= '''nanoHUB.org Style Guide and Glossary 1.0''' =

In general, nanoHUB style adheres to ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', 15th Ed. (CMS), and ''IEEE Standards Style Manual'' (IEEE) to resolve questions of style and usage on nanoHUB.org 

CMS and IEEE styles evolve with the advent of new technologies, genres, and conventions; for this reason, these guidelines are used by the nanoHUB editors to resolve questions of style throughout the website. Familiarity with CMS, then, is key also to maintaining consistency in nanoHUB materials, which are frequently written by multiple authors possessing different bases for style. In other words, when in doubt, see CMS or IEEE manuals. 

Since the style manuals do not account for each particular of evolving terminology in the nano science and nanotechnology community, the NCN Editorial Team has compiled a nanoHUB Glossary for additional information on spelling, hyphenation, and capitalization of field-specific terms. 
The Glossary represents the best editorial attempt to research how terms are used in the field and to represent them in such a way as to clarify language usage for nanoHUB users. Perhaps the glossary may also serve to help codify terms in the world of nano science communications. 
The nanoHUB Style Guide and Glossary 1.0 is separated into the following sections: General Guidelines, Specific Guidelines, and the Glossary.

== General Guidelines ==
'''Audience consideration and informational density of a document''':  In drafting and revising documents/texts for nanoHUB.org, authors must keep their intended audience in mind. The density of information in a document must be appropriate for the audience. If a document is intended for multiple or mixed audiences (readers of different competencies and literacies), then authors must take care to tailor sections for those multiple or mixed audiences. The following table offers general guidelines.

||'''Feature of the document'''||'''Layperson/Undergraduate'''||''' Managerial/Graduate'''||'''Expert'''||
||''Introduction''||Relevance||Problem/Solution||Technical||
||''Mathematical models''||Avoid||Avoid||OK||
||''Equations''||Avoid||Simple/Avoid||OK||
||''Graphics''||Generally illustrative||Simple, presentational||Detailed, analytical||
||''Detail level''||Simple, narrative||General, accurate||Accurate, numerical||
||''Technical terms||General, illustratrive||Administrative||Expert, technical||
||''Emphasis||Informational, interest||Operations, costs||Analysis||

In relation to the taxonomy of materials here at nanoHUB based on undergraduate and graduate education, authors can demonstrate consideration of the audience by using the appropriate level of detail. For example, the composition of a First-Time Users' Guide undergraduates will be most suited to the audience if the introduction of the document clearly states the relevance of the material to the readers' interests, mathematical models and equations are kept to a minimum, if not avoided entirely, any graphics are illustrative of points made clearly in the text, the detail level is kept simple and focused on providing a narrative, technical terms are carefully introduced by using the full English term at the first instance with a full description or definition, and only then using abbreviations.