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  • Rackspace Style Guide
  • Quickstart
  • Writing guidelines
    • Use active voice
    • Use present tense
    • Write to the user by using second person and imperative mood
    • Write clear and concise sentences and paragraphs
      • Use a consistent sentence structure
      • Restrict sentence length
      • Use only, but all of, the necessary words
      • Create short paragraphs
    • Use effective verbs
      • Use action-oriented verbs
      • Avoid nouns built from verbs
      • Use the simplest tense
      • Use helping verbs accurately
      • Use single-word verbs
      • Don't use verbs as nouns or adjectives
      • Don't use nonverbs as verbs
      • Use transitive verbs transitively, not intransitively
      • Don't humanize inanimate objects
    • Clarify gerunds and participles
    • Use that, which, and such as correctly
    • Use pronouns carefully
      • It
      • This
      • There
      • That
    • Use gender-neutral pronouns
    • Use positive statements
    • Use correct punctuation
    • Use interjections with care
  • Style guidelines
    • Abbreviations
      • Abbreviations of byte and bit
      • Common abbreviations
    • Capitalization
      • Capitalize proper nouns and adjectives
      • Capitalize most abbreviations
      • Capitalization in job titles
      • Capitalize team names
      • Capitalize UI labels as shown on the UI
      • Capitalize the names of product components as appropriate
      • Don't capitalize common nouns
      • Don't use all capitals for emphasis
      • Reference to other capitalization guidelines
    • Citations
    • Cloud account information
    • Code examples
      • Create a VM running a Docker host
      • Run the application
      • Remove the containers already using the port
      • Troubleshooting
    • Contractions
    • Copyrights
    • Dates
    • Email addresses
    • File types
    • Glossaries
      • Glossary terms
      • Glossary definitions
      • Cross-references to glossary terms
      • Guidelines for a comprehensive glossary
    • IP addresses
    • Keyboard keys
    • Links and cross-references
    • Lists
      • Introductory text
      • List items
    • Messages
    • Names
    • Notes and other notation types
    • Numbers
      • Numbers versus words
      • Commas in numbers
      • Ranges of numbers
      • Unspecified, generic, and unknown numbers
    • Parameters
    • Placeholder (variable) text
    • Plurals
    • Prepositions
    • Product names and version numbers
    • Punctuation
      • Ampersands
      • Colons
      • Commas
      • Dashes
      • Ellipses
      • Exclamation points
      • Hyphens
      • Parentheses
      • Periods
      • Quotation marks
      • Semicolons
      • Slashes
    • Symbols
    • Tables
      • Introductory text for tables
      • Table titles
      • Column headers
      • Table text
      • Table footnotes
      • Attribute or parameter tables in API documents
      • Examples
    • Tasks
      • Task titles
      • Task introductions
      • Prerequisites
      • Procedures
      • Steps
      • Results, verification, examples, and troubleshooting
      • Direction to the next action
      • Related topics
    • Telephone numbers
    • Text formatting
    • Time
      • 24-hour clock
      • 12-hour clock
    • Titles and headings
      • Capitalization
      • Style and structure
      • Text following titles and headings
      • Tables of contents
    • Trademarks
      • Examples of Rackspace trademarks
      • Examples of third-party trademarks
      • Links to company trademark pages
      • Trademark usage guidelines
    • URLs and domain names
    • Voice and tone
      • Voice and tone attributes
      • Best practices
  • Markup guidelines
    • ReStructured Text (RST)
    • MarkDown (MD)
  • Terminology guidelines
    • General terminology guidelines
      • Use consistent terminology
      • Use short, familiar words and phrases
      • Use consistent references to time, space, and versions
      • Avoid obscure non-English words and abbreviations
    • Terminology for a global audience
      • Don't use idioms or colloquialisms
      • Avoid metaphorical terms
      • Don't use humor
      • Use jargon carefully
      • Use culture-neutral language and examples
      • Use culture-neutral graphics
    • Alphabetical list of terms
    • Concise terms
    • Third-party names and trademarks
  • Screenshot and diagram guidelines
    • Screenshot guidelines and process
      • When to use screenshots
      • Screenshot alternatives
      • Before you create a screenshot
      • Screenshots in procedures
      • Screenshot checklist
    • Diagram guidelines
      • When to use diagrams
      • Before you create a diagram
      • Diagram checklist
  • Control panel and portal standards
  • How-To article guidelines
    • Use sentence-style capitalization for titles and headings
    • Use active voice
    • Use present tense
    • Write to the user by using second person and imperative mood
    • Write clear and consistent step text
    • Use consistent text formatting
    • Clarify pronouns such as it, this, there, and that
    • Clarify gerunds and participles
    • Write clear and consistent code examples
    • Use consistent terminology
    • When and when not to suggest contacting Support
  • Blog guidelines
    • Things to consider before writing a blog
    • Blog writing suggestions
    • Voice and tone
    • Write to the user by using second person and imperative mood
  • Error message guidelines
    • General guidelines
    • Message guidelines and examples
    • Message types
  • Release notes guidelines
    • Structure
    • Formatting
    • Wording
    • Editing existing release notes
  • User interface guidelines
  • Style guide revision history
    • July 18, 2019
    • March 12, 2019
    • March 6, 2019
    • March 1, 2019
    • February 22, 2019
    • February 6, 2019
    • January 21, 2019
    • January 4, 2019
    • November 5, 2018
    • November 2, 2018
    • September 25, 2018 (End of Q3 release)
    • June 29, 2018 (End of Q2 release)
    • May 8, 2018
    • April 16, 2018
    • June 19, 2017
    • April 28, 2017
    • November 10, 2016
    • July 27, 2016

Use consistent terminology#

Use words as they are defined in a general dictionary, in an accepted industry dictionary or style guide, or for your particular project. Each word or phrase should have only one meaning, and should be used consistently throughout the documentation.

  • Don't use the same word to describe two or more different concepts. For example, don't use agent to refer to both a person and a process.
  • If a word has both a technical meaning and a general meaning, don't use it to express both meanings. Instead, use a synonym for the general meaning. For example, use interface as a noun that means user interface. Instead of also using interface as a verb, use interact.
  • Don't use different words to mean the same thing. Standardize on the use of one word for a particular object. Technical writing isn't creative writing, and you shouldn't be concerned that you will bore users with colorless prose. Clarity is the goal, so using a precise set of terms consistently is required. Following is a common example of multiple terms that refer to the same thing:
    • menu command (the preferred term)
    • menu item
    • menu option
  • Use a word as only one part of speech. Many words can be correctly used as a verb and as a noun or an adjective, such as display. However, using the same word as more than one part of speech in the same document can be confusing to users and translators, so avoid it when possible.
  • Avoid fabricated words. Examples of fabricated words are marketecture or edutainment. Most such words are specific to a single business culture and aren't understood in other cultures.
  • Standardize words and spelling across a documentation set.
  • Don't use terms with different meanings interchangeably. Some terms have similar but distinct meanings and shouldn't be used interchangeably. For example:
    • environment, platform
    • version, release
    • panel, screen
    • window, dialog box

For guidelines about specific words, see Alphabetical list of terms.

Previous General terminology guidelines
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