IBM Style Guide, The

Francis DeRespinis, Peter Hayward, Jana Jenkins, Amy Laird, Leslie McDonald, and Eric Radzinski are members of the IBM Style and Word Usage Council, a workgroup of senior editors who represent key product brands in IBM.

• Foreword     xviii About this publication     xxi Acknowledgments     xxii About the authors     xxiv Chapter 1 Language and grammar     1 Abbreviations     1 General guidelines     1 Spelled-out forms of abbreviations     3 Periods with abbreviations     5 Latin abbreviations     6 Abbreviations in headings and titles     7 Abbreviations in glossaries     7 Abbreviations in indexes     7 Abbreviations for units of time     8 Anthropomorphism     8 Articles     10 Capitalization     11 Capitalization styles     11 Capitalization and abbreviations     13 Capitalization and colons     14 Capitalization and figures     14 Capitalization in general text     14 Capitalization in glossaries     16 Capitalization in headings and titles     16 Capitalization and hyphens     17 Capitalization in indexes     18 Capitalization in interfaces     18 Capitalization of letters as letters     19 Capitalization in lists     20 Capitalization for tables in text     20 Capitalization of computer-related terms     20 Contractions     24 Prepositions     25 Pronouns     27 Ambiguous pronoun references     27 ender-neutral pronouns     27 Personal pronouns     29 Relative pronouns     29 Spelling     30 Verbs     31 General guidelines     31 Mood     32 Person     33 Tense     35 Voice     35 Chapter 2 Punctuation     37 Punctuation marks and special characters     37 Individual punctuation marks or special characters     37 Series of punctuation marks or special characters     39 Common punctuation marks and special characters     39 Apostrophes     41 Apostrophes in plurals     41 Apostrophes in possessives     41 Colons     42 Colons in running text     42 Colons in headings and titles     43 Colons after introductory text     43 Colons and capitalization     44 Colons with numbers     45 Commas     45 Commas between clauses     45 Commas after introductory words and phrases     46 Commas between items in a series     47 Commas with nonrestrictive clauses     47 Commas as separators in numbers     47 Commas with quotation marks     48 Dashes     48 En dashes     48 Em dashes     48 Ellipses     49 Ellipses in running text     49 Ellipses in examples and quotations     49 Ellipses in user interfaces      50 Spacing and punctuation with ellipses     50 Exclamation points     51 Hyphens     51 Hyphens with prefixes and suffixes     51 Hyphens with compound words     53 Hyphens and capitalization     55 Hyphens with numbers     56 Hyphens with ranges     56 Parentheses     57 Parentheses with abbreviations, symbols, and measurements     57 Parentheses to form plurals     57 Parentheses in running text     57 Periods     59 Periods in running text     59 Periods with abbreviations     59 Periods with file name extensions     60 Periods in headings and titles     61 Periods after introductory text     61 Periods with lists     62 Periods with numbers     63 Periods with parentheses      63 Periods with quotation marks      63 Quotation marks     64 Terminology for quotation marks     64 Quotation marks for emphasis     64 Double quotation marks     65 Single quotation marks     66 Quotation marks with other punctuation     66 Typographical considerations for quotation marks     67 Semicolons     67 Semicolons between independent clauses     68 Semicolons between items in a series     68 Slashes     68 Slashes in running text     69 Slashes in dates     70 Slashes in fractions     70 Slashes in mathematical equations     70 Slashes in path names     70 Slashes in web addresses     71 Chapter 3 Formatting and organization     73 Headings     73 Format of headings     73 Wording of headings     74 Punctuation with headings      74 Abbreviations in headings     75 Lists     75 Unordered lists     76 Ordered lists     76 Definition lists     76 Capitalization in lists     78 Wording of list items     78 Length of lists     79 Alphabetization and sorting methods of lists     79 Punctuation in lists     80 Lead-in wording     81 Nested lists     83 Procedures     84 Introducing the procedure     84 Writing steps     86 Indicating optional and conditional steps     88 Handling nonsequential actions     88 Ending the procedure      89 Figures     90 Figure captions and legends     91 Figure