From verbal identity theory to practice, this page outlines the guiding principles for writing Foleon content. It unpacks the main Foleon content types and explains our writing mechanics to ensure consistency.
Content principles
Be succinct: Use short sentences that are to the point. Make paragraphs short and scannable. A paragraph should not have more than 5 lines.
Be specific: Don’t use vague or meaningless language. Cut the excess fluff and say what you mean. No points for using extra words.
Be consistent: Stick to the guidelines in this document, and don’t change your style or use of grammar and punctuation midway.
Writing guidelines for our main content types
Writing and grammar mechanics
Basic operating principle: Install and use Grammarly. It's free! (And required.)
American English
Foleon content is written in American English
- Optimize instead of optimise
- Favorite instead of favourite
- Marketer instead of marketeer
- Truck instead of lorry
American English uses periods ( . ) for decimal places
- Correct: 1,508.92%
- Incorrect: 1.508,92%
- Correct: $44.95
- Incorrect: $44,95
Dates should follow the “month, day, year” order. To avoid confusion, it is best to spell months out.
- Correct: January 05, 2018
- Correct: Jan 5th, 2018
- Incorrect: 05 January 2018
- Very incorrect: 05-01-2018 (to Americans, this means May 1st)
Use 12-hour AM/PM time instead of 24-hour time which confuses most Americans.
- Correct: The webinar will begin at 4pm EST
- Incorrect: The webinar will begin at 16:00 EST
Abbreviations and acronyms
Don’t assume that your reader knows what IMF stands for. Good practice is to spell it out the first time, followed by the acronym in parentheses.
- First use: International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- Second use: IMF
If an acronym is extremely common, don’t worry about it. Examples of common acronyms are HTML, URL, API, and LMFAO.
Active voice
Always use active voice unless there is a specific reason not to.
- Active: The developer squashed the bug.
- Passive: The bug was squashed by the developer.
- Active: I baked the cake.
- Passive: The cake was baked by me.
The words “by” and “was” are often indicative of passive voice. Sometimes it’s OK to use passive voice if emphasizing the action is more important than the subject (e.g., “Your account was locked by one of our administrators").
Bold, italics and underline
You can use bold to emphasize an important term or concept the first time you use it in a text, but don't overdo it.
Use italics to indicate a title of a piece (like a novel or a song), or to add emphasis to a word (use sparingly).
Use italics and lowercase when talking about settings and product features in our platform.
- He really likes the song Wonderwall by Oasis
- In fact, he really likes all Oasis songs
- Go to your account and click on publication settings
- A Foleon account contains workspaces that work on projects in which you create Foleon Docs.
Never use underline unless it is a hyperlink.
Emojis
We are casual and friendly, so it makes sense that we use emojis now and then. Just be sure not to overdo it! And please use icons instead of text.
Do also be sure to keep your emojis appropriate. Not sure? Ask yourself, "Would I text this emoji to someone under the age of 12?"
- Correct: 🙂
- Tip: Want to add an emoji to your Foleon Doc? Use Ctrl + Cmd + spacebar and select the emoji.
Capitalization
Every word in a blog post title or email subject line and Foleon Docs covers should be capitalized except for articles, prepositions and conjunctions.
- Correct: There Is No Way to Tell the Real Thing from the Fake Thing
- Tip: Use CapitalizeMyTitle.com if you need help
Contractions
Use as many contractions as you can! They make your text easy to read and sound more natural.
- You’ve instead of you have
- They’re instead of they are
- Don’t instead of do not
- It’s instead of it is
- Etc.
Numbers
Always spell out numbers if they begin a sentence. Otherwise, you can use the numerical form or the spelled out form.
- Correct: Three people showed up at my house today.
- Correct: The wolf ate all 3 little pigs.
- Incorrect: 3 people signed up today.
Always use commas to separate groups of 3 digits (as in 159,000). You can also abbreviate numbers (as in 159k or 150mil).
Use the % symbol in your writing instead of “percent” or “per cent,” unless it is at the end of a sentence in which case you should use “percent.”
- Correct: I am 50% finished with my paper
- Correct: Last year we increased our revenue by 34 percent.
- Incorrect: I want a 40 percent increase in productivity.
Spell out fractions using a hyphen: two-thirds instead of 2/3.
- Correct: I ate three-fourths of a pizza
- Incorrect: I ate 3/4 of a pizza
Telephone numbers
For international numbers, parenthesis lead to confusion, so don’t use them. Use spaces to separate groups of numbers. Use the plus sign to indicate an international number. For American numbers, use parentheses to indicate the area code.
- Correct: +31 20 303 2822
- Incorrect: +31 (0)20 303 2822
- Correct: (347) 727 6809
- Incorrect: +1 (347) 727 6809
Punctuation
Colons
Use a colon to begin a list or to connect two related sentences.
- I sold 3 licenses today: a basic, an advanced, and an expert.
- He really wanted to know: Does she drink coffee, or does she drink tea?
Commas
When using commas in a list, a common mistake is to omit the last comma before the "and."
- Correct: Apples, oranges, and bananas.
- Incorrect: Apples, oranges and bananas.
Dashes
There is a difference between a hyphen ( - ) and an em dash ( — ). You get an em dash by typing Shift + Alt + - on a Mac, and Alt + 0151 on the number pad on a Windows machine. Do not use two hyphens ( -- ) in place of a true em dash.
- Hyphens are used to connect words as in "first-timer"
- Hyphens are also used to indicate ranges as in "25-30"
Em dashes are used to give particular emphasis to a thought or idea in the middle of a sentence — much like parentheses — or to tag an extra phrase to the end of a sentence — like this one. When writing on the web, put spaces around your em dashes so that they wrap.
Ellipses
Don't overuse them. Use them to indicate "trailing off" before finishing a thought, or for dramatic effect. Also, use them in brackets to show when part of a quote is left out.
- If you only knew…
- He said, "I shot the sheriff [...] in self defense.”
Exclamation marks
Don't overuse them, and don't use more than one at a time!
Quotation marks
Use double quotation marks (not single), unless you are using a quote within a quote. Periods and commas go inside quotation marks. Question marks go outside quotation marks unless they are part of the quote.
- Correct: He said, "There is no spoon."
- Incorrect: He said, "There is no spoon".
- Correct: "There is no spoon," he said.
- Incorrect: "There is no spoon", he said.
- Correct: Do you know the phrase, "there is no spoon"?
- Correct: I asked, "is there really no spoon?"
Semicolons
If you're not sure how to use a semicolon, don't.
If you're sure how to use a semicolon, then do so sparingly. You can almost always simplify by creating two sentences — or use an em dash instead.
Ampersands
Never use them unless they are part of an official title.
- Michiel and Dennis
- Drag & Drop