Style rules
Hedster applies these rules to every headline as you type. Banned words are marked in the box where you type: violent words in orange and sexual words in red. The desk-ready headline stays clean, and each style fix is listed under it in green.
Capitalization 7 rules
- Capitalize the first and last word, and the first word after a period, colon, dash, question mark or exclamation point. Periods in abbreviations (U.S., Mr., Gov.) don't count.
- Lowercase articles (a, an, the).
- Lowercase conjunctions and prepositions of three letters or fewer (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet, as, at, by, if, in, of, on, per, to, via, vs.). Capitalize those of four letters or more (With, From, Into, Over, Than).
- Always capitalize short verbs and pronouns (Is, Are, Be, It, He, Its).
- Capitalize each part of a hyphenated compound, except short connecting words in the middle (Up-to-Date).
- Leave words with their own capitals alone (iPhone, NASA, McDonald's). A headline typed in ALL CAPS is lowered first, so recheck acronyms.
- Up, out and off are capitalized, since in headlines they're usually part of a verb (Shut Down, Sell Off).
House style 6 rules
- Use single quotation marks, never double ("Wicked" becomes 'Wicked').
- 'Media' takes a plural verb (The Media Are Melting Down). 'Liberal Media' takes a singular one (The Liberal Media Is). 'Social Media' is left as written.
- Companies and outlets are singular (Dick's Sporting Goods Announces It Will No Longer Sell AR-15s). This is fixed for well-known outlets and company names ending in words like Inc., Industries or Airlines; check others yourself.
- If a headline has two sentences, the second ends with a period, unless it already ends with a question mark or exclamation point.
- Profanity is censored with asterisks, keeping the first letter (S***).
- Every style fix is listed under the desk-ready headline, with the change in green.
Banned words and length 4 rules
- No violent language or imagery (woodshed, scalped, massacred); these are marked in orange where you type. Use words like eviscerates, blasts, scorches or schools instead.
- No sexual language or imagery; these are marked in red where you type. For stories about actual sex crimes, check with an editor.
- Keep headlines to 100 characters or fewer. The count turns orange past that.
- Headlines over 100 characters can't be copied until they're trimmed.