Use this style guide to help standardize the content of your knowledge article.
Title case
"Clear the Cache of the Google Chrome Browser"
All article titles should be in title case.
Title case a style of capitalization where all words are capitalized except for minor words (typically articles, short prepositions, and some conjunctions) unless they are the first or last word of the title.
- Always capitalize the first and last words of titles
- Always capitalize major words (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and some conjunctions)
- Lowercase the conjunctions and, but, for, or, and nor
- Lowercase the articles the, a, and an
- Lowercase prepositions, regardless of length, except when they are stressed, are used adverbially or adjectivally, or are used as conjunctions
- Lowercase the words to and as
Sentence case
"Clear the cache of the Google Chrome browser"
All article headers should be in sentence case.
Sentence case is when the first letter in the first word of a heading is capitalized. Use sentence case for headings.
Keywords, tags, and meta entries
Keywords, tags, or meta entries should be entered as singular words or terms separated by commas. If a word appears in the title or body of an article, it does not need to be repeated as a keyword, tag, or meta entry.
Abbreviations
Abbreviations are acceptable if they are spelled out upon first use (e.g., escalate the incident to Customer Care Operations (CC Ops)).
Boldface type
Use bolding only for names of buttons and fields or for critical path items. For example:
- In File Explorer, go to:
- Click the Save to XML button.
Italics and underlined text
Avoid using italics or underlining words and phrases. Hyperlinks should be the only underlined text in knowledge articles.
Quotations
Quotation marks should only be used around words that people have said, or to denote that a particular text is being quoted.
Dates and times
Use the MM/DD/YYYY format (e.g., 10 June 1977 would be 06/10/1977).
Use the HH:MM AM/PM Time Zone format (e.g., 3pm CST would be 03:00 PM US Central).
Lists
Use bullets for lists when order does not matter. Use numbered lists for procedural steps where order is important and there is more than one step.
Input instructions
- Click, double-click, right-click: Use when referring to on-screen buttons (Click OK, right-click the Submit button).
- Choose: Use when picking an option from a menu or list. (Choose File from the dropdown.)
- Press: Refers to depressing a key on a physical keyboard. (Press Enter.)
- Select: Once something (a block of text, a cell in Excel) is selected, it stays selected. To undo this, it must be deselected.
- Tap: Use when referring to a touchscreen device such as an iPad. (Tap the Settings app.)
File paths
File paths should be in boldface type in a separate bulleted line to ensure accurate copying, for example:
- In File Explorer, go to:
Cautions
Caution statements are warnings that appear in the body of articles and should be typed in red using capital letters (e.g., CAUTION: Rebooting the system at this time will result in loss of data.).
Notes
Notes are information that supplement a solution and should be typed in orange using capital letters (e.g., NOTE: Some Android devices and versions have different icons, labels, and paths than those described here.).
Key combinations
Use the plus sign (+) if keys must be pressed at the same time (e.g.,Press Ctrl+Alt+Del). Use commas for key sequences (e.g., Press Alt, F, then X).
Numbers
Use numerals (1, 52, 367) and commas for values above 1,000.
Multimedia
Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks are typically used to refer users to related articles in the knowledge base, documents, home pages, and external websites. Hyperlinks should open new tabs, not redirect the current tab. URLS should be in a separate bulleted line, for example:
- In a browser, navigate to:
Videos
Videos can be embedded in knowledge articles. Recommended size: Width – 480 px / Height – 360 px
Images
Images should not exceed the size of the KB window (recommended size: Width – 480 px / Height – 360 px or smaller). Alterations to images should be made using an editing tool (e.g., SnagIt, Microsoft Paint). Acceptable graphic formats for knowledge base articles: .jpg, .jpeg, .png
Attachments
Acceptable formats for attachments include .jpg, .jpeg, .pdf, .png, and Office file types.
Copying and pasting content from other sources
Be sure to paste the content first into an application like Notepad, where any formatting is removed from the HTML source code, then paste it into the knowledge article.