The Govt.nz style guide

Our goal is to make things as simple and clear as possible for our users — to make it easier for people to get things done with government.

Voice and tone

Our writing is:

• straightforward
• human
• authoritative, and
• impartial.

We:

• use plain, familiar language
• use short sentences
• mostly use the active voice
• say ‘you’ and ‘your’ when talking to you
• write for the parent when talking about children — ‘You must sign your child’s passport’
• use simple contractions like ‘you’re’ or ‘you’ll’
• mark Māori words up correctly, including macrons
• use respectful, gender-neutral language.

We tell you specifically and concisely what you can do or get.

If we’re talking about a legal requirement, we use ‘must’ to give emphasis.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

We don’t use FAQs. If you keep asking us the same questions, we need to rewrite the content.

Scannable content

We make our content easy for you to read and understand by:

• using frequent, informative headings
• creating lists
• writing short paragraphs
• putting links on separate lines.

References

We use these resources if we need help with spelling, grammar or punctuation issues not covered in this guide.

Oxford Dictionaries (set to British and World English)

Te Aka Māori Dictionary

More information

Plain language

We don’t use:

• exclamation marks
• semi-colons or comma splices — we’ll write 2 sentences instead, or separate the clauses using an em dash with a space on either side.

Apostrophes

We generally don’t add an extra ‘s’ after nouns or names ending in ‘s’. Exceptions are okay where the alternative reads more naturally.

Bold

We rarely use bold — using too much will make it difficult for users to know which parts of your content they need to pay the most attention to.

To emphasise words or phrases, we:

• put key information at the start of sentences
• use headings
• use bullets.

Brackets

We limit the use of brackets and avoid using them in the middle of a sentence.

Capitals

We use capitals for proper nouns. The only time we do anything different is if we’re talking about a brand name, like RealMe or Working for Families.

Commas

We use the Oxford or serial comma only if it makes a list in a sentence easier to understand.

Contractions

Contractions make text feel more conversational and friendly. They also make complex sentences easier to read — for native English speakers.

However, the punctuation can make sentences harder to read for some users. We rewrite sentences to avoid using contractions if it fits with the overall tone.

When we use them, we only use simple contractions:

• you’re
• it’s
• can’t
• don’t
• isn’t
• there’s
• you’ll
• that’s.

We don't use complex or potentially confusing contractions like:

• should’ve, would’ve, they’ve
• mustn’t, aren’t, couldn’t, haven’t
• it’d, it’ll.

We don't use any contractions on pages that are aimed at people who might not speak English well, for example, our pages on citizenship and visas.

Em dash

We use an em dash — with a space on either side — to separate thoughts in a sentence.

En dash

We use an en dash to:

• show numerical ranges
• separate proper nouns of equal value.

We don’t use an en dash when we’re using the words ‘between’ and ‘from’.

Hyphens

We sometimes hyphenate words to make sure their meaning is clear.

Plurals

We don’t use brackets or ‘/s’ to refer to something that could be either singular or plural, like ‘Send your completed document(s) to Inland Revenue’.

We use the plural instead, as this covers both possibilities: ‘Send your completed documents to Inland Revenue'.

Italics

We don't use italics.

• Documents — we use single quote marks
• Scientific names — we capitalise the first letter of the scientific name. For example, ‘Patella vulgata’ instead of ‘Patella vulgata’. 

Quotation marks

We use ‘curly’ quotation marks — not 'straight' quotation marks.

We use single quotation marks for:

• short quotations
• direct speech
• titles of documents or publications — we don't use italics to show words are part of a title.

Location referencing

The location of an object can only be described if it’s in the main body of content of a webpage.

We are specific when describing the location of an object. An object being a:

• link
• button
• content
• picture, or
• anything else that can be described on a webpage.

For example ‘choose one of the links below’ or ‘all of the above’.

Titles of pages

Page titles should:

• be 65 characters or less
• be unique, clear and descriptive
• be front-loaded and optimised for search
• not contain dashes, colons or slashes
• not have a full stop at the end
• not use acronyms unless they are well-known, like NZ.

