1. About This Guide

• Purpose
• Audience

2. Consistent Text and Terminology

• Use Existing Text and Terminology
• No Multiple Meanings for Terms
• Write for Users With Basic Knowledge
• How to Make Decisions on UI Text

3. Tools for Text and Terminology

• Terminologies and Glossaries
• Internet Dictionaries

4. Tricky Terminology

• Specific Terms

5. Consistent Writing

• American Versus British English
• Writing Style
• Write Complete Company or Product Names
• No Abbreviations
• Avoid “Please”
• No Contractions
• No Spaces Before Punctuation
• Do Not Use the Em dash
• No Space Before Ellipsis (Three Dots)
• Use Spaces Between Text and Arrows on Buttons
• Avoid Ampersands (&)
• Do Not Use Exclamation Points (!)
• Have Real Messages in Error Messages
• Use Present Tense and Imperative
• Avoid “Thing's” Possessive Forms
• Do Not Use “May”
• Prepositions
• Use Single Quotation Marks, Never Double
• Use Quotation Marks When Quoting UI Text
• Intuitive Shorthand

6. Keep Localization in Mind

• Include Variables (Placeholders) in Text
• No Phrases Ending in Prepositions
• No Non-international Symbols Like "#"
• Be Aware of Text Length
• No Spaces Before or After Text

7. Capitalization

• Basic Rules
• User Interface Elements

8. Text for Wizards

• Mnemonics

9. Appendix A

• Checklist

10. Version History