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Alert: This document is a working draft. If you find an error or have any suggestions, please comment below.
The following conventions of spelling and terminology apply to the manuals, web pages, comments, and (except where they require spaces or hyphens to be used) function and variable names, although consistency in user-visible documentation and diagnostics is more important than that in comments and code. Also don’t forget that the Code Reference is auto-generated from the code. The following table lists some simple cases:
| Use… | …instead of | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| American spelling (in particular -ize, -or) | British spelling (in particular -ise, -our) | |
| “a user” or “a URL” | “an user” or “an URL” | #31894, #36218 |
| “Ajax” | “ajax” or “AJAX” | “The name [Ajax] is shorthand for Asynchronous JavaScript + XML, and it represents a fundamental shift in what’s possible on the Web.” (Source) |
| “back end” (noun) | “back-end” or “backend” | #34887 |
| “back-end” (adjective) | “back end” or “backend” | #34887 |
| “backward compatibility” or “back-compat” | “backwards compatibility” or “backwards compat” | #36835 |
| “Customizer” | “Theme Customizer” or “customizer” | The Customizer isn’t necessarily theme-specific, #29947 |
| “email” | “e-mail” | #26156 |
| “front end” (noun) | “front-end” or “frontend” | #34887 |
| “front-end” (adjective) | “front end” or “frontend” | #34887 |
| “JavaScript” | “Javascript” or “javascript” | #30569 |
| “meta box” | “metabox” | |
| “oEmbed” | “embed” | |
| “retrieve” | “retreive” or “retrive” | “retreive” or “retrive” aren’t words, [2465] |
| “term meta” | “termmeta” | |
| “installation” (noun) | “install” | The word “install” is not a noun. When referring to an instance of WordPress, the correct word to use is “installation”. #41620 |
| “log in” (verb) | “login” | The word “login” is not a verb. When referring to the action of logging in, the correct phrase to use is “log in”. #18294 |
Inspired by the GCC Coding Convention.
Use abbreviations and acronyms only when they are familiar.
In DocBlock comments use the straight single quote (') or the straight double quote ("). In strings, which are visible to users, use curly quotes: The opening single quote (‘), the closing single quote (’), the opening double quote (“), and the closing double quote (”).
See also Butterick’s Practical Typography.
