Knowledge Base Style Guide

Summary

A guide that outlines the required style standards for creating Knowledge Base articles.

Body

Overview

This guide outlines the required style standards for creating Knowledge Base articles, ensuring consistent content, formatting, and tone. It covers best practices for adding notes, tags, Font Awesome icons, and links to related articles to maintain clarity and a professional appearance across all content.

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Procedure

Every article should follow the NMSU Style Guide as follows:

  • Click Templates and choose between: 
    • KB General Template – General template for all articles to assist with consistency and visual hierarchy.
    • KB Academic Technology Template – Follows General template but contact information is updated. 
    • KB Admissions Template – Follows General template but contact information is updated. 
    • KB HR Service Center Template – Follows General template but contact information is updated. 
  • Never change text font to any other format. Leave default. 
  • All text except headers is automatically set to 16 point font size.
  • If emphasis other than bolding is needed, underline the word or phrase also.
  • Quotation marks should “not” be used in articles. Any text that would have been between quotation marks should be bolded instead.
  • If you have additional information that would be important for the user to know before proceeding, place a line at the beginning of the section (under Resolution) starting with Note:  in a bold, Firebrick red (#B22222) font
  • Remove all white space at the end of the body.

 

Do's and Don'ts

Style Guide Do's  Don'ts
Acronyms:
Spell out the terms the first time used followed by parentheses. 
 Knowledge Base (KB) KB
Active and Positive Voice: 
See examples
Save any changes before exiting the application.
Do not exit the application without first saving changes. 
Audience: 
State instructions as they are to be read or performed. 
Microsoft Office
 
UNIX
 
Select the correct driver
microsoft office
 
unix
 
select the correct driver
Date:
DD/MM/YYYY
11/05/2025
11/5/2025
11-5-2025
Gender:
Create instructions gender neutral
Open the dialog box
Have him open the dialog box
Graphics:
Use ONLY if necessary
Avoid large files sizes
.gif
.jpg
.pdf
.bmp
File naming convention for attachments:
Use ONLY in extreme cases
TypeDescriptionAsis.Doc
Type_seperating_each_word_with_underscore.format
Input instructions:
See examples
Click submit
Double-click the icon
Hit the submit button
Click on the icon
Hyperlinks:
Name Hyperlinks for clarity, using the link icon
Signature creation 
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/create-and-add-a-signature-to-message-8ee5d4f4-68fd-464a-a1c1-0e1c80bb27f2?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US
Key combinations:
Use the + character if keys are to be pressed at the same time 
Use commas for sequences
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL
 
Press ALT, F, and X
Control, Alt, Delete
 
Press "ALT", then press "F", and then hit "X"
Lists:
Use bullets for lists when order does not matter
Use numbered lists for procedural steps where order is important and there is more than one step
Limit sublevels to tow
1. First level
      a.     Second level
               i. Third level
               ii. Next Item
     b. Next Item
2. Next item
 
 
First level, Second level, Third level
Next Item
Numbers:
Spell out numbers zero through ten. 
Use numbers for 11 and above. Use commas for values above 1,000
There are three options on the menus
 
The value is 1,200
There are 3 options on the menus
 
 
The value is 1200
Punctuation:
Use commas to separate multiple actions, after introductory phrases and to separate words in a series of three or more
Bold information to clarify
Don't use single quotation marks
We support xyz, abc, and def. 
 
The message reads Shutdown your PC
 
Microsoft application won't open
We support xya and abc and def
 
The message reads, "Shutdown your PC". 
 
 
'microsoft' app won't open. 
References:
List references at the end of the step-by-step procedures
See page ten of the Cisco reference guide
Use the Cisco reference guide for more details
Variables:
Use n for numeric data
Use a for alphabetical data
Use x for data that can be either numeric or alpha
Cancel [n] print jobs before restarting (where [n] represents an unknown number of print jobs)
Cancel however many print jobs there are in the queue before restarting. 
 Vocabulary:
Use spelling and grammar checks
There is no reason for this 
Their is no reason four this

Adding a Note

If you have additional information that would be important for the user to know before proceeding

  1. Press Shift + Enter to create a new blank line
  2. Start the sentence with Note: 
  3. Type the whole sentence
  4. Highlight Note:
  5.  Add bolding  Note: 
  6. Change the color to Firebrick red (#b22222)  Note: 

Tags

To improve search results, include tags for relevant terms that aren’t already in the article’s content.

  • Include common spelling variations (e.g., email, e-mail, wifi, wi-fi).
  • Use hyphens for multi-word tags (e.g., article-structure).

Note: Avoid over-tagging — too many tags can reduce search accuracy.

Adding Font Awesome

Note: Use of Font Awesome will add common icons to your article

  1. Click Insert Font Awesome 
  2. Browse through the icons available or search 
  3. Click the icon you want to use
  4. Click Okay

 

Adding Links

 

  1. Click  Link.
  2. Enter the following:
  • Display Text
  • Link Type
  • URL
  1. Click the Target tab.
  2. Set the target to New Window (_blank).

 

Linking to other Articles

Note: All Related Articles will appear in a section titled Related Articles along the right side of the article screen beneath the article's Details panel.

Note: Any articles linked in the body of another article should be added as a related article.

  1. Open the article you'd like to link
  2. Click Edit Article
  3. Click Related Articles tab
  4. Click Add
  5. Search and locate the related article
  6. Select the article you want to add
  7. Click Save

Note: You can select more than one article prior to saving settings. 

 

Contact Information:

IT Help Desk Contact & Zoom Desk
In Person: Hardman & Jacobs Undergraduate Learning Center - Room 105
Phone: (575) 646-HELP (4357)
Email: help@nmsu.edu



Zoom Link: https://nmsu.zoom.us/my/nmsuithelpdesk
Or meeting ID: nmsuithelpdesk
Zoom with us M-F 8am-5pm

Details

Details

Article ID: 20275
Created
Wed 11/5/25 6:25 PM
Modified
Thu 12/4/25 2:08 PM
Environment
What service, system, process, application, or product could be impacted? Has anything changed in the environment recently? Environment statements are specific to the issue and resolution, and are true before and after resolution.
Knowledge Base