Abbreviations#
Unless an abbreviation is common, spell out the words of the abbreviation on the first use in an article or topic. Show the abbreviation in parentheses after the spelled-out term; for example, access control list (ACL). On subsequent uses in the article or topic, use the abbreviation. If you introduce an abbreviation, use it; don’t alternate between the abbreviation and the spelled-out term.
Note
In FAQ documents, treat every occurrence of a term as the first use (that is, spell out the term and show the abbreviation in parentheses on every occurrence).
Don’t capitalize the spelled-out term unless it’s a proper name or normally capitalized. For example, the spelled-out term for AJAX is Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, but the spelled-out term for ACL is access control list.
Also use the following guidelines related to abbreviations.
Guideline |
Use |
Don’t use |
|---|---|---|
Don’t show both the spelled-out term and its abbreviation in a title or heading. In most cases, use the abbreviation in the title or heading and show the spelled-out term and its abbreviation on first use in the text. |
Adding an ACL An access control list (ACL) allows access from an outside network into the ObjectRocket system. |
Adding an access control list (ACL) An ACL allows access from an outside network into the ObjectRocket system. |
Use only established abbreviations. Don’t create new ones. |
hybrid cloud |
HC |
Don’t use abbreviated forms of Rackspace product names. However, if you think that a user might use an abbreviated name in a search, you can tag the document with the abbreviation. |
Cloud Block Storage |
CBS |
If an abbreviation is used as part of a compound modifier, hyphenate it as you would a word. For more information, see Hyphens in compound modifiers. |
1000-bps rate |
1000 bps rate |
Don’t surround abbreviations with quotation marks. |
OS |
“OS” |
Use periods only if the abbreviation normally has them (for example, etc. although this should not be used in Rackspace content) or could otherwise be misread as a word, such as in. (for inch). |
FAQ |
F.A.Q. |
Don’t use an abbreviation as a verb. |
Use FTP to copy the file to the server. |
FTP the file to the server. |
Avoid using abbreviations in the possessive. Instead, treat the abbreviation as an adjective or put it in a prepositional phrase. |
Type the DBA password. Type the password of the DBA. |
Type the DBA’s password. |
To form the plural of an abbreviation, except for a unit of measure, append a lowercase s without an apostrophe. For most abbreviations of units of measure, the singular and plural forms are the same (for example, 1 pt and 10 pt). If an acronym already represents a plural noun, don’t add an s. |
user IDs 10 mm FAQ |
user ID’s 10 mms FAQs |
For abbreviated units of measure, insert a space between the number and the abbreviation. Insert a hyphen if the phrase is a compound modifier. |
256 MB 100-GB drive |
256MB 100GB drive 100 GB drive |
Don’t use Latin abbreviations or non-English words and phrases. For more information, see Avoid obscure non-English words and abbreviations. |
for example |
e.g. |
Abbreviations of byte and bit#
Byte is abbreviated with an uppercase B. Bit is abbreviated with a lowercase b. For example, gigabyte is abbreviated as GB, and gigabit is abbreviated as Gb. In general, use such abbreviations only with a number value; otherwise, spell out the term. If you want to emphasize bit or byte, use the spelled-out term rather than or in addition to the abbreviation.
Examples |
|---|
The 100-GB drive appears as 107.4 GB because of how the megabytes are counted. |
The unit of value for this alarm is megabits per second (Mbps). |
Common abbreviations#
A common abbreviation is either an industry-standard abbreviation or one that is well known to your target audience. Following are some common abbreviations in the computer industry. You don’t need to spell out these terms on first use, unless you think the abbreviation is unfamiliar to your audience.
API, ASCII, BIOS, CD, CD-ROM, CGI, CLI, CPU, CSS, DNS, DVD, FAQ, FTP, GB, GHz, GUI, GUID, HTML, HTTP, HTTPS, ID, IMAP, I/O, IP, JSON, KB, kHz, LAN, LDAP, MB, MHz, NIC, NTFS, OLE, OS, PDF, PHP, POP, RAM, REST, ROM, SGML, SMTP, SQL, SSL, TCP, TCP/IP, URI, URL, USB, VLAN, WAN, XML