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.

G

Game Boy

A series of games consoles by Nintendo. Whilst popular amongst online communities to omit the space between “Game” and “Boy”, Nintendo includes the space, and therefore so do I.

Examples: “Game Boy”, “Game Boy Color”, “Game Boy Advance”.

Game Pak

Cartridges used for Game Boy consoles. Whilst popular amongst online communities to omit the space between “Game” and “Pak”, Nintendo includes the space, and therefore so do I.

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

Weeknote

A note written at the end of a week. No space between “week” and “note”. Pluralised as “weeknotes”.

See doingweeknotes.com.

Weeknote

To produce a weeknote.

Examples: “I weeknoted”, “She weeknotes”, “They are weeknoting”.

X

Xitter

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

Xeet

A post, posted on Xitter.