In-house style: Difference between revisions

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* Don't start too many small, idiosyncratic paragraphs. If paragraphs are a couple of sentences that last about two lines, try and see if you can combine them into one paragraph.
* Don't start too many small, idiosyncratic paragraphs. If paragraphs are a couple of sentences that last about two lines, try and see if you can combine them into one paragraph.
* Use bolding and italics only when absolutely necessary.
* Use bolding and italics only when absolutely necessary.
* [[MozillaZine Knowledge Base:Formatting|Headers/subheaders]] within articles should be capitalized in the same way as [[Article naming conventions|article titles]].
* Use the dash and hyphen correctly [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphen]. [When using dashes and hyphens, you should not include white space around them. For example, use “9–16” and “Firefox—and Mozilla—can be used” which are achieved using “9–16” and “Firefox—and”. --Mozcerize]
* Use the dash and hyphen correctly [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphen]. [When using dashes and hyphens, you should not include white space around them. For example, use “9–16” and “Firefox—and Mozilla—can be used” which are achieved using “9–16” and “Firefox—and”. --Mozcerize]
* "Backup" is a noun; "back up" is the verb. When you back up your mail, you're making a backup.
* "Backup" is a noun; "back up" is the verb. When you back up your mail, you're making a backup.

Revision as of 09:23, 30 March 2005


This is just going to be a list of stylistic writing suggestions that can make this entire KB more consistent in writing for now, in an informal bullet form. Feel free to add or delete any changes, since I border on grammar nazi. --hao2lian

Discuss these conventions on the discussion page! --Mozcerize

Articles that apply to more than one application

  • If the article applies to both the Mozilla Suite and Firefox/Thunderbird, create it and edit it for Mozilla Suite and Firefox/Thunderbird, if you can. A lot of articles written talk exclusively about Firefox or Thunderbird, yet they often apply to Mozilla Suite too. This is a shame, because Mozilla Suite is in need of more people creating resources for it and converting old content to it.
  • Not every article that could be written to cover both the Mozilla Suite and Firefox/Thunderbird should be written this way. In some cases it might make the article excessively messy, especially if it refers to a series of steps or menu choices that differ in the Mozilla Suite and Firefox/Thunderbird (example). In such cases it's probably best not to write combined product articles. Use your best judgment.
  • If you're creating a new article and you're not sure if it applies to more than one application (e.g., you're writing a Firefox article but you're not an experienced Mozilla Suite user), go ahead and write it for just one product. Someone else can edit it later if needed.

Commonly used names

  • Application names:
    • Use "Firefox" (but not "FireFox"), "Thunderbird", and "Mozilla Suite" as the application names in articles' titles and text. Don't use "Mozilla Firefox", "Mozilla Thunderbird", "Mozilla" (meaning the Suite), "Mozilla Application Suite", just "Suite" or "Seamonkey". Try to avoid "Mozilla Mail" when "Mozilla Suite" will suffice, especially in articles that also apply to Thunderbird.
    • Layout issues should use "Gecko" as the application name.
  • OS names.
    • Windows. Use "Windows" when referring to the whole family of Microsoft Windows operation systems. For specific versions use: "Windows 95", "Windows 98", "Windows ME", "Windows NT", "Windows 2000", "Windows XP", "Windows XP SP2". When combining names, use forward slashes, e.g.: "Windows 2000/XP".
    • Linux. Use "Linux" when referring to *nix-like systems. Do not use "GNU/Linux" or any other name. If you absolutely need to use a name of a particular distribution, note your choice (along with the link to the article) in Talk:In-House Style.
    • Mac OS. Use "Mac OS X", not "Mac OSX", "MacOS X" or any other name.

Common terms

Use these terms as listed here (sans quotes). Terms like "Profile Manager" and "Bookmarks Toolbar" refer to named product features and function as proper nouns. Note the capital letters.

  • General:
    • Good: "JavaScript", "Profile Manager", "Status Bar"
    • Bad: "Javascript", "profile manager", "statusbar"
  • Browser-related:
    • Good: "bookmark(s)", "Bookmarks Toolbar", "cache", "Location Bar", "plugin", "Search Bar"
    • Bad: "favorites", "Links Toolbar", "Temporary Internet Files", "address bar", "plug-in", "search box"
  • Mail-related:
    • Good: "e-mail", "Junk Mail Controls", "Local Folders"
    • Bad: "Email", "junk mail controls", "local folders"

Special punctuation and formatting

  • Menu order: Use "arrows" to denote menu order (e.g. "Tools -> Options"), and place a space either side of the arrow to facilitate line breaks. Use quotation marks around the whole menu sequence.
  • Keyboard and mouse actions: left-click, right-click etc. are hyphenated and uncapitalized; Shift, Ctrl, Alt etc. have their first letter capitalized (and only their first letter); key combinations are written using "+" so that "hold down Ctrl and press 'D'" should be written "Ctrl+D".
  • Keyboard shortcuts: Put quotation marks around keyboard shortcuts (e.g., "Ctrl+PageDown")
  • File/folder names and paths: Put these in <tt> tags. Example: prefs.js instead of "prefs.js" or prefs.js or prefs.js.

Other style considerations, pet peeves, etc.

  • Don't start too many small, idiosyncratic paragraphs. If paragraphs are a couple of sentences that last about two lines, try and see if you can combine them into one paragraph.
  • Use bolding and italics only when absolutely necessary.
  • Headers/subheaders within articles should be capitalized in the same way as article titles.
  • Use the dash and hyphen correctly [1] [2]. [When using dashes and hyphens, you should not include white space around them. For example, use “9–16” and “Firefox—and Mozilla—can be used” which are achieved using “9&ndash;16” and “Firefox&mdash;and”. --Mozcerize]
  • "Backup" is a noun; "back up" is the verb. When you back up your mail, you're making a backup.