Writing Style Guide

English

No Available Languages

Need another language? Join translation team

Writing Style Guide

The MakerDAO Community Writing Style Guide summarizes the standards and best practices Writers should follow when contributing to Community Development resources.

In addition to this guide, Writers are encouraged to study the contributor resources before starting work on a Community Development project.

Writing Intent and Tone

MakerDAO Community Development materials should cater to readers who are unfamiliar with the Maker system. Writers should also assume that their readers have tight schedules and short attention spans.

As such, Writers should focus on communicating concepts as clearly and succinctly as possible.

Use simple language.
Use short, concise sentences.
Avoid unnecessary words.
Remain open and objective.
Provide examples when possible.
Provide examples to help explain concepts, but avoid overcomplicating them.
- Use math when necessary, but keep it simple.
Link to basic terms if necessary.

Writer Guidelines

General Rules

Run all drafts through Grammarly regularly, and before final submissions.
- Grammarly will catch most spelling and grammatical errors.
- Copy rendered text into Grammarly and address any mistakes it flags.
  - HackMD does not identify spelling and grammatical errors.
  - Grammarly will miss errors if it’s given raw Markdown text.
  - Be careful of copy and pasting code from grammarly to VScode, grammarly may mess with formatting.

Please Note

When migrating to a new document (i.e., from Google Docs to HackMD):
- Leave a note in the old file.
- Provide a link to the latest version.
Do not blindly accept Grammarly suggestions.
- Review edits to make sure they make sense.

Use:

Oxford commas.
Pluralized, gender-neutral pronouns.
- Use “they/their” instead of “he/she/his/hers.”
- Examples: “When they…” or “If users choose to X, then their…”

The

symbol. Do not spell out "percent."

Correct: 15%
Incorrect: 15 percent

Double quotes
```
" "
```
for phrases, quotes, etc.
- Do not use single
```
' '
```
  quotes.

Avoid:

First-person language.
- Examples: I, we, our, etc.
Second-person language (unless it is appropriate for a guide or action page).
- Examples: "You then..." or "Now you should..."
Exclamation points.
Footnotes.
References to Purple Paper names.
- Examples: Flip, Flap, Flop, etc.
Parentheses for stating additional information.
- Incorrect: Development Grants are larger sized ($5,000 to $50,000) grants aimed at individuals or teams building projects around Dai and the broader MakerDAO ecosystem.
- Correct: Development Grants are generally larger sized grants, ranging from $5,000 to $50,000, aimed at individuals or teams building projects around Dai and the broader MakerDAO ecosystem.

Abbreviations

Use parentheses to define abbreviated terms the first time they appear in a given document.
- Example: A Community Development Initiative Proposal (CDIP) is a proposal framework to support new initiatives and to expand the scope of existing ones.
Use "Comm-Dev" as the shortened version of "Community Development."

Acronyms, Decades and Cases

Do not use apostrophes to pluralize acronyms or indicate decades. Add an "s" at the end.

Acronyms

To make an acronym plural:
- Correct: SCDs
- Incorrect: SCD's

Decades

To indicate a decade:
- Correct: 1990s
- Incorrect: 1990's

Capitalize

Names and proper nouns.
Cities, countries, nationalities, and languages.
Terms with definitions provided by MakerDAO.
Comm-Dev role titles.
- Examples: Lead, Approver, Advisor, etc.

Title Case

The Title Case Converter will keep titles consistent.
Follow the New York Times standard.
Capitalize the first and last words, all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives.
Lowercase all articles, conjunctions, and prepositions.

Currencies

The examples below use dollars, but the same rules apply to all global currencies.

Use lowercase except when writing "US Dollar.”
Use figures and the "$" sign in all except casual references, or amounts without a figure.
- Standard: "The book costs $4."
- Casual: "Please give me a dollar."
For amounts under $1 million, follow this format:
- Correct: $4, $25, $500, $1,000, $650,000.
For amounts over $1 million, use the word, not numerals.
- Correct: "He is worth $4 million."
- Incorrect: "He is worth $4,000,000."