numbering     92 Figure references     92 Figure placement     93 Callouts in illustrations     93 Screen captures     94 Tables     96 Text in tables     96 Formatting tables     97 Table headings     97 Highlighting     102 Notes and notices     110 Revision indicators     114 Chapter 4 Structure     115 Topic-based information     115 Task topics     116 Concept topics     120 Reference topics     124 Links in topic-based information     128 Books     131 Sequence of book elements     131 Book elements and other items that might be included in a book     132 Books: Front matter     134 Books: Back matter     139 White papers     141 Structuring your paper     141 Writing your paper     142 Getting your paper reviewed and edited     142 Chapter 5 References     143 Footnotes     143 Footnotes in printed information     143 Footnotes in online information     144 Footnotes in tables     144 References to printed information     144 General guidelines     144 References within the same document     145 References outside the document     146 References to online information     148 General guidelines     148 References to IBM information centers     149 References to web addresses, protocols, and IP addresses     149 References to webcasts, web conferences, and other online broadcasts     153 Linking strategies     153 Chapter 6 Numbers and measurements     155 Expressing numbers     155 Numerals versus words     156 Separators in numbers      159 Ranges of numbers     159 Alignment of numbers in columns     161 Fractions, percentages, and ratios      162 Rounding numbers     163 Different number bases     164 Number complements     165 Mathematical equations and operational symbols     165 Multiplication     166 Exponents     166 Units of measurement     167 Abbreviations     168 Multiple dimensions     169 Tolerances     169 Dimension lines     169 Temperatures     169  Multiplier prefixes for units of measurement     170 Multiplier prefixes for bits and bytes      172 International currency designations     176 Local currency symbols     177 Dates     178 Abbreviated forms     179 Leading zeros     180 Date ranges     180 Times of the day     181 Using the 12-hour system     181 Using the 24-hour system     182 Telephone numbers     182 National telephone numbers     183 International telephone numbers     183 Fictitious telephone numbers     184 Chapter 7 Computer interfaces     185 Commands     185 Capitalization     185 Commands, parameters, and options in running text     185 Commands, parameters, and options in instructions     186 Command syntax      187 Using text to specify command syntax     188 Using diagrams to specify command syntax     192 Programming elements     196 Keywords     196 Variables     198 Code and command examples     198 Data entry on the command line      201 File names, file types, and directory names     203 Graphical user interface elements     206 Location of interface elements     206 Interface element labels     206 Usage and highlighting for user interface elements     208 Menu instructions and navigation     216 Menu instructions     216 Navigation trees     217 Directories     217 Mouse buttons     218 Keyboard keys     218 Verbs to use with keyboard keys     218 Key names     219 Key combinations     220 Messages     221 Message types     221 Components of error, warning, and information messages     222 Confirmation prompts     230 References to messages in documentation     231 Chapter 8 Writing for diverse audiences     233 Accessibility     233 International audiences     235 Style     236 Grammar     237 Terminology     240 Punctuation     241 Graphics and images     242 Chapter 9 Glossaries     245 Structure of glossary entries     245 Glossary terms     246 Glossary definitions     247 Relationships between terms in a glossary     251 Relationships between the glossary and other information     254 Sort order in a glossary     254 Chapter 10 Indexes      255 Levels of index entries     255 Integration and reuse     255 Size and sorting     256 Index content     256 Index structure     259 Levels     259 Locators     261 Number of subentries     262 Cross-posting     263 See and See also references     264 Other considerations     265 Index entries     266 Prohibited words     269 Index sorting     270 Appendixes     273 Appendix A. Exceptions for marketing content     274 Appendix B. DITA tags for highlighting     276 Appendix C. Word usage     300 Index     381