We re-write the title if it breaks these rules.

Titles of documents or publications

We prefer to use sentence case for the titles of documents or publications. We use single quotation marks to separate document titles from their surrounding text unless the title is a link.

More information

Writing content for everyone

GOV.UK Verify and the government Design Standards

Contractions

Why to use curly quotes

Italics and how it disadvantages those with dyslexia

We link to:

• relevant content on our website before we link to external websites
• the actual page with helpful content on external websites — we don’t just link to the home page
• the best source of information for our users.

We don’t link to commercial websites but may link to not-for-profit organisations.

Placement of link text

We:

• put links directly below the sentence or list they refer to
• don’t use bullet points to format links. We only put a link in a bullet point if it is part of a single-sentence or multi-sentence list and the whole bullet point is made into a link
• never link headings.

We’ve found links in sentences affect comprehension and encourage people to click away before they have read all the context.

Separating links from text also means they are easier to select on mobile devices.

More information

Maximizing the values of the link: Credibility, readability, connectivity

Experiments in delinkification

The web shatters focus, rewires brains

Writing links

We:

• use words only — we don’t write links as URLs, for example, we write About Govt.nz not www.govt.nz/about
• write descriptive links that tell you what you’ll find when you follow them — we avoid using words like ‘click here’
• don’t use repetitive phrases or words like ‘read more about’ or ‘see’ at the start of links
• include the name of the website or organisation we’re linking to if we think you’ll find it useful.

We write our email addresses in full, in lower case, and link the entire address. We never link to personal email addresses.

More information

Writing link text

Opening links in a new tab or window

We don’t set links to open in a new tab or window. However, there are some exceptions which need to be decided case by case. For example, sometimes forms will work better in a new tab so that people can see both the context and the form.

Using anchor links

Anchor links are links that take you to a different part of the page you’re on, rather than a new page. At the moment, we don’t use anchor links on Govt.nz.

We prefer to break our content up onto multiple pages so each page is focused on completing a single task or answering a single question.

In the future, we may consider adding anchor links for long pages. More and more people are using our site on a mobile device, where very long pages are harder to scan and navigate. In this circumstance, anchor links would help users get to the information they need faster.

More information

Anchors OK?

Anchor links dos and don'ts

Linking to documents

When we link to documents or publications, we:

• use the title of the document to create the link text
• include information about the document’s file type and size in brackets at the end of the link
• round file sizes to 1 decimal point and use MB (not KB) for anything 1MB or bigger.

More information

Guidance on linking to non-HTML files — NZ Government Web Toolkit

We use lists to make it easier for people to:

• scan the page, and
• understand information by visually separating out the points.

Lists are always marked up with the correct html so they're accessible.

We use bulleted lists (coded as unordered lists) to list items or points, and numbered lists (coded as ordered lists) for processes where the order of steps is important.

We try to:

• keep our lists short (2–7 items)
• only use 1 level of nesting.

Bulleted lists (unordered lists)

We use 2 types of bulleted lists — single-sentence lists and multi-sentence lists.

When we’re writing a single-sentence list, we:

• start with a stem sentence that all the points have in common
• start each point in lower case, and only use a full stop on the last point
• sometimes use 'and' or 'or' on the second-to-last point
• place a comma after the last word before the 'and' or 'or'
• check that each point makes a full sentence when read with the stem.

Multi-sentence lists are introduced by a complete sentence.

• Each point in the list is also a complete sentence.
• Each point can be 1–3 sentences long.
• Each point begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.

Numbered lists (ordered lists)

We use numbered lists for processes, where steps need to be done in order.

1. First, you do this.
2. You do this next.
3. To finish the process, you do this.

Tips for more complex lists

There are 3 main options for managing more complex information in lists — for example, when there is extra information attached to some bullets and not others, or when points have nested bullets and others don’t. The main aim is to make the information as clear as possible to read.

1. Use em dashes and colons

Use em dashes and colons to separate the information in a single-sentence list — although not grammatically correct, it is clear to read. If you're using a lot of em dashes, you might need to consider one of the other methods.

