural, indicate in attribute section that glossary term (which appears in glossary) will be singular.
4. Writer should indicate in Notes where a link links to, but programmer or designer will actually enter the file name for the link.
5. There will be a variety of link types (link to another scene, link to a character narrative, link to a map, link to a timeline, etc.).
6. Only the first instance of a glossary term will be indicated as such on a tab.
7. At the present time, the bolding of the beginning of a paragraph on a tab is up to the writer. We have not established any consistency standards for this feature.
8. Rollover text should be specific to what is happening in the illustration; e.g., for a character, the rollover should speak specifically to what the character is doing in that scene at that instance. This differs from the character narrative which can explore the character's thoughts, feelings, motivations, in the scene. The character narrative can also make a comment about how this character's thoughts, feelings, motivations, situation, lifeway etc. is similar to, or representative of, others like that character.
9. Checking the "Has Link" box indicates that this rollover has a link to another webpage.

3. Writing Effective Content

A. Conventions/Language/Style
When in doubt, consult the Chicago Manual of Style (primarily proper English writing style) and Microsoft Style Guide for Technical Publications (primarily windows terminology) for style/design terminology and issues. These guidelines serve as a model, but can be modified depending on the course.

Abbreviations.Use abbreviations sparingly (etc., e.g., i.e.). Do not use them as a means of abbreviating the presentation of necessary information. Do not use them if you think the audience won't know what they mean.

Bulleted or Numbered Items. Follow these guidelines when creating bullets: Because space is at a premium, refrain from bulleted and numbered items when possible. When using them:

• Use a colon (:) to introduce bulleted items when a sentence introduces the bullets. When the bullets read as a continuation of the introductory sentence, don't use a colon.
• Create bulleted items using the bullet icon on the toolbar, unless otherwise specified. This icon makes bullets flush left, thus saving space and time.
• Always icap first word of bulleted item.
• Use periods at end of bulleted items only if bullet incorporates one or more full sentences.
• Try to make all bulleted items the same; i.e., if one is a sentence, make all items sentences. If you cannot, treat all bulleted items the same, even if you have to use periods for non-sentence items.
• In the interest of screen real estate, do not separate bulleted items with a blank line.
• If you need one level under a bulleted item, use a bold En dash (Not an Em dash or a hyphen). Indent En dashes under bullets, flush with text. Use one blank space after the En dash. -- This is an example.

Contractions. Use contractions sparingly.

Cultural and Gender Concerns. [Do we want to put something here?]

Dash. Use the Em dash (---) as a dash. It's available from the Special Character Tab off the Insert\Symbol pull-down menu in WORD. Do not use spaces around it. [Ex. Good accounting procedures are important---actually necessary to the smooth running of the bank.]

Emphasis. [Need to determine if we'll use emphasis and what it will look like.]

Glossary terms. When glossary terms are used, identify only first instance of glossary term per page. Glossary terms will be underlined.

Hyphenation. Avoid hyphenation at the end of lines. When a hyphenated word is
i-capped in a title, i-cap both words of the hyphenated word.

Instructions. If giving instructions, refer to these examples:

Return to the X Menu.
Move the cursor to the X field
Click the button [NOT CLICK ON THE BUTTON]
Press ENTER now.
Click the Right arrow...
Click the Menu button now.

Links. Links will be underlined.

Names. See Terminology Section.

Numbered Items. Follow guidelines for bulleted items where appropriate.

Numbers. Spell out numbers zero through nine. Use the numeric for all numbers above nine. If two or more numbers are used together and one is under 10 and one is over 10, use the numeric for each. Use numeric if preceded by the word step, figure, or table. [Ex. Step 5.] Spell out numbers that begin a sentence. The plural number does not require an apostrophe. [Ex. During the 1990s...]

Parallel Construction. Express ideas that are similar in content and function in a similar form. Ex. When you select the XYZ menu, you can
• Edit a document
• Copy a document
• Delete a document
Each bulleted item is a verb.

Quotation marks. Use double, not single quotation marks, to highlight the unusual use of a word, words/terms referred to as words/terms, or for conversation [Ex. The word "screen" refers to the face of the monitor.] Do not use quotation marks around titles or names. When using quotation marks for conversation, periods and commas always go inside the quotation marks, colons and semi-colons always go outside. Exclamation and question marks go inside when they are part of the quoted matter; otherwise they go outside. [Ex. "Hello," said Marcia. "Do you know if you included the balance accounts?" asked Marcia. BUT Why was Marcia upset when the accountant told her "The numbers do not balance"?]

Subjunctive. Avoid "would" when possible.

Titles. Titles of books, articles, etc. should conform to the rules in the Chicago Manual of Style. [Need to determine how titles will appear in text - larger point size? Bold?]

Tone. Keep the tone formal, yet not stuffy. In general, use the third person.

Underlining. Do not underline text for emphasis. Underlining is reserved for links and glossary terms.

Verb Tense. Use past tense but convey a sense of historical immediacy and action (when appropriate) with your choice of language and phrasing.

Voice/Active vs. Passive. Use active voice when possible to place emphasis on the action, rather than on the result of the action. [Ex. "They marched them through the snow" rather than "They were marched through the snow."]

