Formatting

It’s OK to use abbreviations in address details. Use initial caps and a period.

Arrows: Previous/Next

Use sentence case.

Examples:

• Click the Previous (back) arrow.
• Click the Next (forward) arrow to move to the next transaction.

Although the arrows are no longer labeled, continue to refer to them in copy as the Previous and Next arrows. For added clarification, you can add “back” and “forward” as shown in the example. These arrows are used primarily in QuickBooks for Windows and Mac.

Button names

Use sentence case.

Examples:

• Save and close
• Save and send
• Create new
• Run payroll

In copy, to make sure you’re guiding users clearly, you can add the word button after the button name. But you don’t need to do that for these standard buttons.

• Apply
• Back
• Cancel
• Continue
• Finish
• Next
• OK
• Open
• Print
• Save

Checkbox label

Use sentence case.

Example:

• This customer is a sub-customer.

Use clear instead of deselect. The term deselect causes a problem for localization.

Drop-down list names and items

Use sentence case.

Examples:

• Expense account
• Select an option
• Select a vendor
• Select a customer

User-generated names such as vendors and customers will appear the way users entered them.

In copy, to make sure you’re writing clearly you can add the word list after the drop-down list name. Example: Select Mountain View from the Location list.

If the drop-down list doesn’t have a label, or uses ghost text to describe itself, use the main word in the ghost text and tell the customer what to select. For example, if the drop-down list is “Choose a customer” you might say, “Select the customer you want to refund.” Or, “In the Customer field, select the customer you want to refund.”

Make sure the items in the list are in logical order (alphabetical, order of importance, and so on).

If no item is preselected, use text like “Select a vendor” in ghost or hint text format. If you can’t gray out the text, you can use some kind of indicator, like parentheses. For example: “(Select one).”

You might want to show None as one of the options. It should have the same text formatting as the other options in the list.

Ghost text

Use sentence case.

Use ghost or hint text to take the place of field labels or to give more information about filling out a field, such as required formatting and restrictions.

Usually, you just need a noun or noun phrase that describes what to enter in the text box. Avoid obvious verbs like enter, unless needed for clarity or to be conversational, like in first-time use.

Examples:

• Enter your bank name
• Find an employee

Headings and titles

Includes:

• Section headings
• Page headings and titles
• Help topic titles
• Run-in headings
• Subheadings
• First-time use
• Browser page titles
• Tab titles
• Buttons
• Window titles

Use sentence case.

In tables, row and column headings occasionally appear in all capital letters. This is an exception to the preferred style.

Don’t use punctuation, unless you’re asking a question or need it for emphasis.

Examples:

• A connection you can bank on
• Ready to get started?
• Free support. Forever.

Menu names and menu items

Use sentence case.

Example:

• Chart of accounts

Navigation elements

Use sentence case.

Examples:

• QuickBooks help
• QuickBooks tutorials

Radio buttons/option labels

Use sentence case.

Examples:

• Expense account
• Customer account

If needed for clarity in copy, you can add the word option after the option name.

Report titles

Use sentence case. (Depending on the interface, these titles may appear in all capital letters.)

Examples:

• Sales by customer summary
• Sales by class summary
• Sales by product/service summary

Tooltips

Use sentence case.

Example:

• Your bank routing number is usually 9 digits long.

Use tooltips to give more info about filling out a field, such as a description, required formatting, and restrictions.

Use a period at the end of a tooltip only if it’s a complete sentence.

Don’t add a space between the currency symbol and the amount ($10.00, not $ 10.00).

For negative amounts, place the minus symbol in front of the currency symbol.

If you’re displaying currency in dollars and the amount is less than one dollar, use the cents symbol. Example: 25¢. It helps with accessibility and clarity. But if you’re presenting this in product (as in entry fields), it should be 0.25 with no cents symbol.

And don’t forget that other languages use commas instead of periods. Work with the local content designer for accurate symbols and placement for specific locales. You can specify which country by adding the currency code after the amount if needed.

For the US, use: MM/DD/YYYY (without a leading zero) or Month DD, YYYY.  Don’t use ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd…) in dates. For month and year only, use Month YYYY.

Spell out days of the week when you’re referencing specific dates. Only abbreviate months in 3 letters (like Mar, Aug, Oct) for UI elements like tables, links, footers.

