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, style, please).


 * acronyms
 * Spell out on first reference where appropriate.
 * When each letter is pronounced individually, use capital letters.
 * When they are pronounced as a word, capitalise only the first letter.
 * When "small words" are used, follow the organisation's preference.
 * 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.


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


 * 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.
 * British place names should use the constituent country or "U.K." depending on context. Do not use both.
 * Use short names of countries where possible.
 * 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 in technical contexts, else use standard rules regarding regional differences.


 * dash
 * An en-dash should be used with a space.
 * An em-dash does not have surrounding spaces.
 * Be consistent in usage; only use one type in any given article.
 * Use a figure dash or hyphen when connecting two dates.


 * 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 not the, as it is shared across multiple European organisations.


 * ICBM
 * Acceptable on first reference for intercontinental ballistic missile. Expand somewhere in the text.
 * Not ; 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
 * On second reference, omit "Lord".
 * 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.
 * Although French overseas départements are considered literally part of France itself, they should be introduced on their own, as simply, and not.


 * 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.
 * Where needed, spell out the award as a sentence.


 * Supreme Court
 * Specify which.
 * A supreme court is not capitalised. The Supreme Court is.


 * unique
 * Do not use, or.


 * 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.