User:Microchip08/sg

This is my personal style guide; other style guides exist – this one is merely a thought exercise. Feel free to contribute, or comment (in-line, meatball: style, please).

acronyms

Spell out on first reference where appropriate.

When each letter is pronounced individually, use capital letters. BBC YMCA GFDL

When they are pronounced as a word, capitalise only the first letter. Norad Nasa Unicef Nato Unesco

When "small words" are used, follow the organisation's preference. TfL

When the acronym is generally styled as completely lower case, follow that preference. Try not to start a sentence with it, but uppercase the lot if you do. Xkcd xkcd XKCD

Balkans

The term can be seen as pejorative; avoid.

Britain

Use only when referring to England, Wales and Scotland. Use "United Kingdom" if Northern Ireland is involved.

camel case

Avoid capitals in the middle of words. Wikileaks Mediawiki

An exception is made for when only a single letter at the start or end of a word is differently cased. iPhone SpaceX

cities

All city names should be followed by the country in question, unless the city is universally well known.

U.S. cities should use the corresponding state instead. Canadian cities, the province. Boston, Massachussetts

British place names should use the constituent country or "U.K." depending on context. Do not use both. Cardiff, Wales Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom

Use short names of countries where possible. Republic of France France

The following stand alone:

Africa:

• Cairo
• Johannesburg
• Pretoria

Americas:

• Calgary
• Chicago
• Honolulu
• Houston
• Los Angeles
• Mexico City
• New York
• San Francisco
• Sao Paulo
• Toronto
• Washington

Asia

• Beijing
• Hong Kong
• Jerusalem
• Mumbai
• New Delhi
• Rio de Janerio
• Shanghai
• Tokyo

Europe:

• Berlin
• Brussels
• Dublin
• Edinburgh
• Geneva
• Glasgow
• London
• Madrid
• Moscow
• Paris
• Paris
• Prague
• Rome
• Stockholm
• Strasbourg
• Vatican City
• Zurich

Oceania:

• Sydney

color

Use color in technical contexts, else use standard rules regarding regional differences.

dash

An en-dash should be used with a space. Foo – bar

An em-dash does not have surrounding spaces. Foo—bar

Be consistent in usage; only use one type in any given article.

Use a figure dash or hyphen when connecting two dates. 1914–1918 1939‒1945

disputed territories

Articles relating to disputed territories should be placed into the categories of all parties involved.

European Union

The supranational organisation. EU is acceptable as first reference, but expand somewhere in the article if possible.

Its legislative body is the European Parliament, elected every four years by the citizens of its twenty-eight member states. :Its executive body is the European Commission.

Do not conflate the European Council, a meeting with the heads of government of the EU states, with the Council of Europe, a separate organisation.

The flag is the Flag of Europe not the Flag of the European Union, as it is shared across multiple European organisations.

ICBM

Acceptable on first reference for intercontinental ballistic missile. Expand somewhere in the text.

Not ICBM missile; that is redundant.

IRA

Acceptable as first reference for Irish Republican Army, an organisation devoted to removing British influence from Northern Ireland.

Expand the acronym somewhere in the article.

lords

Members of the House of Lords should be referred by their title on first reference. Do not prefix with "the", nor use their forename unless appropriate. Avoid pre- and post-nominals

Lord Sugar the Lord Sugar Rt. Hon. Lord Sugar, Kt.

On second reference, omit "Lord".

Nasa

Acceptable in all references for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

overseas territories

Do not reference the "parent" country. Gibraltar, United Kingdom

Although French overseas départements are considered literally part of France itself, they should be introduced on their own, as simply Réunion, and not French Guiana, France.

talk pages

Use colons to indent a talk page; do not use bullet points – you are not making a list.

parentheses

Avoid use of parentheses where possible. If you are using them, it is often a sign that your sentence needs refactoring.

Consider using dashes instead: they are less jarring to the reader.

post-nominals

Do not use post-nominals, such as VC.

Where needed, spell out the award as a sentence. Bader, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, …

Supreme Court

Specify which. U.S. Supreme Court

A supreme court is not capitalised. The Supreme Court is.

unique

Do not use rather unique, or very unique.

Ukraine

"the Ukraine" refers to the Soviet constituent and should not be used to refer to the current country.

Wikinews

Italicise only when referring to the output of Wikinews; use normal font style when referring to the project.