Speak truth
Avoid dramatic storytelling and grandiose claims. Focus on our real strengths.
Clear
Understand the topic you’re writing about. Use simple words and sentences.
Useful
Before you start writing, ask yourself: What purpose does this serve? Who is going to read it? What do they need to know?
Friendly
All of our content, from homepage copy to system alerts, should be warm and human.
Brief
Avoid long text
Use unordered Lists
Abbreviations and acronyms
If there’s a chance your reader won’t recognize an abbreviation or acronym, spell it out the first time you mention it. Then use the short version for all other references. If the abbreviation isn’t clearly related to the full version, specify in parentheses.
- First use: Dynamic Web TWAIN
- Second use: DWT
- First use: Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
- Second use: UTC
If the abbreviation or acronym is well known, like API or HTML, use it instead
Capitalization
We use a few different forms of capitalization. Title case capitalizes the first letter of every word except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. Sentence case capitalizes the first letter of the first word. (H1)
- More Than an SDK
- Trusted by Our Customers
- Document Scanning and Webcam Capture SDK for your Web Applications
- Scanner and Webcam Capture for your WinForms and WPF Applications
Numbers
Numbers over three digits get commas:
- 499
- 1,000
- 150,000
Abbreviate big numbers if there are space restraints, as in a tweet or a chart: 1k, 150k.
Dates
Spell out the day of the week and abbreviate the month, unless you’re just referring to the month or the month and the year.
- Saturday, Nov. 24
- Saturday, Nov. 24, 2017
- November 2017
Ranges and spans
Use a hyphen (-) to indicate a range or span of numbers.
- It takes 10-15 days.
Money
When writing about US currency, use the dollar sign before the amount. Include a decimal and number of cents if more than 0.
- $200
- $19.99
When writing about other currencies, follow the same symbol-amount format: - ¥100
- €9.9
Telephone numbers
Use hyphens without spaces between numbers. Use a country code if your reader is in another country.
- 1-604-605-5491
- 1-866-410-8856
Time
Use numerals and am or pm without a space.
- 6am
- 6:30pm
Use a hyphen between times to indicate a time period. - 9am-6:30pm
File extensions
When referring generally to a file extension type, use all uppercase without a period. Add a lowercase s to make plural.
- GIF
- TIFF
- JPGs
When referring to a specific file, the filename should be lowercase:
dbr-logo.gif
DBR-license-agreement.pdf
cloud-scan.jpg
dynamsoft.html
Ampersands
Don't use ampersands unless one is part of a company or brand name.
- Yes: DBR and DWT
- No: DBR & DWT
Text formatting
- Don’t use underline formatting
- Leave one space between sentences, never two.
Writing about other companies
Honor companies’ own names for themselves and their products. Go by what’s used on their official website.
- iOS
- TWAIN
- macOS
Buttons
- Buttons should always contain actions.
- Capitalize first letter of each word on buttons.
Standard website buttons include:
- Log In
- Sign Up
- Subscribe
- Email Us
Customized website buttons include:
- (Menu) Download SDK -> Download
- Download button in page -> Download Free Trial
- Case Study -> Read Case Study
- Online demo -> Try Online Demo
Titles
Titles organize pages and guide readers. A title appears at the beginning of a page or section and briefly describes the content that follows.
Position and form
- H1 give people a taste of what they’re about to read. Use them for page and banner titles.
- H2, H3, H4 break articles into smaller, more specific sections.
- Headings(H1) and subheadings (H2, H3) should be organized in a hierarchy, with heading first, followed by subheadings in order. (An H2 will nestle under H1, an H3 under H2, and on down.)
Uppercase and lowercase
-
H1: Capitalize the first letter of every word except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.
-
H2/H3: Capitalize first letter and important words of title .
-
H4/subtitle : Capitalise first letter of each word
Forms
Form titles should clearly and quickly explain the purpose of the form.
Keep forms as short as possible.
Links
-
Don’t include preceding articles (a, an, the, our) when you link text.
-
If a link comes at the end of a sentence or before a comma, don’t link the punctuation mark.
-
Don’t say things like “Click here!” or “Click for more information” or “Read this.” Write the sentence as you normally would, and link relevant keywords.
