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| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +description: |
| 3 | +globs: |
| 4 | +alwaysApply: true |
| 5 | +--- |
| 6 | +# Replicated Documentation Style Guide |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +## Overview |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +This set of rules provides guidelines for writing clear and consistent product documentation for the Replicated Platform. |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | +## General Principles |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +### Tone and Voice |
| 15 | +- Use active voice instead of passive voice |
| 16 | +- Use the second person "you" to address the reader |
| 17 | +- Never use "we" or "let's" |
| 18 | +- Write in a friendly tone without using slang, jargon, or frivolous words. |
| 19 | + |
| 20 | +### Accessibility and Inclusivity |
| 21 | +- Write for a global audience by avoiding culturally-specific references, jargon, and figures of speech. |
| 22 | +- In HTML, use semantic tagging. |
| 23 | +- Avoid unnecessary font formatting. |
| 24 | +- Avoid large blocks of text by using short paragraphs, headings, and lists |
| 25 | +- Use shorter sentences. Try to use fewer than 26 words per sentence. |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | +### Excessive Claims, Future Claims, and Marketing-Focused Language |
| 28 | +- Never use phrases like "simply" or "easily" in a procedure. |
| 29 | +- Avoid superlatives like best, worst, simplest, fastest, never, and always |
| 30 | +- Don't make any claims about a product that the user would not be able to easily verify. |
| 31 | + |
| 32 | +### Timeless Documentation |
| 33 | +- Avoid time-bound terminology like "currently", "new", "at this time", and "now". Instead, write timeless documentation that makes no assumptions about a reader's prior knowledge. |
| 34 | + |
| 35 | +## Formatting |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +### Text Formatting |
| 38 | +- Use bold for UI elements |
| 39 | +- Use bold for navigation steps in a UI, such as **Releases > Create Release**. |
| 40 | +- Use italics to draw attention to a word or phrase, such as when defining the term for the first time |
| 41 | + |
| 42 | +### Capitalization |
| 43 | +- Use title case for titles and headings |
| 44 | +- Use all caps with underscores between words for placeholder text |
| 45 | +- Avoid all caps outside of placeholder text and code examples |
| 46 | + |
| 47 | +### Symbols |
| 48 | +- Avoid using the ampersand symbol (&) except when describing UI elements, writing code examples, or in tables where space is limited |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | +### Punctuation |
| 51 | +- Avoid semicolons |
| 52 | +- Avoid exclamation marks |
| 53 | +- Avoid question marks |
| 54 | + |
| 55 | +## Linking |
| 56 | + |
| 57 | +### Cross-references |
| 58 | +- A good cross-reference describes what information the reader can expect to learn, as well as the exact title (and location) of the page they will be taken to. |
| 59 | +- Do not embed links within a sentence. |
| 60 | +- Use the following format for cross references: "For more information about X, see [Topic Title](mdc:url)." |
| 61 | +- For links to other websites outside of docs.replicated.com, use the following format: "For more information about X, see [Topic Title](mdc:url) in the Company Name documentation." |
| 62 | + |
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