Abbreviations
- Spell out US state names when not used as contact information. When abbreviating, use standard two-letter postal abbreviations for states and Canadian provinces.
- US and UK are used for United States and United Kingdom in adjective form (US users, UK users).
- GmbH and NW are used without periods.
- Inc. and Ltd. are used with periods.
- Most abbreviations are avoided (for example: Corporation, Suite, Street, Avenue).
Acronyms
- Use full phrase or full name of product or company in initial use (follow with acronym in parentheses). Spell out in all uses where there is possibility of confusion.
Dashes
- Put a space on either side of a long (em) dash.
Footnotes
- We do not use footnotes or bibliographies on our pages. Quote or cite material in the body of the text using Associated Press style.
Italics
- Titles of books, movies, games and magazines are italicized; titles of software are not.
- Words in languages other than English (and using the Roman alphabet) are italicized in standard text.
- Software commands, Java strings and Java classes are in italics.
Parentheses
- Avoid where possible. Use dash or create a separate sentence if you can.
Percent
- Use % symbol.
Punctuation
- Commas in a series or list: do not use comma before “and” or “or” except to avoid confusion.
- Semicolons in a series or list: use semicolon before “and” or “or.”
- Follow Associated Press style.
Spacing of Paragraphs
- Do not use tabs or extra spaces at the beginning of a new paragraph.
Spacing of Text
- Use one space between sentences.
Spellings
- Use US rather than British spellings (localization not localisation)
Typographic Conventions
- Use Courier font if available to indicate software code, HTML or XML tags and so on.
Web Addresses
- Omit the http:// except where the remaining URL would not begin with www.