F

fail

OK to use in developer documentation and for a technical audience. Avoid using in user documentation and for a general audience; instead, use stop responding or a contextually relevant term in user documentation.

See also stop, stop responding.

fail over, failover

Two words as a verb, one word as a noun or an adjective. Avoid using in user documentation and for a general audience.

FAQ

Initialism for Frequently Asked Questions. Use uppercase.

Use an FAQ, not a FAQ.

For more information about spelling out abbreviations, see Abbreviations.

far-left, far-right

Don’t use. Instead, use leftmost or rightmost.

In general, avoid using directional language such as left, right, up, down in instructions to locate UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface – the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. elements or other content. Directional language proves to be difficult for accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) or for localization. People with cognitive impairments, as well as people using assistive technologies such as screen-reading software and might have difficulty interpreting directional language. If a particular UI element or other content is difficult to convey, include a screenshot or illustration.

For more information, see Procedures and instructions.

field

In general, emphasize on the task to be accomplished, rather than how the user should interact with the UI element.

Don’t use to refer to a text-entry box. Instead, refer to the box by its label. If you have to use a descriptor, use box instead of field.

OK to use in developer documentation and for a technical audience.

file

Whenever possible, use a more specific term, such as document, zip file, or CSSCSS CSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site. file.

See also filename.

filename

One word. Not file name or file-name.

For more information, see Filenames.

filesystem

One word. Not file system or file-system.

fill in, fill out

Use fill in when referring to entering information in individual fields. Use fill out when referring to completing an entire form.

Example

finalize

Don’t use. Instead, use finish or complete.

find and replace

Use find and replace as separate verbs, not a single verb phrase such as find and replace.

Don’t use find and replace or find-and-replace as a noun or an adjective.

Examples

Don’t use global to describe finding and replacing. Instead, use all instances or all occurrences.

Use find characters and replacement characters to describe what the customer enters into a find or replace box.

firmware

One word. Not firm ware or firm-ware.

flag

Don’t use in a command-line context. Instead, use option.

For more information, see Command-line syntax.

flick

OK to use in developer documentation and for a technical audience. Avoid using in user documentation and for a general audience; instead, use swipe.

See also swipe.

flush, flush to

OK to use in developer documentation and for a technical audience. Avoid using in user documentation and for a general audience. Don’t use flush, flush to, flush left, or flush right to describe text alignment. Instead, use even, left-aligned, or right-aligned, as appropriate.

See also left align, left-aligned, right align, right-aligned.

folder

In general, emphasize on the task to be accomplished, rather than how the user should interact with the UI element. In developer content, folders are usually referred to as directories.

Not all folders contain files or other folders. Describe the nature or appearance of the folder if necessary.

In procedures and instructions, use bold formatting for the folder name if you’re instructing the user to interact with the folder.

For more instructions, see Procedures and instructions and UI elements.

following

Use following as an adjective to introduce a table, list, or other content. If following is the last word before what it introduces, follow it with a colon.

Examples

For more information, see Table placement and Lists.

font, font style, font size

Use font, not font family, typeface, or face for the name of a typeface design such as Helvetica.

To refer to the formatting, such as bold, underlined, or italic, use font style, not type style or typeface attribute.

Use font size, not type size for the point size such as 10 points or 12 points.

For information about when to use various font styles, see Text formatting.

foo, foobar, fubar

Avoid using. Instead, use a clearer and more meaningful placeholder with relevant text.

For more information, see Placeholders.

footer

Use instead of bottom running head or running foot.

See also header.

foreign

Don’t use to describe any geographic locations. Instead, use the names of the respective countries or regions, or use phrases such as countries other than the US and US only.

for instance

Avoid when possible. Instead, use for example or such as.

format, formatted, formatting

Use format to refer to the overall layout, arrangement, or appearance of text, graphics and other elements in a document.

Use formatting or formatted to refer to specific character formatting, paragraph formatting, and other types of formatting.

For more information, see Document structure and Text formatting.

See also font, font style.

freeze, frozen

Don’t use freeze as a synonym for stop responding. Don’t use frozen to describe the resulting state.

Instead, use stop or stop responding when a program encounters a problem and can’t close itself.

See also stop, stop responding.

from

Use to indicate a specific place or time as a starting point.

Examples

front end, front-end

Two words as a noun, hyphenate as an adjective.

OK to use in developer documentation and for a technical audience. Avoid using in user documentation and for a general audience; instead, use interface, program, app, or a contextually relevant and accurate term.

FTP

Initialism for File Transfer Protocol. Use uppercase.

For more information about spelling out abbreviations, see Abbreviations.

full-

Use a hyphen in compound adjectives beginning with full-.

Examples

• full-size
• full-page
• full-time

For more information, see Hyphens.

For word usage of specific terms, see The American Heritage Dictionary.

full screen, full-screen

Two words as a noun. Hyphenate as an adjective before a noun.

functionality

Avoid using. Use only to refer to a set of functions and their specified properties.

Whenever possible, use a simpler term such as features instead.