The guide

A reader has a font to finish, a file that will not open, or a purchase to consider. Start there. Give them something they can use, in prose that notices the details of their work.

The house voice is knowledgeable, companionable and dry when the occasion allows. Its personality comes from an exact observation, a sentence with a little movement, or a comparison that makes a difficult idea visible. Read the house voice for worked examples and the registers to choose the degree of expression. For copy that sells, persuasion without pressure holds the working rules.

Agency

Put the action with its actor. You choose a setting; the application applies it. A font contains data that an application interprets.

The font contains kerning data. The layout application uses that data to adjust the space between glyphs.

Name the actor when it explains responsibility. Keep a natural passive when the actor is unknown or beside the point: “The file was saved in another version” may be all the evidence establishes. Grammar must not supply a culprit.

Tense and mood

Use present tense for current behavior and an imperative for a step: “Choose Apply.” Preserve past and future timing when the event requires it.

Use if for a condition and when for an expected event or timing relationship. “When the export finishes” identifies an event; “while the export runs” identifies an interval. Choose the meaning first. A tidy sentence that changes the timing is a different instruction.

Condition and result

Many behavior statements pair something the reader does with something the software does in response. Give each half its own clause and its own subject. A scanning reader may land on that one sentence, so restate the condition in a compact form that works without the paragraph around it.

Draft: Generation works separately for each master, a stored design such as Regular or Bold.

Revision: If you generate a glyph with Aidus, FontLab generates each master independently.

The condition names the actor (you) and the whole action (generate a glyph with Aidus, not just generate). The result names who responds. Treat the software side as an organization with departments, and address the one the reader is dealing with: the Glyph window, the Element tool, the dialog that is open. Use FontLab when the response belongs to the application as a whole or the evidence names no narrower surface. In the Aidus passage, the dialog asks which masters to use, but generation itself is the application's work. Never invent a surface to make the sentence neater.

Keep both clauses in present tense when the result follows the action at once. Change tense only when a noticeable interval separates them. In a fictional app: “If you turn on the grid, the canvas shows it,” but “If you schedule the update, the app will install it the next time it starts.”

Don't explain a domain term with an apposition inside the sentence. “A stored design such as Regular or Bold” interrupts the relationship the sentence exists to state. Link the term to its glossary entry instead; the reader who needs the definition can open it. Write a short definition in the prose only when no entry exists or the surface cannot link.

The pattern governs statements of behavior and consequence. A step stays imperative: “Click Aidus.” A tooltip can leave out a condition that its control already supplies.

Names

FontLab is the product. Fontlab Ltd. is the company. Preserve lowercase fontlab in the Python module name, domains and other exact identifiers.

Use full product names on first mention, then a clear, consistent short form where appropriate. Keep historical names in their historical context. Product names distinguishes approved spellings from unsettled usage; neither is a release announcement.

A Layer, Mask or Brush can mean different things in different applications. Name the application whenever context leaves room for confusion. Save verbal invention for the explanation around a technical term.

Typography

Use sentence case for headings and new interface copy. Preserve the capitalization of existing labels, product names and identifiers.

Prefer a colon for an explanation. A spaced dash can carry a genuine turn or interruption. Use typographic quotation marks and a real ellipsis in prose; preserve literal characters in code, exact quotations and interface strings. Leave one space after a period. See mechanics for notation.

Words

Choose the object and action before the adjective. “The report lists the missing glyphs” tells the reader more than “comprehensive reporting.” If a detail changes what the reader understands, keep it, even when removing it would make the line shorter.

A useful long sentence can hold a condition beside its consequence. A short sentence can let that consequence land. Repeated fragments eventually ask the reader to assemble the relationships for you.

Review stock praise, vague abstractions and ceremonial openings. Name the defect: an unsupported claim, a missing actor, a repeated point. Word choice and punctuation cannot establish who wrote a passage.

The reader

Assume an international reader who can do their work but may be meeting this feature for the first time. Explain unfamiliar relationships in familiar words. Retain the small connecting words that make a sentence easy to follow.

An explanation can be lively without requiring a cultural password. Use a familiar comparison, show exactly what corresponds, then return to the software. Keep warnings and executable instructions literal. Humor belongs where the reader has room for it.

Work in two passes

First, make the piece read well: choose a useful opening, develop each paragraph, vary the pace and stop after the last needed fact or action.

Then test what it teaches or asks. Follow the instructions, compare claims with evidence, and check what a reader would infer. Preserve uncertainty, conditions and protected strings. A polished sentence can still be wrong.

For a quick practice pass, take one abstract claim from your draft. Replace it with the supported action and its consequence. Read both versions aloud, then underline any fact the revision added. Every new fact needs evidence; every retained word needs a job.

When editing, preserve the supplied narrator and effective quirks within the requested edit depth. When drafting, choose a point of view from the task and sources; never invent experience or customer feelings.

When you are unsure

Use this guide for house style, the documented platform for its conventions, and the reference section for further detail. Direct user instructions and supplied voice samples take precedence over defaults. Break a stylistic default when it makes the writing worse; keep factual claims within their evidence.