B. Capitalization

Use the following chart to determine if a term should be capitalized. If you don't find it here, check to see how Microsoft does it in Help, or check the Microsoft Style Guide for Technical Publications. If in doubt, err on the side of NOT capitalizing.

Word/Reference Examples
Arrow.
I-cap arrow name, but not arrow. 		Forward arrow
When you see an arrow...
Button.
I-cap button name, but not button.		 Menu button
Mouse button
When you click a button...
Website elements: page, menu, tabs
I-cap name but not element
The Objects menu		 The Objects menu
The Abenaki tab
Headings.
I-cap first and last words, and all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.		 Parting Ways
The Founding of Odenak
Hyphenated titles.
I-cap second half of hyphenated title.		 Self-Test
Icon.
I-cap name of icon, but not icon.		 Help icon
ID.
All caps, ID.		 ID
Keys.
I-cap name of key or bar, but not key or bar.		 The F7 key, Enter key, Spacebar, Tab key, Ctrl + Enter keys, Esc key, Ctrl PgDn key, etc.
Press any key...
Menu.
I-cap name of menu or toolbar, but not menu or toolbar used in a generic sense.		 View menu, People menu
This menu lists...
Formatting toolbar
These toolbars...
Objects menu
Main menu
Menu choices in windows.
I-cap menu choices.		 From the File menu, choose Run.
Pop-up or Rollover???
 I-cap the name of a pop-up but not pop-up 		Glossary pop-up
The first pop-up...
Window widgets and screen elements.
I-cap names of window widgets and screen elements, but not the widget. Consult the Microsoft Style Guide for Technical Publications for help.		 window, File Capture window
dialog box, Select Statement dialog box
radio button, Yes radio button
button, Menu button,
menu, Format menu,
text box, Address text box
scroll bar, Projection Variables scroll bar
toolbar, Formatting toolbar
Mouse button, right Mouse button
Mouse pointer
mouse

C. Spelling

1. Double-click, not double click

2. Drop-down when used as an adjective. [Ex. Drop-down menu]

3. OK, not okay.

4. On-line when an adjective [Ex. The on-line manual], and online when an adverb [Ex. Do the work online.]

5. Self-test, or Self-Test (in title), not self test.

6. Pop-up, not pop up.
7. Rollover, not roll-over.

8. Spacebar, not space bar.

D. Terminology

1. Click, NOT click on. Ex. Click the Menu button; Click Help.

2. Display vs. appear: Display takes an object. Ex. The screen displays a message. A message appears.

3. In and on. Information on a window, but enter information in a dialog box or in a field.

4. Option. Use the term "option" to refer to menu selections. Ex. Select the March option from the Scenes menu.

5. Nomenclature
Kanien'kehaka
Noun - 1 person: Kanien’kehaka [“a Kanien’kehaka believes” (comparable to American)]
Noun - More than one person: Kanien’kehaka [“the Kanien’kehaka believe” (comparable to Americans)]
Adjective - Homeland: Kanien'keh (comparable to United States of America)
Adjective - Group: Kanien’kehaka [a Kanien’kehaka woman (comparable to American)]
Name of the Mohawk language: Kanien'keha
_________________________________________________________
Wobanakiak
Noun - 1 person (any gender): Wôbanaki
Noun - More than one person: Wôbanakiak
Abenaki Territory - Wôbanakia
If we actually want to discuss "homeland," per se, there is a very specific
Abenaki word for that (also see notes below):
My Homeland - Ndakinna or N'dakinna
Your Homeland - Wdakinna
Our Homeland - Kdakinna or Gdakinna
My land - Ndaki
Adjective - Wôbanakiak
**This is from Marge.
______________________________________________________
Wendat
Noun - 1 person: Wendat [“a Wendat believes” (comparable to American)]
Noun - More than one person: Wendats [“the Wendats believe” (comparable to Americans)]
Adjective - Homeland: Wendake (comparable to United States of America)
Adjective - Group: Wendat [a Wendat woman (comparable to American)]
** These are the forms used in George Sioui's book, "Wendat Circle".

We also need to clarify potentially confusing usage of similar terms: MAP - maps connected to the scenes vs. map of the website; stories vs. voices - WFCR is using THE MANY VOICES OF 1704 and we are using THE MANY STORIES OF 1704, so I think it's confusing to all of a sudden refer to the MULTIPLE VOICE TOUR.

We've got to decide on CHARACTER vs. PEOPLE or PERSON. Character Narrative sounds good, so perhaps we should use CHARACTER NARRATIVES in the menu, rather than PEOPLE.]

6. Press a key. Ex. Press the F5 key. Press Ctrl+Enter.

7. Select vs. choose vs. click. Choose an option from a menu, Click an option on a menu, Select a checkbox, Select an item in a list.

8. Tab. Use term "tab" on tabbed windows.(Ex. the Abenaki tab)

9. Window name. The window name is the name that appears in the Title Bar of the window.

10. Window vs. dialog box vs. screen vs. message box. Use terms "windows" and "dialog box," not "screen," unless referring to monitor area. You can use the term 'window' to refer to the working screen or any box that may appear on that screen. Use 'dialog box' when referring to a box that has more than one command button and is for a particular task. Do not refer to it simply as a dialog. Use 'message box' when referring to a box that pops up with text and only has an OK button. Enter information in a window, in a dialog box, NOT on.