Web content guidelines

A thematic section is foremost aimed at all users; it is not set up to solely serve one specific group. Its purpose is to provide users with appropriate and essential background information that enables them to understand the statistics.

The structure, content and style of writing have to be in line with this rule.

A thematic section usually contains a set of pages. It is important to provide a consistent structure and harmonised titles between all dedicated section to enable users to easily navigate and find the content they need.

Plese see our 'Statistical theme' page for an overview of all thematic sections.

Structure and page titles

Overview

Database

Visualisations [if available]

Publications

Information on data

Methodology

Quality [if content exists]

Legislation

Each page should have ideally at least 1000-2500 words. 

Other pages

The creation of other sub-pages, such as policy context, FAQs, related links, is possible given good reasons in line with principle 1 can be provided in  to the web content team. These pages are subject to approval of Unit B4.

The content of the page must match the ‘title’ to fulfil users’ expectations.

Some examples:

• ‘Overview’ page: should give a clear and short explanation of the most relevant points answering the question ('Which information can I find here?'
• ‘Information on data’ page: should, in a structured way, provide the essential, non-expert information that a user should be aware of when using the data, Methodological explanations must be avoided and should be placed on the right page, i.e. ‘Methodology’.
• ‘Publications’ page: is set up in a standardised structure and (almost fully) automtic way by the B4 web content team

Content must not be duplicated, but placed on the appropriate page and interlinked with content on other pages as needed.

The web content team can be consulted up-front on which type of content is appropriate for which pages. For further details, please also check the annex II in the  web content management rules. 

Documents 

Documents should be provided in  PDF format (not Word).

All documents that are available in the section should be compliant with WCAG, level AA. 

For information, please refer to the EC web guide on accessibility.

Your section as part of the Eurostat website contributes to Eurostat’s reputation. Thus, high-quality written content can improve the image users will have of Eurostat as a reliable, trustworthy and modern institutions.

Keep in mind: You are writing on behalf of Eurostat!

Remember that the user may be familiar, but not expert, with statistical matters. It is best to assume that the reader is a new or infrequent visitor to the Eurostat website.

Essential rules

• writing must be adapted to the web and be aimed at the public
• follow British English spelling conventions
• avoid colloquial terms and expressions that will be familiar only to native English speakers
• a ‘journalistic’ style is recommended, i.e. presenting conclusion or main fact / news / issue first. If the first few sentences on a webpage do not catch the users’ interest, they will leave;
• use a conversational tone, writing on the web is more conversational than the administrative
  style used in typical Commission writing - it makes your content more accessible and
  easier to understand.
• use language that your audience uses, rather than what your colleagues in the European Commission probably use
• follow the rule: one idea/main fact per paragraph
• avoid long sentences, consider spitting them up
• Text has to be kept at an appropriate and ‘digestible’ length. Less is more - users will read a short, informative and concise text, but will ignore an unattractive and unstructured accumulation of long paragraphs;
• Technical, statistical language (and acronyms) should be limited. When needed, it can be used, but also has to be explained in laymen terms.

Readability checklist

After you are done, please have a cup of tea or coffee and then see if you would answer the following questions with ‘Yes’:

• Does the language sound natural?
• Have you kept your sentences short and easy to understand?
• Is all the information relevant and to the point?
• Is there a good reading flow of all the paragraphs on the page?
• Is the page easily scannable and the main points stand out?
• Would your friends understand it? Would they like the page?

If you replied 'No' to one of these questions, please review your text!

 Please also consult the EC web writing guidelines as well as the OP guide on writing about data.

When to use links

Use links to help users get the information they came for. Link to:

• where your users might need to go next
• high-quality, closely related content
• content that explains key words and concepts that are difficult or complex.

Please note: while studies show that links in a text may distract users from the information
and would read better at the end of a paragraph, links embedded in a paragraph send useful,
additional contextual information to search engine crawlers. Please bear this in mind and
balance usability and search engine optimisation (SEO) when adding links to your text.

Don’t link to pages just to provide general background information that might be of interest.
Users should be confident that all our links are truly valuable.

For that reason, don’t use ‘Useful links’ as a heading. Why would we give users any other
type of links? Choose a heading that tells the reader why the links are useful:

• other organisations dealing with …
• legislative documents
• studies on …

Meaningful link labels

Link labels should tell the user where they will end up when they click on them.

Use keywords or the title of the page you’re linking to, as long as it describes the content
clearly. It is always better to:

• keep them short, so they're easy to scan both for people and for machines such as refreshable Braille displays
• remember that machine readers usually read every word in a link label, they can't skim over them
• accurately describe what the user will find at the link destination.

But:

• don't use generic labels such as click here, here, more or read more
• don't use URLs (http://…), even when shortened
• don't make an article number of a legal document part of the link unless you are anchor-linking to the article.

It’s okay if your link label doesn't exactly match the title of the page you’re linking to –
especially if the label is nice and short – as long as it describes the content clearly. 

For more guidance, please consult the article on meaningful link labels.

Opening of links

All links, regardless if to another Eurostat page, Statistics Explained, PDF document or any other website, should open in the same window/tab. 

Exceptionally, links can open in a new tab if otherwise the user experience would be impacted negatively, meaning for example content from a form will be lost when a user clicks the 'Back' button in the web browser. 

In case of doubt, the link should open in the same tab / window. 

Underlining

Links in text are underlined automatically by the web content system. 

Don't underline any links manually or any other text. On webpages most people assume that anything that is

underlined is a link no matter what colour it is. 

Links are NOT underlined when they are:

• stand alone from other text
• in a bullet list where for each bullet point the text is fully underlined

In case of doubt, contact us. 

Users often scan webpages first.

To help them, is it essential to apply stylistic elements on each page, such as:

• clear and telling headings (h1 – h4), maximum 60 characters (including spaces)
• accentuate keywords in bold, but use sparingly 
• use bullet lists
• use numbered bullet lists only when there is a true hierachy of the elements
• add standard icons (PDF, Word, etc.) in front of documents and files 
• avoid using italics, except for direct quotes

Before using any visuals (icons, graphics), please seek approval by the web content team before adding it online. 

You must not place any images, icons, photos on the website without prior approval to ensure that the Eurostat visual identify is respected.  

All sections are available in English, German, and French.

For questions or requests for translation, please contact the web content team.