2. Use a multi-sentence list

Turn the list into a multi-sentence list.

3. Restructure the content

Re-structure the content into headings and sub-headings.

Numbers

In general:

• we use numerals instead of words when we write numbers — this helps users scan our content
• we use commas and no spaces to separate thousands when the number is over 10,000
• when we’re talking about numbers in the millions, we use the word 'million' instead of writing out the number in full
• we use spaces to separate groups of numbers when we write phone numbers.

Dates and times

We:

• write dates as day, month, year in full
• don’t use ordinal numbers, like 1st or 3rd, in dates
• show time using a 12-hour clock
• show start and end times in full
• use 'midnight', not '00:00'
• spell out the names of days and months in full.

We use 'to' instead of an en dash (–) in date and time ranges as it’s easier for screen readers to read out.

Symbols

We use:

• % — not 'percent' or 'per cent'
• & — only if it’s part of a brand name
• KB for kilobyte, MB for megabyte, and GB for gigabyte, for example 122KB.

To make our content easier to read, we don't use:

• e.g.
• i.e.
• etc.

These are replaced with appropriate phrases including:

• for example
• such as
• that is
• and so on.

Currency

We put both the currency code and currency symbol before any amounts of money we write, unless the amount is for NZ dollars only.

We don't use spaces between the code, symbol and amount.

Abbreviations

We expand all abbreviations when we use them for the first time on a page.

We use abbreviations when they're part of the name of a service or organisation.

NZ and New Zealand

We use both NZ and New Zealand in our content. We use NZ in headings where using New Zealand would make the title too long.

Because NZ is pronounced with a vowel sound (en zed) sometimes we will write 'an NZ'.

Spelling, capitalisation and preferred terms

• 2 weeks or every 2 weeks — rather than fortnight or fortnightly
• advisor, except when referring to financial adviser
• cellphone (not cell phone, not mobile phone)
• child support
• Community Services Card
• co-operation not cooperation
• de facto (without italics)
• dependant (n), when a child is a dependant of its parents
• disability (not disabled)
• district nurse, not District Nurse
• doctor, rather than GP
• driver licence, not driver's licence
• EFTPOS
• ex gratia (not italics)
• Family Court
• financial adviser (not advisor)
• focusing
• full-time
• healthcare
• ID, for example photo ID not photo identification
• illness, rather than medical condition
• infographic
• IRD, not Inland Revenue or IR
• log in (verb) to a system, or create a logon (noun)
• MoneyMates (MSD peer group programme to help with money problems)
• Non-resident withholding tax (NRWT) — no caps
• NZ citizen or permanent resident (not the other way round)
• NZ Super, rather than NZ Superannuation
• obstetrician, rather than specialist maternity doctor
• outside New Zealand, rather than overseas or abroad
• partner, rather than spouse
• part-time
• prepaid
• printout (when referring to a form that can be printed out)
• second-hand
• self-employed
• single, living alone rate (with a comma) for NZ Super
• SuperGold Card — caps and 2 words, not 3
• Total Mobility scheme — lower case s
• travelling
• Veteran's Pension
• Veteran SuperGold Card
• wellbeing
• Work and Income, not WINZ
• Working for Families Tax Credits

Māori words considered to be part of NZ English

Words considered to be part of NZ English do not need to be marked up in Govt.nz as the Māori language.

The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary tells us which Māori words are considered to be part of NZ English.

These include:

• kaumātua
• tāngata whenua
• marae
• hongi
• Aotearoa (New Zealand)
• whānau (family)
• waka (canoe, vehicle)
• Te Reo Māori (The Māori language)
• taonga (treasured possessions or cultural items, anything precious)
• puku (stomach)
• pounamu (greenstone)
• Pākehā (New Zealander of non-Māori descent, usually European)
• pā (traditional Māori hill fort)
• Māori
• mana (prestige, reputation)
• mahi (work or activity)
• Kōhanga Reo (language nest, Māori Immersion pre-school for 0–4 years)
• Kia ora (Hello, greetings)
• karakia (prayer)
• kai (food)
• iwi (tribe)
• hui (gathering, meeting)
• hīkoi (walk)
• haka (war dance with actions)
• hāngī (traditional feast prepared in earth oven)
• aroha (love)
• native animals like kiwi, tuatara, kea and moa, and flora like kauri and kowhai.

