• Reference Style Manual

    Where possible, apply US English to your system settings. Apart from that, we mostly follow Associated Press (AP) style, with some minor rebellions.

    Here are some of the more relevant features of AP, along with our adjustments:

    Capitalizing Headings

    • Don’t Capitalize Articles, Short Conjunctions or Prepositions With Less Than Four Letters
    • Capitalize Everything Else and Make It All Bold
    • The First Word Is Always Capitalized Even If It’s an Article or Short Conjunction

    No Oxford comma (except for clarity)

    We use the Oxford comma.

    Numbers

    • Spell out one through nine
    • Use numerals for 10 and above

    Abbreviations

    • Generally avoid unless well-known (e.g., FBI, NASA)
    • Use well-known ones (e.g., FBI, NASA) as well as more design-specific ones that help avoid repetition (e.g., DRY).

    Quotation Marks

    Use double quotes for direct quotes, single quotes for quotes within quotes. (See Formatting).

    Em Dash

    Use the em dash—don’t leave spaces either side.

    There are further guidelines under Formatting.