-
If a link comes at the end of a paragraph, add an arrow end of the link.
e.g. -> Try Online Demo >
Navigation
Use title case for main or global navigation. Navigation links should be clear and concise.
- Each product of their sub navigation should keep the same order just
as follows:
1. Features
2. Code Gallery
3. Resources
4. Add-ons
5. Buy
Lists
-
Use lists to present steps, groups, or sets of information. Give context for the list with a brief introduction.
-
Number lists when the order is important, like when you’re describing steps of a process. Use dots rather than numbers when the list’s order doesn’t matter.
-
If one of the list items is a complete sentence, use proper punctuation and capitalization on all of the items.
-
If list items are not complete sentences, don’t use punctuation, but do capitalize the first word of each item.
-
Saturday, Nov. 24, 2017
-
November 2017
Ranges and spans
Use a hyphen (-) to indicate a range or span of numbers.
- It takes 10-15 days.
Money
When writing about US currency, use the dollar sign before the amount. Include a decimal and number of cents if more than 0.
- $200
- $19.99
When writing about other currencies, follow the same symbol-amount format: - ¥100
- €9.9
Telephone numbers
Use hyphens without spaces between numbers. Use a country code if your reader is in another country.
- 1-604-605-5491
- 1-866-410-8856
Time
Use numerals and am or pm without a space.
- 6am
- 6:30pm
Use a hyphen between times to indicate a time period. - 9am-6:30pm
File extensions
When referring generally to a file extension type, use all uppercase without a period. Add a lowercase s to make plural.
- GIF
- TIFF
- JPGs
When referring to a specific file, the filename should be lowercase:
dbr-logo.gif
DBR-license-agreement.pdf
cloud-scan.jpg
dynamsoft.html
Ampersands
Don't use ampersands unless one is part of a company or brand name.
- Yes: DBR and DWT
- No: DBR & DWT
Text formatting
- Don’t use underline formatting
- Leave one space between sentences, never two.
Writing about other companies
Honor companies’ own names for themselves and their products. Go by what’s used on their official website.
- iOS
- TWAIN
- macOS
Buttons
- Buttons should always contain actions.
- Capitalize first letter of each word on buttons.
Standard website buttons include:
- Log In
- Sign Up
- Subscribe
- Email Us
Customized website buttons include:
- (Menu) Download SDK -> Download
- Download button in page -> Download Free Trial
- Case Study -> Read Case Study
- Online demo -> Try Online Demo
Titles
Titles organize pages and guide readers. A title appears at the beginning of a page or section and briefly describes the content that follows.
Position and form
- H1 give people a taste of what they’re about to read. Use them for page and banner titles.
- H2, H3, H4 break articles into smaller, more specific sections.
- Headings(H1) and subheadings (H2, H3) should be organized in a hierarchy, with heading first, followed by subheadings in order. (An H2 will nestle under H1, an H3 under H2, and on down.)
Uppercase and lowercase
-
H1: Capitalize the first letter of every word except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.
-
H2/H3: Capitalize first letter and important words of title .
-
H4/subtitle : Capitalise first letter of each word
Forms
Form titles should clearly and quickly explain the purpose of the form.
Keep forms as short as possible.
Links
-
Don’t include preceding articles (a, an, the, our) when you link text.
-
If a link comes at the end of a sentence or before a comma, don’t link the punctuation mark.
-
Don’t say things like “Click here!” or “Click for more information” or “Read this.” Write the sentence as you normally would, and link relevant keywords.
-
If a link comes at the end of a paragraph, add an arrow end of the link.
e.g. -> Try Online Demo >
Navigation
Use title case for main or global navigation. Navigation links should be clear and concise.
- Each product of their sub navigation should keep the same order just
as follows:
1. Features
2. Code Gallery
3. Resources
4. Add-ons
5. Buy
Lists
- Use lists to present steps, groups, or sets of information. Give context for the list with a brief introduction.
- Number lists when the order is important, like when you’re describing steps of a process. Use dots rather than numbers when the list’s order doesn’t matter.
- If one of the list items is a complete sentence, use proper punctuation and capitalization on all of the items.
- If list items are not complete sentences, don’t use punctuation, but do capitalize the first word of each item.