In extreme space-constrained cases, 1-letter abbreviations are OK. Mobile uses 3-letter month abbreviations (for example, Mar 9).

Work with localization experts to accommodate different formats for different locales.

Capitalize AM and PM with no periods.

Carry decimals to the hundredth place (33.76). Use decimals (0.75) instead of fractions.

Don’t use italics or quotes to distinguish UI elements—use bold instead. Only use one treatment (color, bold, italics, indentation) to emphasize text. If the ghost text in a form field is a distinct color, italics are unnecessary.

Mobile-first is exactly as it sounds: writing for the smallest screen and working your way up.

Writing for mobile has a unique set of challenges. However, all writing—not just mobile—should be simple and concise, focus on the task at hand, progressively disclose steps, be contextual, and hold your attention. Prioritize by surfacing main info, progressively disclosing, and offering access to details. Write around interfaces, and strive for your writing to be void of location and method of interaction.

Content that goes anywhere and adapts to any context.

Keep in mind:

• You’re limited by the amount of real estate available on the device. A tiny screen means fewer words and possible need for abbreviations.
• Reveal info as the user needs it.
• Mobile customers are often distracted (think “multi-tasking” and “on the go”). They’re usually not sitting at a desk.
• Some of our mobile apps are standalone, but many more are companion apps to our web or desktop products.
• We strive for consistency. While Apple and Google devices work differently, be device-agnostic in your writing.

There are many ways to abbreviate names and titles. When writing in our voice, follow the spirit of the examples below.

Use numerals for all numbers up to a billion when representing specific statistics or examples, even if it’s at the beginning of the line or sentence. Spell out casual expressions. Spell out ordinal numbers up to and including “ninth” when indicating sequence or location (except in geographic, military, or political naming conventions).

Use commas in numbers with four or more digits but don’t use commas in error numbers, page numbers, or addresses. Note that different languages format numbers differently. Work with global writers to make sure your numbers are appropriately formatted.

Phone numbers are formatted differently depending on the country. For all locales, include the area code, leave off the country code, and don’t bold anything.

Australia
Use spaces in phone numbers. Leave off the +61 before the STD code and use “ext.” for extension if needed.

Brazil
Use dashes in mot phone numbers and use a space to separate the area code. For 0800 numbers, use spaces. Use ramal for extension if needed.

Canada
Use dashes in phone numbers. Leave out the 1 before the area code except for toll free numbers, and use “ext.” for extension if needed.

France
Use spaces between sets of 2 numbers and leave out the +33 before the number. For toll-free numbers, don’t use a space between the 4 digits.

South Africa
Use spaces in phone numbers.

UK
Use spaces in phone numbers. Leave out the +44 before the area code.

US
Use dashes in phone numbers. Leave out the 1 before the area code and use “ext.” for extension if needed.

When writing a quotation, indent and use quotes around the verbatim quote. Use an em dash without a space to attribute it to the speaker. In the US, terminal punctuation goes inside the quote (“number.”). The exception is with semicolons and colons, but we shouldn’t be using those much anyway.

Don’t write a dash or hyphen after the person’s name.

Use a comma after the greeting in most salutations. Example: Hello, Tom

But if the salutations is a simple “hi,” omit the comma. Example: Hi Tom

Use “%” with a number, but not when there isn’t a specific number to reference.

Use “&” sparingly in place of the word “and” to reference two related subjects. Keep ampersands in company names, titles, and other proper nouns. Ampersands are OK for content with space restrictions, like tweets.

Spell out the word “at” unless it’s part of an email address or a mention on social media.

Express time as H:MM AM/PM timezone. Include a space before AM or PM, but no periods. Include minutes, even if it’s on the hour (for example, available from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM). Noon and midnight can be referred to as just that, or as 12 AM and 12 PM.

Outside of North America, use the 24-hour clock and UTC offsets.

Underlined URLs are a thing of the past. Make them blue so they stand out. The underline should appear when the user hovers on them.

Leave a space between the number and the unit of measure and use open punctuation (no periods). Use a hyphen if you’re using the number with the unit of measure as an adjective. Provide metric equivalents in parentheses after the English measurement where it’s appropriate.