Terms we don't use

We don't say:

• not together — it's clearer to say that people aren't in a relationship
• in order to — it’s unnecessary, so we leave it out
• it’s important to or it’s vital to — it’s not our job to tell you what’s important to you, either you have to do something or you don’t
• lets you do or allows you to — it sounds like people serve the service, not the other way around
• please — 'please call', 'please email' should be 'call' or 'email'
• set out — we use 'shows'
• simply — we’ll explain a simple process simply, rather than saying it’s simple
• will — when we don't need this word, for example:
  • you need a copy of your birth certificate [correct]
  • you'll need a copy of your birth certificate [incorrect]
• your needs — state the actual needs instead.

We also avoid using jargon such as:

• advancing
• agenda — unless it's for a meeting
• collaborate — we use 'working with'
• combating
• commit/pledge — we need to be more specific — we’re either doing something or we’re not
• countering
• deliver — pizzas, post and services are delivered, not abstract concepts like 'improvements' or 'priorities'
• deploy — unless it's military or software
• dialogue — we speak to people
• disincentivise and incentivise
• drive — we can only drive vehicles, not schemes or people
• ecosystem – unless it’s about the natural environment
• empower
• entity
• facilitate — instead, we say something specific about how we're helping
• focusing
• foster — unless one is fostering children
• going forward — it’s unlikely we're giving travel directions
• impact (as a verb)
• initiate
• key — unless it unlocks something, it's probably just 'important'
• land — as a verb, unless you're talking about an aircraft
• leverage — unless in the financial sense
• liaise
• one-stop shop — we're government, not a retail outlet
• overarching
• progress — as a verb — say what you're actually doing
• ring fencing
• robust
• stakeholder — this means nothing or everything, and everyone has a different definition for it
• streamline
• strengthening — unless it’s strengthening bridges or other structures
• tackling — unless we're talking about contact sports
• transforming — we state what people are actually doing to change a thing
• utilise — we say 'use' instead.

Phone and fax numbers

We always use freephone (rather than phone) for a freephone number (such as 0800, 0508).

If it's a New Zealand freephone, always put '(NZ only)' after the number.

Use freefax rather than free fax.

We use cellphone, rather than cell-phone or cell phone.

We use TTY: as the label for any number that provides a text service for the deaf community.

Unless they're used in the middle of a sentence, phone, freephone, email and website should always have a colon after them.

We don't use bullets for lists of contact details.

We write phone numbers with non-breaking spaces between the groups of numbers (a non-breaking space keeps the whole number on 1 line — in HTML it's coded as '& nbsp ;'). We're flexible about how the numbers are grouped — we're guided by the agency's style.

We include the plus sign and the international country code with phone numbers.

Email

We don't include macrons in email addresses, even if the user does, because at this point in time most email clients can't cope with them.

Street addresses

We write Avenue, Corner, Drive, Road, Street, Terrace in full.

We use en dashes without spaces between street numbers.

For street names such as 'The Terrace', 'The Square', 'The Octagon' the 'The' is always capped.

We write a street address as:

[level or floor] [building name]

[street number and name]

[suburb]

[town or city]

We don't include New Zealand at the bottom of street addresses, but we do include the country name if the street address is in another country.

We use macrons in town or city names if the local council does. We are guided by the NZ Address and Postcode Finder for macrons on Māori street names.

NZ Post — Address & Postcode Finder

Postal addresses

We use 'PO Box' and then the number. There should be no spaces or punctuation in the number.

We use 'Private Bag' and then the number. There should be no spaces or punctuation in the number.

We use 'DX:' and then the number.

Every postal address must have:

• a postal code
• 'New Zealand' or the name of the country at the end of the address.

NZ Post — Address & Postcode Finder

If there is any question around address styles, we refer to the Address Standards set out by NZ Post.

NZ Post — Standards and Guides