Style Guide

Basic markup and typographic styles

Grid

The default grid is 12 columns of 67px with 30px gutters (15px to either side).

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At the largest breakpoint, the full grid is 1170px wide, which equals 1140px of usable content area if all 12 columns are combined.

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Columns can be combined in any configuration, and may be adjusted per breakpoint.

The section below shows a common sidebar configuration with 3 + 9 columns for large screens, 4 + 8 for medium, and then stacks both columns for mobile. Resize this window to see the differences.

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It is possible to nest grids. The number of columns and the size of the gutter will stay the same, but the column width will adjust to fill up the width of the parent column.

Level 1: 4 cols

Level 1: 8 cols
Level 2: 3 cols
Level 2: 3 cols
Level 2: 3 cols
Level 2: 3 cols

Sections Linked

The main page header of this guide is an h1 element. Any header elements may include links, as depicted in the example.

The secondary header above is an h2 element, which may be used for any form of important page-level header. More than one may be used per page. Consider using an h2 unless you need a header level of less importance, or as a sub-header to an existing h2 element.

Third-Level Header Linked

The header above is an h3 element, which may be used for any form of page-level header which falls below the h2 header in a document hierarchy.

Fourth-Level Header Linked

The header above is an h4 element, which may be used for any form of page-level header which falls below the h3 header in a document hierarchy.

Grouping content

Paragraphs

All paragraphs are wrapped in p tags. Additionally, p elements can be wrapped with a blockquote element if the p element is indeed a quote. Historically, blockquote has been used purely to force indents, but this is now achieved using CSS. Reserve blockquote for quotes.

Blockquotes

The blockquote element represents a section that is being quoted from another source.

Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

Ordered list

The ol element denotes an ordered list, and various numbering schemes are available through the CSS (including 1,2,3… a,b,c… i,ii,iii… and so on). Each item requires a surrounding <li> and </li> tag, to denote individual items within the list (as you may have guessed, li stands for list item).

  1. This is an ordered list.
  2. This is the second item, which contains a sub list
    1. This is the sub list, which is also ordered.
    2. It has two items.
  3. This is the final item on this list.

Unordered list

The ul element denotes an unordered list (ie. a list of loose items that don’t require numbering, or a bulleted list). Again, each item requires a surrounding <li> and </li> tag, to denote individual items. Here is an example list showing the constituent parts of the British Isles:

  • United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:
    • England
    • Scotland
    • Wales
    • Northern Ireland
  • Republic of Ireland
  • Isle of Man
  • Channel Islands:
    • Bailiwick of Guernsey
    • Bailiwick of Jersey

Sometimes we may want each list item to contain block elements, typically a paragraph or two.

  • The British Isles is an archipelago consisting of the two large islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and many smaller surrounding islands.

  • Great Britain is the largest island of the archipelago. Ireland is the second largest island of the archipelago and lies directly to the west of Great Britain.

  • The full list of islands in the British Isles includes over 1,000 islands, of which 51 have an area larger than 20 km2.

Text-level Semantics

There are a number of inline HTML elements you may use anywhere within other elements.

Links and anchors

The a element is used to hyperlink text, be that to another page, a named fragment on the current page or any other location on the web. Example:

Stressed emphasis

The em element is used to denote text with stressed emphasis, i.e., something you’d pronounce differently. Where italicizing is required for stylistic differentiation, the i element may be preferable. Example:

You simply must try the negitoro maki!

Strong importance

The strong element is used to denote text with strong importance. Where bolding is used for stylistic differentiation, the b element may be preferable. Example:

Don’t stick nails in the electrical outlet.

Tabular data

Tables should be used when displaying tabular data. The thead, tfoot and tbody elements enable you to group rows within each a table.

If you use these elements, you must use every element. They should appear in this order: thead, tfoot and tbody, so that browsers can render the foot before receiving all the data. You must use these tags within the table element.

The Very Best Eggnog
Ingredients Serves 12 Serves 24
Milk 1 quart 2 quart
Cinnamon Sticks 2 1
Vanilla Bean, Split 1 2
Cloves 5 10
Mace 10 blades 20 blades
Egg Yolks 12 24
Cups Sugar 1 ½ cups 3 cups
Dark Rum 1 ½ cups 3 cups
Brandy 1 ½ cups 3 cups
Vanilla 1 tbsp 2 tbsp
Half-and-half or Light Cream 1 quart 2 quart
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste