A style guide is a document to which editors, graphic designers and engineers can refer to help them maintain the look and feel of the site. An important part of creating a technical solution or a visual design is making it possible for others to consistently maintain and add to what you've created.

Some sections you may want to consider for a style guide include:

Audience: include persona and demographic information

Tone: explain the brand attributes and present specific examples of the types of language you want them to use

Editorial consistency: specify punctuation, capitalization, client trademarks, styles for links, footers, lists, and every other textual element.

Graphic and multimedia consistency: Give exact figures for size, color, and placement of content items that need to stay consistent. Pay the same attention to audio or video files.

Functionality: Specify input/output controls, error handling rules and messages, and business rules governing site transactions

Usability: Identify key processes where usability is critical, such as registration, checkout, ticket purchase, or search.

Visual design: Include detailed wireframes of each type of page on the site

Production specifications: Specify server access information, directory structure, file naming conventions, file formats, production art statistics, and file size limits.