Welcome to the official home of the WordPress Documentation Team.
This team is responsible for coordinating all documentation initiatives around WordPress, including the handbooks and other general wordsmithing across the WordPress project.
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Start here to find out more about what we do and how to contribute:
Documentation Issue Tracker on GitHub: Submit any Documentation Team-related issues on GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/
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In general, emphasize on the task to be accomplished, rather than how the user should interact with the UIUIUI 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. element.
Use select when referring to the action of the user selecting targets such as menu commands, checkboxes, items, and dropdown lists. Select can be used interchangeably instead of click or check in describing checkboxes and dropdown lists.
In general, hyphenate words beginning with self- such as self-sufficient and self-explanatory, unless self- is followed by a proper noun or it is absolutely necessary to avoid confusion.
In general, emphasize on the task to be accomplished, rather than how the user should interact with the UI element.
Don’t use to describe a UI element such as a menu item, dropdown list option, or button that the user can’t interact with due to certain conditions. Instead, use not available or unavailable. If you must describe their appearance, use appears dimmed.
Use only when an action is recommended, but optional. Don’t use should to indicate probability. If you can’t make a definitive statement, use might or rephrase the statement.
Example
Recommended: You should back up your website regularly.
Use to describe a collection of webpages which are part of a bigger collective, such as the WordPress site. It’s OK to use website instead of site for clarity.
Use to describe putting a device into a energy-saving state without shutting it down.
The computer goes to sleep, or the user can put it to sleep; the computer is then in sleep or in sleep mode. Don’t use the computer is sleeping or the computer is asleep.
OK to use in developer documentation and for a technical audience.
In general, emphasize on the task to be accomplished, rather than how the user should interact with the UI element. Refer to an slider by its label. If you have to use a descriptor, use slider.
In user documentation, it’s OK to use slider when you need to describe the UI element used to set a value on a continuous range of possible values, such as screen brightness or volume.
Use sorry only when the user is asked to do something inconvenient, the user can’t use the product, the application or site is to blame for the situation, or when there is an issue with the product. It’s OK to use sorry for other inconveniences such as data loss, errors, application failure, or when the user has to get help from a support representative.
Example
Recommended: Sorry, the service is temporarily available.
OK to use in developer documentation and for a technical audience.
In general, emphasize on the task to be accomplished, rather than how the user should interact with the UI element. Refer to a spin box by its label. If you have to use a descriptor, use spin box or description box.
It’s OK to use lowercase in developer documentation, such as protocols or commands.
For more information about spelling out abbreviations, see Abbreviations.
Don’t use ssh or SSH as a verb.
Examples
Not recommended:SSHSSHSecure SHell - a protocol for securely connecting to a remote system in addition to or in place of a password. into your remote shell.
Recommended: Use ssh to connect to your remote shell.
In general, emphasize on the task to be accomplished, rather than how the user should interact with the UI element. Refer to a status bar by its label. If you have to use a descriptor, use status bar.
Don’t use stop to mean exit a program or application.
Use stop responding when a program encounters a problem and can’t close itself. Use close to describe the action a program takes to close itself when it has encountered a problem and can’t continue.
Don’t use storage to refer to available space on a disk. Instead, use storage space or disk space.
Use storage device instead of disk to refer generally to external drives such as hard drives, solid-state drives, flash storage, and other types of storage hardware.
In general, don’t hyphenate words beginning with sub- such as subsection, subheading, and subdirectory, unless sub- is followed by a proper noun or it is absolutely necessary to avoid confusion.
In general, don’t hyphenate words beginning with super- such as supercomputer and supercritical, unless super- is followed by a proper noun or it is absolutely necessary to avoid confusion.
When the environment is presumably a touch surface or device, use swipe to describe a short, quick movement in the direction opposite to the way the page scrolls. Include the direction of the swipe—up, down, left, or right—if it’s needed to describe the action.
Don’t use symbol when you mean button or icon. A user can interact with a button or icon but cannot interact with a symbol.
It’s OK to use symbol to refer to text characters, as in the percent symbol (%). Don’t use symbol when you mean character, letter, or digit.
Use sign, not symbol, in the following terms: division sign, equal sign, greater-than sign, less-than sign, minus sign, multiplication sign, number sign, and plus sign.
When referring to a sign or symbol, introduce its spelled-out version and then the sign or symbol in parentheses. It’s acceptable to use a symbol by itself in UI, tables, or headings where space is limited.
