Validated on 4 Apr 2023 • Last edited on 17 Apr 2025
When in doubt, we default to the Microsoft style guide, but this style guide supersedes any guidelines from Microsoft.
The DigitalOcean community is bigger than just us; it’s truly global. Our content and our products — including Cloudways — help people all over the world to create. With that wide reach comes a huge responsibility for us to make inclusive content that’s accessible and clear to all people. We take that responsibility seriously.
Be thoughtful about your use of language and prioritize clarity over cleverness.
On first use in a document:
For well-known acronyms, use the acronym first. Favor putting the full word or phrase in parentheses after.
For acronyms that are not well-known, put the full word or phrase first and the acronym in parentheses after.
Don’t use terms that may carry unconscious bias, sensitive subjects, or associations with military actions, politics, or historical events and eras. Use gender-neutral alternatives for common terms.
Always spell out the name of the month in full.
Use “AM” and “PM” preceded by a space to denote times.
Don’t use ordinal numbers for dates.
How to talk about DigitalOcean and its products.
Follow RFC-2606 (example.com/net/org/edu), RFC-5737 (203.0.113.0/24 and 198.51.100.0/24), and RFC-3849 (2001:DB8::/32).
Link text describes where the link takes the reader or the benefit of clicking the link so they know what to expect when they follow it.
Link text describes where the link takes the reader or the benefit of clicking the link so they know what to expect when they follow it.
Use the pronoun “they” to refer to either a group of people or an individual.
Use verbs in the present tense, not future tense. Be definitive about what happens when the user takes an action.
Use descriptive verbs to reduce the wordiness of your sentence.
Don’t use idioms, slang, and colloquialisms as a central metaphor in your writing, and very sparingly aside.
Try using different keywords or simplifying your search terms.