Styleguide

This document serves as the official Styleguide for R74n projects and lists canonical forms of many words and phrases.

Feel free to use this standard in your own writing, or adapt it!

Effective: 28 Oct 2026

Spelling & capitalization

General

• For English text, American spelling is preferred over British.
  • color, not colour
  • realize, not realise
  • meter, not metre
  • program, not programme
  • gray, not grey
• In titles, determiners (the) and prepositions (of) are not capitalized, except as the first word. (The United States of America)
• Pages should not start with "This is a..." or anything similar. lInstead, jump straight to the point (Collection of...).
• Text content on the main R74n website is written in first-person-plural perspective, meaning R74n is referred to by "we", "our", and "us".
• In a series of gendered forms, the order should follow: Gender neutral, feminine, masculine.
• Non-title headers should be capitalized with sentence case (Recent changes).
• Text content generally uses family-friendly words and phrases to refer to sensitive subjects.

Words & phrases

• accessible (Instead of handicap)
• adblock, adblocker
• aroace
• artificial intelligence, AI
• attorneys general
• Black (Referring to race)
• cacti (Instead of cactuses)
• cellphone
• chili (Instead of chile)
• chocolatey (Instead of chocolaty)
• cinder block
• COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus (General), the coronavirus (Specific family), Long COVID, Beta variant
• data (Singular and plural, instead of datum)
• data center
• display name (Of an account)
• DM (Instead of PM or IM where needed), DMing, DMs, DM'd
• doughnut
• e-book
• e-cigarette
• e.g.
• ecommerce
• email, emailing
• emoji (Singular and plural)
• etc. (With preceding comma)
• e-reader
• exclamation mark (Instead of exclamation point)
• FAQ, FAQs (Multiple lists of questions, not the questions themselves)
• feminine (Instead of female)
• For You page, FYP
• Generation Z (First mention, noun), Gen Z (Subsequent mentions or adjective)
• generative AI, GenAI, AI-generated
• GIF (Pronounced with hard G), GIFs
• group chat
• guidebook
• Hanukkah
• Hispanic
• a historic (Instead of an historic)
• i.e.
• Indigenous (Instead of Native)
• the Internet (Always capitalized)
• jack-o'-lantern
• JELL-O (Brand), jell-o (Generic)
• jetpack
• JPEGs (Noun), .JPG
• K-9 (Dog)
• K-pop, J-pop
• keybind, keyboard shortcut
• LARP, LARPer, LARPing
• Latin American (Neutral), Latina (Feminine), Latino (Masculine)
• LGBTQ+
• log in (Verb, instead of sign in), log into, login (Noun)
• macaroni and cheese, mac 'n' cheese
• masculine (Instead of male)
• memeing
• mentioned (Instead of @'d or pinged)
• mic (Abbreviation of microphone, instead of mike)
• moose (Plural, instead of meese)
• Mr.
• Ms. (Instead of Miss or Mrs. where possible)
• nonbinary (Instead of non-binary)
• Northern/Southern Hemisphere
• octopi (Instead of octopuses)
• pajamas (Instead of PJs where possible)
• PDFs
• period (Instead of full stop)
• person with [particular condition] (Instead of disabled, handicapped)
• PhD, PhDs
• pixel art-style
• PNGs
• PoC (Person of color), PoCs (People of color)
• PoS (Point of sale), PoS's (Points of sale)
• Pride Month
• Q&A (Instead of QnA), Q&As
• quotation mark
• ragebait
• ratioing, ratio'd
• refresh [the page]
• regardless (Instead of irregardless)
• register (Verb, instead of sign up), register on, registration (Instead of sign-in)
• reload [the app]
• rock 'n' roll
• screenshot (Instead of screencap or screengrab)
• smartphone
• smartwatch
• Spring, Summer, Fall (Preferred over Autumn), Winter
• styleguide (Except this one, which is capitalized)
• stylesheet
• T-rex (Instead of T. rex)
• themself (Singular, instead of themselves)
• themselves (Plural)
• they, them, their, theirs (Instead of "he or she", "his or hers", etc.)
• transgender (Instead of transsexual), trans (After first mention)
• two-spirit
• unhoused (Instead of homeless)
• username
• VC (Voice chat), VCing, VC'd
• voicemail
• voiceover
• White (Referring to race)
• worldgen (Abbreviation for world generation)
• yogurt
• 11 September (Instead of 9/11 on first mention), 6 January, 7 October
• an 8-ball

