Style Guide

This style guide is for any one who is not part of the core documentation team. Use this document as a primer to make decisions about appropriate word choices.

Apart from the guidelines mentioned here, if you are confused, defer on the Google Style guide for any decisions.

Voice and tone

  • Use active voice. Think of it as you being the guiding teacher to the user.
  • Be in the present. The learner is probably going through the implementation example and folders as we ask them.
  • Sparingly use future tense only to indicate resultant.
    • Use: When you send a request, the response will include the following information.
    • Avoid: The New Window will appear.
  • Write short sentences that are crisp and concise. If you are left hanging for a breath in saying the entire sentence you wrote, break it into two sentences.

Titles

  • Avoid gerunds for procedure topics

    • Use: Select an automation engine
    • Avoid: Selecting an automation engine

  • Use sentence casing for titles

    • Use: Select an automation engine
    • Avoid: Select an Automation Engine

  • Use a noun phrase that doesn't start with an -ing verb.

    • Use: Overview of the Nightwatch API
    • Avoid: Understanding the Nightwatch API

Text formatting

  • Avoid excessive use of bolding. Only apply bold for UI elements when referring to them as an action.
    • Use: Click the Access Key on the Automate dashboard.
    • Avoid: You can get your BrowserStack Access Key from the Automate dashboard.
  • Do not use italics.
  • Avoid using underline.
  • Use sentence casing for all sentences. Apart from Product Names, industry terms, or BrowserStack-specific feature/keywords, do not capitalize any word.
    • Use: Python, Local Testing, Chrome
    • Avoid: Session ID, Logs, Desktop, Authentication
  • Use jargon sparingly. Wherever possible, aim for simpler words.
    • Avoid parenthesis () to indicate optional information. For example,
    • Avoid: Hub executes tests concurrently on multiple machines (nodes).
    • Use: Hub executes tests concurrently on multiple machines or nodes.
  • Use code font to indicate filenames, file paths, inline code.
  • Use code formatting for input values. For ex, In the abc box, enter abc.

Folder/Web navigation

  • Folder navigation
    • Use: Navigate to the /opt/home directory.
    • Use: Navigate to the /opt/home directory and open the abc.js file.
    • Avoid: Go to /opt/home directory.
  • Web navigation

Lists

  • Every list needs a lead-in sentence that explains what the list does.
  • Use numbered list for procedures that need to be followed in a particular order.
  • Maintain parallel sentence construction. For ex, see below:
    • Configure your BrowserStack credentials
    • Embed BrowserStack test results in your job results
  • Do not use a bullet (number or symbol) when there is only one item; there must be a least two items to make a list. In such cases, convert it to a sentence.
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