A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
adaptor
Not adapter.
ASCII
Not Ascii.
antivirus
One word, not anti-virus or anti virus. The product name is 'Norton AntiVirus.'
Autoexec
Capitalized, but when quoting the full file name, it is autoexec.bat.
B
back-end
Hyphenated, not backend or back end.
backup
One word for the noun or adjective, two words for the verb (back up), not back-up.
Basic
Capitalized, not basic or BASIC.
baud
Use bit/s unless you really know what you are doing (baud is a modulation unit, bps is a data throughput unit)
beta test
Two words for the noun, hyphenated for the adjective (beta-test), not betatest.
BIOS
All uppercase, not Bios or bios.
Bluetooth
To follow Bluetooth SIG guidelines, 'Bluetooth' should never be used as a noun. A correct use is 'Bluetooth wireless technology.'
bootup
One word as noun or adjective but two words for verb, not boot-up.
built-in
Hyphenated when used as a compound adjective before a noun (example:The built-in types, such as int, bool and float, are typedef'ed), but not hyphenated when used as a simple adjective (example: The types that are typedef'ed, such as int, bool and float, are built in).
C
CGI Scripts
CGI is all uppercase, Scripts is capitalized. Not cgi scripts or CGI scripts.
chatroom
One word not chat room
crystal
This term is deprecated and must never be used in reference to a DFRD.
D
data
Is singular not plural, so followed by a singular verb. Example: data entry.
Datamonitor
One word, capitalized, not data monitor or Data monitor
DBMS
All uppercase, not Dbms or dbms
developer certificates
All lowercase, not Developer Certificates.
device driver
Two words, not devicedriver.
disc
LPs, CDs, flat circular objects.
disk
Floppy disk or hard disk.
DLL
All uppercase, not in code font.
DOS
All uppercase, not Dos.
download
One word, not down load.
drives
Always referred to by a capital letter followed by a colon if it is on its own (example: Save to C: and then restart). If followed by the word 'drive', then no colon is needed. Example: D drive.
drop-down
Hyphenated, not dropdown or drop down
E
e-mail
Hyphenated, all lowercase, not email.
end user
Not hyphenated as a noun, hyphenate when using as an adjective (example: end-user marketing). Avoid if not explicit who the end user is.
EXE
All uppercase, not in code font.
eXtreme Programming
Lowercase 'e', uppercase 'X', Programming is capitalized. Not Extreme Programming or eXtreme programming.
F
firewall
One word, not fire wall.
fps
Lowercase (fps) for frames per second (graphics) and uppercase (FPS) for First Person Shooter (games)
G
gaming
Do not use when referring to playing a game (since in the US it traditionally means gambling). Instead refer to the game industry, game business or gameplay (one word, used very occasionally)
Gigahertz, GHz
Capitalized when spelt out, otherwise two uppercase and one lowercase letter. Example: 100 GHz.
H
hands-on
hyphenated, not hands on.
hardware
One word, do not abbreviate to HW.
HDD
Do not use. Use hard drive instead.
home page
Two words, not homepage.
hotkeys
One word, not hot keys.
HTML
All uppercase, not Html or html.
hyperlink
One word, not hyper link.
I
ID
All uppercase, not Id or id.
ImageReady
No spaces, uppercase 'I' and 'R'. Not Image ready or image ready.
in-depth
Hyphenated, not indepth or in depth.
infrared
Not hyphenated, not infra-red, and not IrDa which is the association.
in-house
Hyphenated, not in house or inhouse.
Instant Messenger
Capitalized, not instant messenger.
instant messaging
All lowercase, not Instant Messaging.
Internet
Capitalized, not internet
intranet
All lowercase, not Intranet.
J
Java
Capitalized, not java.
JavaScript
No spaces, uppercase 'J', uppercase 'S'. Not java script or Java script.
JPG, JPEG
All uppercase, not Jpg or Jpeg.
K
KB
All uppercase. A unit to measure what stored data. Equivalent to 210 bytes.
kb
All lowercase. A unit to measure the transfer of data. Equivalent to 103 bits.
kbps
All lowercase, not Kbps or KBPS.
L
LATEX (or LaTeX in plain text)
Either all uppercase, with superscript 'A' and subscript 'E', or uppercase 'L', 'T' and 'X' and lowercase 'a' and 'e'. Not Latex or latex
level 1 cache
Not Level 1, or Level one, can also use L1 or L2 cache.
license
All lowercase, US spelling, not licence or License.
licensee
All lowercase, not Licencee.
lifecycle
One word, not life cycle.
M
Mac OS X
Mac is capitalized, OS and X all uppercase, not mac os x or Mac os x or Mac Os X
mailboxes
One word, not mail boxes.
MB
A unit to measure stored data. Equivalent to 220 bytes.