• Apple
  • iPhone, iPhones, iPad, iPads, Mac device (Not iMac or MacBook unless being specific)
  • iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, visionOS
  • AirPod (Singular), AirPods (Plural and brand), AirPods Max (Plural and brand)
  • Animoji, Memoji (Humanoid)
  • HomePod [mini]
• AT&T
• Bitcoin
• Bitmoji
• BlackBerry, BlackBerrys
• Bluesky
• ChatGPT, GPT-5.6
• Facebook (Platform), Meta (Company)
• FaceTime, FaceTiming
• Google, Googling
• GPT
• IMDb
• Instagram
  • our Instagram [account]
  • Reels (Feature), reel/reels (Individual)
  • Stories (Feature), story/stories (Individual)
• JavaScript, .JS
• Nasdaq
• Photoshop, [image] editing (Instead of photoshopping)
• Pinterest, Pin (Noun and verb), Pins, board
• Reddit, Redditor, subreddit, r/me_irl, upvote, downvote
• Shopify, Shopify store
• Snapchat, Snap (Visual message and verb), Story, Snapchat Streak (Not Snapstreak), Snapchatting
• SoundCloud
• TikTok, TikToker, TikTok [video], TikToks, TikTok [account]
• Twitch stream, Twitch streaming, Twitch streamer
• Twitter (Instead of X)
  • Tweet (Post on Twitter), quote Tweet
  • Twitter Premium (Instead of X Premium or Twitter Blue), [Twitter] Verification
  • subtweet (Type of Tweet)
  • subtwt (A Twitter subcommunity)
  • repost (Instead of retweet or reblog for all platforms)
• Unicode, the Unicode Consortium
• Walmart
• WhatsApp
• Wi-Fi (Instead of WiFi)
• Wikipedia, Wikimedia, MediaWiki
• World Wide Web
• YouTube, YouTuber, a YouTube channel

• Ctrl (Control key)
• Cmd (Command key)
• Ctrl/Cmd (Ambiguous cross-platform keybind)
• Shift
• Alt (Alt/Option key)
• Backspace (Instead of Delete)
• Enter (Instead of Return)
• Esc (Escape)
• F1–F24
• Fn (Function)
• Ctrl + Alt + R
• Ctrl + R
• Ctrl/Cmd + R
• tap (Instead of click where possible to maintain device neutrality)
  • Avoid hyperlinks such as "Tap here to..." - instead hyperlink the name of the action or targeted resource.
• left-click (Verb), left click (Noun)

Generic trademarks are written in lowercase when not referring specifically to that brand.

• bandaids
• kleenex
• xerox

Where applicable, the capitalization and spelling of a name should match the official form used by the subject or its creator. Stylized names are preferred. Stylized names are not subject to capitalization at the start of a sentence or in titles.

• TWICE
• eBay
• iPad mini
• NyQuil
• LEGOs

When referring to an object on a platform, use capitalization preferred by its developer.

• Google Doc, Doc
• Google Form, Form
• Google Sheet, Sheet
• Instagram reel, reel

Animal breeds should not be capitalized (dachshund, ocicat) unless each word otherwise would be capitalized in English (German shepherd, American bobtail).

All words in hashtags are capitalized like so:

• #MeToo
• #iPhone18
• #OutfitOfTheDay

Name structure respects the language of origin, i.e. Japanese names are written with the family name before the given name.

Place names

Although multiple aliases may be included in various projects, these are the preferred names for places, including countries, in order of preference. The first form is strongly preferred if only one can be used.

