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Apple Publications Style Guide

1. e Noun In the noun form use a space between the numeral and the abbreviation The preposition of is necessary before the unit that the value quantifies 10 Mbit of memory e Adjective Don t hyphenate the adjective form 10 Mbit memory Mbit s Standard international abbreviation for megabits per second See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Some Apple groups use Mbps instead MB s Standard international abbreviation for megabytes per second See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Some Apple groups use MB sec instead measurement See Chapter 2 Units of Measure on page 191 media medium When you describe a method of delivering information use the singular medium or the plural media The guide is presented in both print and electronic media plural The guide is presented only in the print medium singular When you discuss video and audio content however you can use the term media to describe a collection of content for example a set of video clips In this context it s OK to use media and multimedia as singular terms Media is played but not stored by the client software Multimedia sent over the Internet is encoded and compressed for transmission Media Browser Capitalize as shown when referring to the window that appears in iLife applications Media Eject key Note capitalization mega prefix Close up words beginni
2. menu When you refer to the Apple menu in user documentation use both the word Apple and the symbol on first occurrence The Apple menu contains commands for shutting down your computer Thereafter use the phrase Apple menu without the symbol Don t use the symbol without the word Apple when you refer to the Apple menu Consult your department s guidelines for treatment of the symbol in HTML Chapter 1 Style and Usage Apple Online Store Apple Retail Store Note word order and capitalization Customers can purchase Apple products from the Apple Online Store or an Apple Retail Store After the first reference to the Apple Online Store or Apple Retail Store you can use the full name or one of the following variations store online store retail store Don t use the following variations Online Apple Store online Apple Store Apple Store online Retail Apple Store Apple Store retail location Apple retail store Precede the names with an article in text the Apple Online Store an Apple Retail Store Avoid the possessive form Use Apple Retail Stores for the plural form The Apple Online Store has everything you need for your new Mac Test drive a new Mac at an Apple Retail Store near you MacBook Air is available through the Apple Online Store Apple Retail Stores and Apple Authorized Resellers Students and educators can purchase products online from the Apple Online Store for Education Business customers can purchase from th
3. Burn Folder The word Folder appears in the folder name on the screen System folder The word folder doesn t appear on the screen Use a user s folder name folder or your folder name folder to refer to folders in an individual user s home folder for example a user s Library folder or your Library folder Use the folder name folder to refer to folders shared by all users of a computer for example the Library folder If there s risk of confusion about whether the folder you re referring to belongs to a specific user or is shared by all users you can describe its location the Library folder in your home folder the Library folder at the top level of the hard disk See also directory pathnames Chapter 1 Style and Usage font For outline fonts a complete set of characters in one typeface such as Times or Garamond and style For bitmap fonts a complete set of characters in one typeface size and style Don t use face Compare font family typeface font family Use to refer to a complete representation of characters for one typeface including all available sizes and styles for example Times or Garamond A font family may include both bitmap and outline fonts Compare font typeface font size Not type size When the meaning is clear it s OK to use just size font style Not typestyle or typeface attribute Refers to one or more attributes such as boldface underline italic shadow and so on When the meaning is
4. Correct Drag the icon to the Trash Incorrect Click and drag the icon to the Trash click and hold Don t use Click means to press and quickly release the mouse button Use hold down when you mean press and hold down the mouse button See also hold down press click in You click in a window or region such as a scroll bar you click other onscreen elements such as icons and buttons See also click click on Don t use use click See also click Click Wheel Note capitalization The combined touch wheel and buttons on iPod Not Apple Click Wheel or touch wheel client Software that uses the services of another program also the computer using the client software The computer can be called the client computer client system or client Chapter 1 Style and Usage 37 38 client server Note slash clip art Two words Clipboard Note capitalization In developer documentation it s OK to use pasteboard when you discuss the NSPasteboard class but point out that users view the contents of the pasteboard in the Clipboard In user documentation use Clipboard not pasteboard close Users close a window or a document Don t refer to an icon as a closed window See also open close button Note lowercase In Mac OS X refers to the leftmost button of the three window controls in the upper left corner of the title bar CLUT Acronym for color lookup table Note lowercase in spelled out version spell lookup as one word See abbreviati
