Style

For almost everything, we follow Guardian style. Below you’ll find some specific style rules we use.

Abbreviations and acronyms

Shorter isn’t always better. Unless you’re really sure that the meaning will be universally understood, go with the full version.

Bold, italics and underlining

We use bold, italic and underlining very sparingly indeed.

Bulleted lists

Use full sentences in bulleted lists, with punctuation, unless the list is part of a single, larger sentence.

En dashes

Spaced en dashes are used parenthetically in text. Never em dashes, and never space hyphens. Linting rules and "remark-smartypants" are used to try to catch non-conforming dashes that slip through the net.

Links

Hyperlinks should be placed on the noun, without the article. Don’t add the link to adjectives, and definitely always avoid using “click here”. Content should still make sense if the link is taken away.

Oxford comma

We don’t use the Oxford comma. We do use a comma after the penultimate item in a list where it helps with clarity.

Sentence case

For clarity, readability and simplicity, we always use sentence case and not title case. This makes it easier to see when a proper noun is used in a heading.