Acronyms
When introducing an acronym, the full spelling of the word should be used (Title Case) followed by parenthesis with the acronym in title case or as industry standards dictate.
After the first instance, the acronym should be used.
Exception
Online and web pages where the acronym is introduced on one page, for clarity, the word spelled out with the acronym should be re-introduced on each page.
First reference within Document |
Additional references within SAME Document |
| Correct |
|---|
Average Time of Burning (ATB) is dependent on the number of specimens. |
ATB is rounted to the nearest five seconds. |
| Incorrect |
|---|
ATB is dependent on the number of specimens. |
Average Time of Burning is rounded to the nearest five seconds. |
Ampersand
The ampersand symbol should be used when it is part of a:
- Trademark (Tak–Ty® Hook & Loop Cable Tie Mounts)
Exceptions
Due to limited visible surface, the following applications may use the ampersand rather than the word, "and."
- Catalog Side Tabs
- Catalog Table of Contents
- Headlines that match the Catalog Side Tabs
Trademarks |
Image Pieces (Headline) |
In a Sentence |
| Correct |
|---|
Tak-Ty® Hook & Look Cable Tie Mounts |
Panduit & Cisco Offerings |
Power and grounding connectors are located on page 322 |
| Incorrect |
|---|
Tak-Ty® Hook and Loop Cable Tie Mounts |
Panduit and Cisco Offerings |
Power & grounding connecors are located on page 322 |
Brackets
Square brackets should be used to introduce something additional or extraneous between other things or parts in direct quotations: "Let them [the poor] eat cake."
To use ordinary brackets implies that the words inside them were part of the original text from which you are quoting.
If a whole sentence is within brackets, put the punctuation inside the closing bracket.
Bullets
Bullets are used to indicate a list of brief points. Bullets should only be used where there are two or more points.
All bulleted points in a list should either be phrases or sentences, but not both. Regardless of whether they are phrases or sentences, all bullet points should NEVER have a period at the end.
If you have two separate thoughts within one bullet point, the thoughts should be separated by a semi-colon (;).
List with two separate thoughts in a bullet |
List of phrases and sentences |
| Correct |
|---|
|
|
| Incorrect |
|---|
|
|
Capitalization
Headlines, Subheads, and Tables
Avoid using all CAPITAL LETTERS in subhead, headlines, and column and row titles in tables. Instead, use title case format.
The rules for capitalizing words in a title are simple:
Capitalize the first letter of all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions (if, because, as, that, etc.) in headlines, subheads, and column and row titles in tables.
Do not capitalize the first letter of articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, for, nor), and prepositions, unless the article, conjunction or preposition is the first word.
Depending upon usage, some words are prepositions, but the same words can also be other parts of grammar. If the word is used in another part of grammar, the first letter should be a capital letter.
| Articles | Conjunctions | Prepositions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| client1 | client1@company.com | Personal | |
| client2 | client2@company.com | Business | |
| client3 | client3@company.com | Trial | |
| client4 | client4@company.com | Personal | |
| client5 | client5@company.com | Personal | |
| client6 | client6@company.com | Trial | |
| client7 | client7@company.com | Business | |
| client8 | client8@company.com | Trial | |
| client9 | client9@company.com | Trial | |
| client10 | client10@company.com | Personal | |
Commas
Colon
Hyphenation
Orphans
Parenthesis
Quotation Marks
Semi-Colons
Underlined Text
Widows
Which or That?