Modern Campus (Omni) Content Management System (CMS)
Website purpose: Berkshirecc.edu is designed to draw prospects, inquiries and applicants, and provide limited support for current students and employees.
Welcome, BCC colleagues! Thank you for your interest in editing content on the BCC website.
You may add and update text; however, please submit a Marketing request form for the following tasks:
- Creating new pages
- Uploading new image and PDF files
- Developing new layouts
- Organizing content
- Changing the navigation
- Building contact forms
What-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) Editor
Save your edits frequently — by default, Modern Campus will log you out after a few hours, even if you are actively working in the system.
New to the Modern Campus CMS? Visit Modern Campus™ to get started.
- Learn how to log in to the BCC Modern Campus CMS (visit the footer of the page you want to edit and click the copyright symbol).
- Learn about the WYSIWYG toolbar.
- Learn how to edit an existing page.
- Learn how to submit or publish revisions.
- Learn how to revert a page to a previous version.
Best Practices
- Always use "Headings" in a hierarchical order.
- Follow BCC's in-house copywriting guidelines.
- Use the "Paste as text" feature in the WYSIWYG editor so that font types, colors and other formatting created by word processors and desktop publishing software is removed.
- Apply bold and italics sparingly.
- Do not use all uppercase unless it is an acronym.
- Define acronyms in the first use.
- Do not center align text.
- Never use copyrighted images — browse sites such as Wikimedia Commons™ for free-use images (attribution might be required).
- If you create forms, insert a required EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Consent checkbox: "I understand that the information provided by me is subject to Berkshire Community College's Privacy Policy."
If you prefer to have Marketing edit your pages, please send a request for revisions, forms, media embeds or new pages.
Web Accessibility Basics
Text Links
- Use language that briefly defines where a link will take the user, if possible.
- Make sure link text makes sense, even out of context.
- Make every text link and link destination in a page unique.
Online PDF Files
- Use high contrast, such as black text on a white background.
- Use bold or italics for emphasis, not all caps.
- Avoid complex tables or tables with empty cells.
- Write out the text contained in graphics.
- Provide alternative text for images.
- Summarize chart and graph results.
- Never use color alone to convey information.
- Link to PDFs instead of embedding them.
- Never share PDF files that contain scans.
- Run accessibility and security checks.
BCC In-House Copywriting Guidelines
Below is an outline of some of the tips for writing on behalf of the College:
-
BCC In-house Style Guide
When writing for the College, the first thing to know is that the Marketing and Communications department follows the AP Guidelines for writing, since it produces over 100 press releases a year and crafts more than 20 Spotlights a year.
Some quick hints about AP style to keep in mind:
- There is no Oxford comma.
- Write out any numbers below nine — and then use numerals for any number 10 and above.
- As a general rule, avoid alphabet soup.
- For higher education, use associate degree, not associate's degree
- Do not use st, nd, rd, or th with dates, and use Arabic figures. (Example: April 3, not April 3rd.) Always capitalize months. Spell out the month unless it is used with a date. When used with a date, abbreviate only the following months: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.
- Commas are not necessary if only a year and month are given, but commas should be used to set off a year if the date, month and year are given.
- Use the letter s but not an apostrophe after the figures when expressing decades or centuries. Do, however, use an apostrophe before figures expressing a decade if numerals are left out. (Example: 1960s, not 1960's. Or: '60s.)
- Commas and periods go inside quotation marks.
- Use "and" instead of ampersands unless an ampersand is an official part of an organization's name.
- Seasons are always lowercase unless used in a formal name like Winter Olympics.
- For times, use figures, but spell out noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes, but do not use :00. Examples: 1 p.m., 3:30 a.m. Note the space between "3:30" and "a.m."
- If mention of degrees is necessary to establish someone's credentials, the preferred form is to avoid an abbreviation and use instead a phrase such as: Fatima Kader, who has a doctorate in psychology.
- Use an apostrophe and no initial capitals for general degrees (e.g., bachelor's degree, master's degree), but use initial caps and no apostrophe in specific degrees (Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science).
- Also: an associate degree (no possessive).
- Use such abbreviations as B.A., M.A., LL.D. and Ph.D. only when the need to identify many individuals by degree on first reference would make the preferred form cumbersome. Use these abbreviations only after a full name — never after just a last name. Do not use Dr. and Ph.D. — use one or the other.
College-specific nuances:
- When referring to BCC, capitalize the C in College, e.g., "the College has a plan to…" as opposed to "the college has a plan to …"
- If listing statistics or dates — break this information out into bullets or use tables.
- When using quotes, the rule should be to start each quote as a new paragraph unless you are breaking up a longer quote with the author of the quote in the middle.
- When referring to the College, treat it as an institution as opposed to using the collective "we."
- Less is always more — try to be concise when writing.
- Capitalize titles in most instances; do not capitalize informal titles like professor unless using the full, official title, e.g. "Associate Professor of Biology."
- Imagine you are writing for a fifth grader — avoid complex terms and academic speak unless the audience demands it (see: NECHE reporting, etc.)