Specific words and phrases

Below are rules for how we use common words and phrases. The bold term shows the accepted form (capitalization, hyphenation, punctuation), with accompanying text explaining usage.

  • 18F employees, 18F team members, or 18F staffers. Avoid all iterations of “18F-r.”
  • ages, avoid hyphens in ages unless it clarifies the text. For example, a group of 10 18-year-old White House tourists.
  • agile
  • a.m.
  • back end, back end development
  • Congress refers to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
  • congressional is lowercase unless part of a proper name. For example, Congressional Record
  • DC, not D.C.
  • digital coalition
  • Draft U.S. Web Design Standards on first use and Draft Standards on subsequent references
  • drop-down when used as an adjective. For example, drop-down menu. drop down when used as a noun. For example, an option from the drop down. Never “dropdown.”
  • email, not “e-mail”
  • executive branch
  • federal, unless part of a proper noun. For example, Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • federal government, not “Federal Government” or “Federal government”
  • fiscal year is lowercase. It’s okay to abbreviate as “FY” on the second reference.
  • front end, front end developer
  • GitHub
  • government, unless part of a proper noun. For example, Government Printing Office
  • human-centered design
  • info is an acceptable shortening of information. In formal situations, use the full word.
  • internet
  • JavaScript
  • kanban
  • login when used as noun, for example, I forgot my login name and password, or when used as an adjective, for example Make sure the login page is 508 compliant.
  • log in when used as a verb, for example, Log in to access your calendar.
  • open source, open source software
  • percent is preferred more than the “%” symbol. For example, 10 percent of respondents
  • p.m.
  • startup
  • States:
    • Spell out names. For example, Mississippi.
    • Used alone, “state” should be lowercase. For example, All 50 states responded.
    • When used with a city, spell out the name of the state.
  • tech is an acceptable shortening of technology. In formal situations, use the full word.
  • to do (noun) and to-do (adjective). For example, your to dos or your to-do list.
  • United States government or U.S. government, not “U.S. Government”
  • URLs should be lowercase, even when they appear at the start of a sentence. For example, notalone.gov launched today.
  • U.S., not “US” or “USA”
  • user-centered design
  • webpage
  • website
  • Wi-Fi

For more proper use of NASA terminology, please refer to the NASA Stylebook.

For a listing of NASA compound words, please refer to the excerpt taken from the NASA Procedural Requirements NPR 1450.10, Appendix G. Compound Words.