Naming Conventions

Cryptocurrencies

When directly referring to the creation, destruction, or manipulation of a token (particularly as it relates to tooling):
- Use the capitalized TLA version:
```
DAI
```
- Example: “Draw DAI against ETH from a Vault.”
Similarly, when referring to exchange pairs:
- Use:
```
ETH/DAI
```
When referencing the token as a currency, in an instructional or conversational setting, or as a conceptual product of the Foundation or its systems:
- Use:
```
Dai
```
- Example: “Dai is a price-stable asset that can be used as money.”

MakerDAO

When referring to MakerDAO as a smart contract system, use "The Maker Protocol."
- Example: “The Maker Protocol facilitates DAI generation."
When referring to MakerDAO as a body of MKR voters and the general stakeholder community, use "Maker Community" or "MakerDAO."
- Example: "MakerDAO passed a vote to increase the Stability Fee."
- Example: "The Maker Community passed a vote to increase the Stability Fee."
Use "Maker" for casual references to MakerDAO and the Maker Protocol as a whole.
Always distinguish the Maker Foundation from MakerDAO.

Numbers

Spell out numbers below 10.
- Examples: one, two, three, etc.
Use numerals for numbers above 10, unless starting a sentence.
For numbers with million, billion, or trillion, use figures in all except casual cases.
- Standard: "The nation has 1 million citizens."
- Casual: "I'd like to make a billion dollars."

Lists

When bulleted and numbered lists contain complete sentences, capitalize the first word, and follow each with a period. If list items are phrases, no capitalization or punctuation is required.

Use parallel construction for each item in a list.
Start with the same part of speech for each item (in this case, a verb).
Use the same verb tense for each item.
Use the same voice for each item.
Use the same sentence type (statement, question, exclamation) for each item.
List items that include definitions should look like this:
- Team: Core team and Advisors are critical to MakerDAO's success.
- Community: Sentiment analysis is invaluable.
Use dashes rather than asterisks for unordered lists.
- Correct:
```
-
```
- Incorrect:
```
*
```
Alphabetize lists of names unless there is a clear priority at work.
Do not use ordered (numbered) lists unless order matters.
Ordered list items should use the
```
#1
```
repeated.
- Markdown will automatically generate numbers.

Example:

Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Item 3a
Item 3b

Tables of Contents

Include a table of contents for documents that span several pages and multiple sections.
Use the raw Markdown from the Table of Contents above as a template.
- Be sure to include the line breaks
```
---
```
  as well to keep formatting consistent.
The table of contents should list relevant sections for easy navigation.

Markdown Guide

MakerDAO documents posted on GitHub are written in Markdown, a text-to-HTML conversion tool for web writers.

Include line breaks above and below headings.
Use top-level headers
```
#
```
only once per document.
- Do not make multiple top-level headings.
Avoid repeat headings.
- They will break auto-generated navigation.
Avoid trailing spaces.
Do not use:
- Em or en dashes:
```
—
```
- Ampersands
```
&
```
  in titles and headers.
- Pipes
```
|
```
  in titles and headers.
- Curly quotes. Use the plaintext version.
  - Correct:
```
"
```
  - Incorrect:
```
“
```
- Escaping parentheses. Use normal parentheses.
  - Correct:
```
(SOMETHING)
```
  - Incorrect:
```
$SOMETHING$
```
Ensure there is a single hard return at the end of a .md file.
Use emojis and .MDX React components to call attention to an important point, when necessary.
- Practice discretion and use them sparingly.
- This cheat sheet lists emojis and their Markdown shortcuts.

Best Practices and Resources

Writers and contributors familiar with MakerDAO and cryptocurrency basics will have a better sense of where to apply their skills best.

Spend some time learning about MakerDAO's function, history, and any recent events before contributing.
In-depth knowledge is appreciated but not required.

Learn the Basics of Markdown

Daring Fireball

Markdown Syntax Guide

Practice Communicating Using Markdown

Helpful Writing Tools

Make use of any writing tools that help improve workflow and writing quality. See the list below for some recommendations.

Text Editors

Grammarly

Mistake-free writing editor

HemingwayApp

Make writing bold and clear

Word Choice

Thesaurus

Synonyms

Powerthesaurus

Synonyms and phrase suggestions

WordHippo