Product Documentation Style Guide

The DigitalOcean Product Documentation Style Guide outlines the voice and tone we use in our docs, as well as our conscious decisions on grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and other elements of style.

Above all, we make choices to provide clarity to our readers. We also make decisions about the small details to keep our docs consistent and to prevent us and other contributors from repeatedly making the same calls.

Our style and our documentation are constantly evolving. Because we don’t always update all of our existing docs when we update our style guide, you may see older content that isn’t consistent. Always err on the side of following this guide.

Product Docs Grammar and Language

We follow the broader DigitalOcean style guide, with a few augmentations and small modifications.

DigitalOcean Style Guide

Guidelines for writing about DigitalOcean.

• Use use_your_<variable> for placeholders, like use_your_droplet_ip.

• Format dates in date/month/year order, as in 1 January 1970.

• Use first-person plural (we) when speaking as the author or as the voice of DigitalOcean. Use second-person singular (you) when addressing the user.

• In titles for pages in our product IA, use the singular of product names (e.g. Droplet Overview instead of Droplets Overview), except for Spaces.

• When adding external links, make sure the external content is maintained. Only link to unmaintained, time-bound content (like the DigitalOcean blog) from similarly unmaintained, time-bound content (like release notes).

• Avoid Latin, like “e.g.” or “i.e.”, and instead use “for example” or “that is”.

• Use the active voice, not the passive voice.

Detailed Reference

Product Docs Voice and Tone

DigitalOcean Product Docs use a calm, neutral, task-focused voice and tone that prioritizes clarity, precision, and task completion.

Support Articles

How to write clear, solution-focused support articles that help users diagnose and resolve problems.

Documentation Types

How documentation structure and purpose vary by type while maintaining a consistent product documentation tone.

Screenshots

When and how to use screenshots in product documentation.

LLM-Friendly Content

How to write product documentation that is clear and well-structured for both human readers and LLM-based tools.

Self-Sufficiency Review Checklist

A review checklist to ensure product documentation pages are accurate and complete for readers who arrive without prior context.

Article Structure

How to structure documentation articles for clarity, consistency, and predictable flow.

Glossary Articles

How to write and structure product docs glossary articles.

Documenting Code

How to document and format code examples clearly and consistently in Product Docs.

Formatting

Rules for consistent formatting of text, code, links, and notices in Product Docs.