Style guide

A

Act

As in “Act of Parliament”. A piece of legislation that has achieved Royal Assent. Always capitalised; e.g. “the Act”.

When referring to a specific Act of Parliament, either use the full title (i.e. “Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021”) or the date of the Act (i.e. “the 2021 Act”)

B

Bill

A piece of legislation that is being scrutinised by Parliament. Always capitalised; e.g. “the Bill”.

Once a Bill has become an Act, refer to the Act at all times.

Blog

A website containing collection of blog posts.

Blog post

A single post on a blog.

Always include a space between ‘blog’ and ‘post’. Never ‘blogpost’. Never ‘blog’.

C

Civil servant

Never capitalise civil servant unless starting a sentence.

Civil Service

Capitalise when referring to the UK Civil Service.

F

Fediverse (the)

The federated social web. Always “the fediverse”, never “fediverse”.

Some people disagree with using “the”. Those people are wrong.

I

iPhone

Pluralise “iPhone”, not the series moniker. Alternatively add ”series”. Do not use the definite article.

Examples: “iPhones 16”, ”iPhone 16 series”.

iPod

Pluralise “iPod”, not the series moniker. Alternatively add ”series”. Do not use the definite article.

Examples: “iPods Classic”, ”iPod nano series”. Do not use the definite article.

iPod nano

Never capitalise “nano”.

L

LGBT+

Preferred collective term for lesbian, gay, bi, and other minority sexual orientations, and trans and other gender identities. Always include the ‘+’. Don’t use other acronyms unless specifically necessary (for example, when quoting something else).

M

MacBook

Pluralise “MacBook”, not the series moniker. Alternatively add ”series”. Do not use the definite article.

Examples: “MacBooks Air”, ”MacBook Pro series”.

Mac Mini

Never pluralise “Mac”; it sounds like “max”. Never pluralise “Mini”. Use “devices”. Do not use the definite article.

Example: “Mac Mini devices”.

P

Post

Preferred term for a piece of digital content made available on a website or social media platform.

Do not use “tweet”, “toot” or “skeet”. “Xeet” is acceptable when relevant.

S

Senior civil servant

Never capitalise senior civil servant unless starting a sentence.

Senior Civil Service

The senior cadre of the UK Civil Service. Capitalise when referring to the Senior Civil Service.

Space Karen

The current owner of Xitter.

T

Text

Past tense of the action of sending a text message. Never “texted”.

Examples: “I text them”, “I have text them”.

W

Week note

A note written at the end of a week. Pluralised as “week notes”.

See doingweeknotes.com.

Week note

To produce a week note.

Examples: “I week noted”, “She week notes”, “They are week noting”.

X

Xitter

The website formally known as Twitter. Never “X”.

Xeet

A post, posted on Xitter.