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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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Onboarding to Documentation Team: An overview of what we do and how to collaborate
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Join our discussions of documentation issues here on the blog and on Slack.

The documentation team holds weekly office hours and monthly Contributor Days on each Tuesday of the month in the #docs SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel. It’s also where you can contact the team at any time outside meetings.

Style Guide

Home / Style Guide / Word list and usage dictionary / Symbols

Symbols Edit

& (ampersand)

Don’t use & instead of and in most cases. It is acceptable to use & when referencing 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 that use &, in places with space constraints, such as tables and UI element labels.

The use of & in code is completely fine.

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<> (angle brackets)

Use angle brackets to describe the < and > symbols. Don’t use angle brackets when you mean brackets ([]).

Use opening bracket and closing bracket to distinguish between the left and right brackets.

* (asterisk)

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

Don’t use an asterisk instead of the multiplication sign, or while expressing dimensions. Instead use the multiplication sign.

For more information, see Dimensions and Placeholders.

@ (at sign)

Pronounced as at sign.

In most cases don’t spell out as at sign.

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{} (braces)

Use braces to describe the {} symbols. Don’t use braces.

Use opening braces and closing braces to distinguish between the left and right braces.

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[] (brackets)

Use brackets to describe the [ and ] symbols. Don’t use brackets when you mean angle brackets (<>).

Use opening bracket and closing brackets to distinguish between the left and right brackets.

º (degree symbol)

Use degree symbol to describe the º symbol.

It’s OK to use degree or degrees instead of the degree symbol.

Don’t insert a space between the numerical value, the degree symbol and the unit of measurement.

Examples

Warning: Not recommended: 70º F

Warning: Not recommended: 70 ºF

Warning: Not recommended: 70 º F

Tip: Recommended: 70ºF

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÷ (division sign)

Not division symbol.

For more information about fractions and division, see Numbers.

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= (equal sign)

Not equal’s sign, equals sign, or equal symbol.

Insert a space before and after the equal sign.

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.htaccess

Use code font.

For more information, see Filenames.

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– (minus sign)

Not minus symbol.

Use an en dash to indicate the minus sign. While writing an equation with a minus sign, insert a space before and after the minus sign (en dash).

For more information, see En dashes.

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× (multiplication sign)

Not multiplication symbol.

It is OK to use x instead of the multiplication sign (×).

For more information, see Dimensions and Placeholders.

# (number sign)

Not number symbol.

Always spell out number in number sign. Don’t use pound sign or number symbol.

Examples

Warning: Not recommended: #99

Tip: Recommended: number 99

Don’t use the number sign preceding a numeral. Instead, spell out number. It’s acceptable to abbreviate number as no., but consider a global audience; as many languages don’t abbreviate number as no. which may cause confusion.

It’s OK to use the # symbol to indicate a hashtag. Don’t use number sign to refer to the hashtag.

+ (plus sign)

Not plus symbol.

Don’t use the plus sign as a synonym for terms such as and, plus, and over.

It’s OK to use the plus sign in UI, tables, or headings where space is limited.

Last updated: September 12, 2021