Mb
All lowercase. A unit to measure the transfer of data. Equivalent to 106 bits
mbps
All lowercase, not Mbps or MBPS.
megapixels
Use megapixels when describing a mobile phone's camera resolution. Example: 0.3 megapixels, not 640x480 resolution.
MPEG
All uppercase, not Mpeg.
MySQL
'M', and 'SQL' all uppercase, not My Sql or my sql.
O
OCR software
All upper case when abbreviated, all lowercase and three words when written in full (optical character recognition software).
ODBC
All uppercase when abbreviated, but all lowercase and three words when written in full (open database connectivity).
offline
One word, not off line or off-line.
ok
'Okay' in text. Use lowercase – ok – when referring to a dialog box option unless a screenshot is used in which case match the text to what the figure shows.
on-screen
Hyphenated when used as a compound adjective before a noun (example: Follow the on-screen instructions for how to create a help file), but not hyphenated when used as a simple adjective.Example: To create a help file, follow the instructions on screen.
open source
Two words when used as a noun (Example: Open source will revolutionize software development), but hyphenated when used as an adjective (Example: Open-source software)
P
PDF
All uppercase, not pdf except when quoting a filename. Example: sample.pdf
Perl
Capitalised, not perl.
PHP
All uppercase, not php or Php.
pipeline burst cache
All lowercase, not Pipeline Burst Cache.
plug-in
Hyphenated, not plugin.
POSIX
All uppercase, not Posix.
pull-down
Hyphenated, not pull down. Example: pull-down menu.
program
Not 'programme' (in any context), as that is the British spelling.
Python
Capitalized, not python.
Q
Quadband
Capitalized and one word, not quad-band or quadband.
R
RAM
All uppercase, not ram or Ram.
real time
Real time is the noun (Symbian OS operates in real time), real-time is the adjective (Symbian OS is a real-time operating system). Do not use realtime.
refresh rates
Applies to monitors: write as 600x600 and 1,200x1,600@75 Hz.
reinstall
One word, not re-install.
rerun
One word, not re-run.
resue
One word, not re-use.
RISC
All uppercase, not Risc or risc.
ROM
All uppercase, not Rom or rom.
Ruby
Capitalized, not ruby.
S
screen resolution
200x320 pixels, not 200 x 320 or 200 by 320. Also commonly referred to as QVGA resolution.
serial port
Refer to serial ports by number. Example: COM1 and COM2.
setup
One word as a noun, but two as a verb, not set-up.
SITK
System Integration Toolkit
Skype
Capitalized, not skype.
softkey
One word, not soft key.
software
One word, do not abbreviate to SW.
source code
Two words, not sourcecode.
spacebar
One word, not space bar.
Start menu
'Start' is capitalized but menu isn't when referring to just the Start menu. Example: use the Start menu to do this. But both words are capitalized when referring to something contained within the Start menu. Example: click the Start Menu Programs tab.
startup
One word, not start up, but starting up is two words.
T
talktime
One word, not talk time.
Taskbar
Windows specific, one word with a capital T, not Task Bar or taskbar.
Test-driven Development (TDD)
Capitalized, hyphenated, all uppercase when abbreviated. Not Test Driven Development or test-driven development or Tdd or tdd.
test house
Not test organization in relation to Symbian Signed.
third party
Not hyphenated as the noun, hyphenated (third-party) as the adjective, not thirdparty.
TIF
Not .TIF or TIFF. Lowercase when filename. Example: video.tif
timeout
One word, not time out.
time-to-market
Hyphenated, not time to market.
Touchscreen
One word, capitalized, not touch-screen or touch screen.
trackball
Not trackerball.
TRUE BREW
All uppercase, not True Brew or true brew.
U
Unix
Capitalized, not UNIX or unix.
up-to-date
Hyphenated, not up to date.
URLs
If giving full URL, all lowercase (example: www.boo.com) The http:// is not necessary. Capitalize the company name when referring to the company. Example: Boo.com
V
vibra or vibra motor
Never vibrator.
Voice over IP (VoIP)
Uppercase 'V', 'I' and 'P', not Voip or VOIP.
W
WAV
All uppercase when used in text, but lowercase in code font when used as a filename. Example: video.wav
Web
Capitalized, not web, or World Wide Web.
Wi-Fi
Capital W capital F, with a hyphen, not WiFi or wi-fi or wifi.
wiki
All lowercase, not Wiki.
WiMAX
All uppercase, except the 'i', which is lowercase. Not WIMAX or Wimax.
Windows Me, Windows XP
Two words, not WindowsMe or WindowsXP
X
XHTML
All uppercase, not Xhtml or xhtml.
XML
All uppercase, not Xml or xml.
Y
Yahoo!
Use exclamation mark, not Yahoo
Z
Zip
Capitalized when referring to Iomega backup drive, but if the name of a zipped file all lowercase. Example: flower.zip
ZIP
All uppercase when referring to a 'ZIP file.'