• Argentina; Argentine (Adjective, instead of Argentinian)
• the British Isles (The United Kingdom and Ireland)
• the Bronx
• Cabo Verde; Cape Verde
• Côte d'Ivoire; Ivory Coast
• Czechia; the Czech Republic
• the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the DRC; the Congo (After first mention)
• Denali
• Eswatini; Swaziland
• the European Union; the EU
• Falkland Islands; Malvinas
• the Gambia
• Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales); Britain
• Guantánamo Bay
• Gulf of Mexico
• Hawaii; Hawaiʻi (ʻOkina, not an apostrophe)
• India; Bharat
• Iran; Persia
• Kyiv (Instead of "Kiev")
• Lake Ontario
• Macao; Macau
• Myanmar; Burma
• Naoero; Nauru
• the Netherlands
• New Mexico
• New York City; NYC
• North Macedonia
• Palestine
• Persian Gulf
• the Philippines; Philippine (Adjective); Filipino (Neutral and masculine); Filipina (Feminine)
• Québec
• the Republic of the Congo
• the Soviet Union; the USSR
• Sudan (Instead of "the Sudan")
• Taiwan; the Republic of China
• Türkiye; Turkey
• Ukraine (Instead of "the Ukraine")
• the United Arab Emirates; the UAE
• the United Kingdom; the UK; British
• the United States; the US; American; United States's (Possessive)
• Vatican City
• Wall Street
• Washington, D.C.
• Western Sahara (Instead of "the Western Sahara")
• the White House
• Yukon (Instead of "the Yukon Territory")

For state abbreviations, two-letter is preferred, and they are written without periods (MN, GA).

Places within a state are formatted like so: "It was held in Austin, TX, in October 2026."

R74n-related

When writing R74n or any variants, the "R" must always be capitalized and the "n" must always be lowercase. If any characters are standing in for "R" or "n", they must also be upper- or lowercase respectively.

Miscapitalization is permissible in instances where case cannot be manually decided, such as in URLs.

• the Copy Paste Dump, the CPD
• Explore with Rue (Project), Rue (Character)
• GenTown
• Halacae, Halacaeic (English-only)
• homepage
• main R74n website
• Mix-Up!
• PixelFlag, PixelFlags (Plural and project name)
• ProtoCog (Project), a protocog (Character), a coglet
• Quqqy (Character)
• R74n (Pronounced "Are Seven Four En", never "Seventy-four")
• R74n.com
• R74N, R74N.com (For the version of the website before 15 Nov 2020)
• the R74n Capitalization Standard
• the R74n Collective
• the R74n Discord [server]
• the [R74n] Commons
• R74n Refresh, Refresh
• [R74n] Shapes
• the R74n Wikibase
• R74meter, centiR74meter
• R74moji (Singular, plural, and project name), moji (For short)
• R74um
• RageBait Simulator
• Rue & U!
• Sloppy (Character)
• Socials page
• Steamboxels (Informal)
• Styleguide
• the UFBS, the Universal Feedback System
• UniSearch
• Wordslop (Capitalized outside of the game, stylized lowercase within), Wordslopping, Wordslopper

Punctuation

hyphen

• Used to form compound words (berry-flavored), including in segments (oil- and water-based).
• Used to separate phrases in a sentence (In Sandboxels - our falling-sand simulator - players have...). Traditionally, the now-deprecated em dash had served this purpose.
• Used as bullet points in plain-text contexts, where HTML lists aren't possible.
• Used to abruptly end a sentence with style, as if interrupted.
• In titles, only the first letter of hyphenated are capitalized (Follow-up), except for cases where proper nouns are included (Non-American).

em dash

• Due to associations with generative AI, em dashes are being deprecated across R74n. Hyphens are now used instead.

en dash

• Used to separate ends of timespans (July–November) or other numerical ranges (50–100).

quotation mark

• Double quotes are used for quotations.
• Straight quotation marks are used ("...") instead of curled variants (“...”) inserted automatically by some devices.
• Punctuation is placed after a quotation mark when terminating a sentence (She said "I'm not sure".).
• Commas are placed after a quotation mark when continuing a list (Kittens, "puppers", and more).

apostrophe

• Straight apostrophes are used for both possession ('), contraction, and quotation ('...'), instead of curled variants (‘...’) inserted automatically by some devices.
• Single quotes are used for quotations within quotations.

ellipsis

• Ellipses are composed of three separate period characters (...), instead of the combined single character (…), with no spaces in between them.

comma

• Commas separate all items of a list, including the last two (i.e. Oxford/Serial commas are included).
• "If you do x or y, you will z."
• "Enter the x into the y, and you will z."
• "... x, y, and more."

ampersand

• Ampersands (&) are preferred for use in titles, while "and" should be used in text content.
• Spaces do not appose ampersands in single constructions, such as in Q&A or PB&J.

parenthesis

• The first word in parentheses is capitalized, as if the content is its own sentence.
• Words or phrases separated by forward slashes or en dashes are capitalized like so:
  • (Mobile/Cellular devices)
  • (On mobile/cellular devices)
  • (On mobile/On cellular)
  • (Five–Ten items)
  • (Between five–ten items)
• Parenthetical plurals should be used sparingly, with the rest of the sentence assuming the plural, like so:
  • They pet dog(s).
  • They pack box(es).
  • They receive candy(s). (Instead of -ies to preserve searchability)
  • The dog(s) are playing on their own.
• Lone periods do not precede a closing parenthesis. Other punctuation can be included at the end for emphasis, such as ellipses (...), exclamation marks (!), or question marks (?).
• Parentheses come after semicolons and commas in the order of operations - meaning that they only apply up to the nearest preceding semicolon or comma, if any.
  • They pet the cats, dogs, and lizards (reluctantly).
  • They (reluctantly) pet the cats, dogs, and lizards.
  • They pet the cats, dogs (reluctantly), and lizards.

numeral

• Small numbers (Zero–Twelve) are spelled out when in text content, while all numbers should be in numerical form when in tables or other data formats.
  • zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve.
  • negative one, negative two, negative three, ...
• Ordinal numbers follow the same rule. Alongside text content, small numbers are spelled out (First–Twelfth), otherwise they are written numerically (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 20th).
• Small ordinal numbers (First–Twelfth) alongside text content are written out (First, second, third, fourth). When alone, they are written numerically (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th).
• Ordered lists have their items numbered followed by a period (1. 2. 3.).
• Decimal numbers less than one include a leading zero (0.125).
• Avoid abbreviating thousands (1,000, 2,000) below 100,000 to avoid confusion with resolutions (4K). If abbreviation is necessary, capitalize it (1K, 2K). Abbreviate hundred thousands (100K), millions (1M), billions (1B), trillions (1T), and quadrillions (1Q).
• Unit abbreviations should be separated from the number by a space, like so:
  • 10 km
  • 200 ft
  • 3,000 m
  • 5 GB
  • 120 km/h
  • 80 mph
  • 30 FPS

colon

• The first word following a colon is capitalized, as if starting a new sentence.

semicolon

• Used to separate clauses which could make sense as their own sentences.
• The first word following a semicolon is capitalized, as if starting a new sentence.

less- and greater-than sign

• When comparing two values, the sign is surrounded by spaces (x ≤ 10).
• When comparing one value, the sign is directly attached to the number (>10 items).

When a sentence ends with a hyperlink, punctuation should be placed after the hyperlink instead of within it, like this.

Font style

bold

• Used to improve readability by highlighting important concepts in a sentence.

italics

• Used to add emphasis, i.e. when specifying something that may be overlooked (Upload the save file, not a screenshot).
• Used to highlight a newly introduced subject, especially titles of media (Sandboxels is a game. You can do a lot in Sandboxels...).
• Scientific names of species (Felis catus) are italicized.

Graphics

Maps

Where possible, the UN-adopted Equal Earth projection should be used to display the entire Earth instead of the Mercator projection.

Color

Where possible, skin tones should follow or be based on the Monk Skin Tone (MST) Scale.

Closing

This list is not all-encompassing, and will be updated frequently as needed. For cases not listed, try to extrapolate from related examples. All writing within this Styleguide can be used as a basis.

We are not responsible for point reductions if you use this standard in your work assignment(s).

Spot an issue? You can report a violation or suggest a Styleguide update. For any word or phrase with multiple forms, we will determine the R74n canonical form on request.