5. One word widget A special application displayed by Dashboard You add widgets to Dashboard using the widget bar Capitalize the names of widgets Stocks Weather the Stocks widget the Weather widget Wi Fi Note capitalization and hyphenation Don t spell out Wi Fi doesn t stand for a specific term wiki A collaborative website that can be modified by members of a group Chapter 1 Style and Usage window In user documentation use window for these interface elements e Document windows e Main application windows such as Finder windows and the viewer window in Mail e Windows that contain controls and options that affect the active document or selection such as the Equalizer window in iTunes and the Fonts window common to many applications All windows have a functional close button in the title bar In developer documentation use window for the first two types of windows document windows and main application windows but use panel for the third type windows that contain controls and options that affect the active document or selection because the programming symbol names contain Panel for example NSFont Panel and NSColorPanel When however the third type is seen by the developer as a user sees it such as when giving instructions for using developer applications use window Note that some things that are panels programmatically are dialogs rather than windows in user terminology for example the NSOpenPanel class
6. rackmount Refers to hardware that can be mounted in a rack such as Xserve and Xserve RAID systems Related terms include rackmountable rackmounted and rack optimized Use rackmounted only for equipment that is already installed in a rack radio button Refers to a button in the user interface like the ones shown here Use radio button only in developer documentation use button in user documentation Radio Button 1 O Radio Button 2 You click a button to select or deselect an option you can use the complete phrase click to select or just select You don t check or uncheck a button Compare checkbox radio frequency interference See RFI radio frequency RF modulator Note hyphenation Use RF modulator only after spelling out on first occurrence Don t abbreviate as RFM Chapter 1 Style and Usage 145 146 RAID Acronym for Redundant Array of Independent Disks a storage method in which data is distributed among two or more hard disk drives to improve performance and reliability Storage methods are called levels RAID level 0 RAID level 1 RAID level 0 1 and so on OK to shorten to RAID 0 RAID 1 RAID 0 1 and so on See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms RAM Acronym for random access memory Note hyphenation and lowercase of spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms RAM cache Note lowercase c R
7. Berkeley FreeBSD Inc The NetBSD Foundation Inc and their respective contributors Dolby Pro Logic and the double D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories Confidential Unpublished Works 1992 1997 Dolby Laboratories Inc All rights reserved FileMaker is a trademark of FileMaker Inc registered in the U S and other countries Intel Intel Core and Xeon are trademarks of Intel Corp in the U S and other countries Java and all Java based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems Inc in the U S and other countries Mighty Mouse amp 2008 CBS Operations Inc All rights reserved OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc PowerPC and the PowerPC logo are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation used under license therefrom Times is a registered trademark of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG available from Linotype Library GmbH UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group Other company and product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective companies Mention of third party products is for informational purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to the performance or use of these products Preface Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 nau uN 191 192 193 199 200 200 201 201 201
8. Instead use alternatives such as use using or installed Correct If you re using iTunes 8 2 or earlier follow these instructions Incorrect If you re running iTunes 8 2 or earlier follow these instructions Correct To add a video backdrop you must have Mac OS X v10 5 or later installed Incorrect To add a video backdrop you must be running Mac OS X v10 5 or later runtime n adj One word S sample rate The number of times per second an audio file is sampled Don t use sampling rate SAN Acronym for storage area network Precede with a not an See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms sans serif adj Two words no hyphen Not sanserif SATA See Serial ATA save You save a file on a disk or to a disk not onto a disk scalable scalability Not scaleable scaleability 150 Chapter 1 Style and Usage screen Use to refer to what the user looks at while working on a computer iPhone or iPod Don t use display when you mean screen On a portable or all in one computer the display is the LCD or CRT device The screen is the surface the user views Correct Tilt your MacBook Pro display to prevent glare on the screen Incorrect Tilt your MacBook Pro screen to prevent glare See also display n screen saver n adj Two words screen sharing n screen sharing adj Note hyphenation of adjective screenshot n adj One word script system When a
9. Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension See MIME Multi Touch Note capitalization and hyphenation Refers to the touchscreen interface in iPhone and iPod touch and to the trackpad in MacBook Air and other computers Terms include Multi Touch touchscreen display Multi Touch touchscreen interface Multi Touch technology Multi Touch trackpad and Multi Touch gestures Musical Instrument Digital Interface See MIDI Mute key Note capitalization N name server Two words narrowband One word native In user documentation avoid native to describe applications instead describe the applications as being designed to work with specific hardware or software For best performance use an application designed for use on Intel based Mac computers Net Don t use as a short form of Internet network Computers are on not in a network network time server Note lowercase new In most documents avoid describing a product or feature as new because the text will quickly become out of date When appropriate state the version of software in which a feature was introduced Correct The Core Location framework introduced in Mac OS X v10 6 Incorrect The new Core Location framework newsgroup One word nickel metal hydride Note hyphenation Abbreviated NiMH See also batteries non prefix Close up except before a proper noun a proper adjective an abbreviation or an acronym or when the resulting word would be difficult to read Hyphen non
10. Tap Return to move from one field to another Correct To open an item s shortcut menu tap the item with two fingers Correct You can zoom out by tapping the map with two fingers Incorrect Tap on the video you want to play See also click double tap n double tap v double tapping n v press type v tap and hold Don t use Tap means to touch and release quickly so use touch and hold instead See also click and hold target disk mode Note lowercase TB n adj Abbreviation for terabyte TB equals 1000 bytes in the context of file size or disk storage capacity or 1024 bytes in the context of computer memory See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations e Noun In the noun form use a space between the numeral and the abbreviation The preposition of is necessary before the unit that the value quantifies 1 TB of memory 2 TB of storage capacity e Adjective Don t hyphenate the adjective form a 1TB memory card a 2 TB Serial ATA hard drive Tbit n adj Abbreviation for terabit See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations e Noun In the noun form use a space between the numeral and the abbreviation The preposition of is necessary before the unit that the value quantifies 1 Thit of line capacity e Adjective Don t hyphenate the adjective form 10 Tbit router Tbit s Standard international abbreviation for terabits per second See abbrev
11. Use code font for literals parts of the language values and so on e Metasymbols Use italics for metasymbols artificial terms that have meaning only in your document and are to be replaced by a value or symbol Use an embedded cap to connect two words that act as a single metasymbol sourceFile Be consistent when you name metasymbols for example don t alternate between commands and commandList e Brackets Use regular text font for brackets that enclose something that s optional Pay close attention to punctuation Read file var system Use to refer to a computer and any peripheral devices accessories and software Don t use system to refer to the computer alone Correct The computer requires a folder named Applications in this location Incorrect The system requires a folder named Applications in this location System Administrator Note capitalization Avoid except when you re referring to the Mac OS X user account identified as System Administrator long name and root short name Anyone with access to the System Administrator account can obtain read and write access to all settings and files on the system including hidden system files that a regular administrator user can t modify Each computer can have multiple administrator accounts but only one System Administrator account Lowercase system administrator is an acceptable and frequently used variant of the noun administrator To obtain a static IP
12. laptop computer Avoid in favor of portable computer which is preferred or notebook computer See also portable computer notebook computer laptop computer laserdisc One word later See earlier later latest Don t use to refer to a specific software update Instead use only the version number or a date in technical support documents or use or later to indicate a range of updates It s OK to use latest if you re generally instructing users to keep their software up to date Correct To use this feature you must have iPhoto 71 3 or later installed Correct For the best results make sure you re using the latest version of Mac OS X Correct Make sure you have installed Firmware Update 4 1 2 Incorrect The latest update is Firmware Update 4 1 2 See also most recent version launch Don t use in user documentation when you mean to open an application OK to use in developer documentation LCD Abbreviation for liquid crystal display See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations LED Don t use in user documentation unless you have a specific reason to distinguish from LCD for example Use light or indicator light Chapter 1 Style and Usage 103 104 left arrow Use to refer to a button that looks like a left pointing arrow such as the small arrow that you click to decrease a value in a horizontal stepper Don t call it the left arrow button or the left pointing arrow Click the le
13. n line feed adj Note hyphenation of adjective link n In a hypertext document such as a webpage a link is a connection between an element in the document text or graphics and a different element in the document or another document file or script A user clicks the link to go to another page or perform an action The term hypertext link is an acceptable synonym Avoid using follow a link use click a link instead Correct Click a link on the homepage to go to another page Incorrect Follow the link to the page of your choice Chapter 1 Style and Usage 105 106 link v OK to use when you describe the act of creating a link in a webpage but don t use link to describe connecting to a webpage Correct When creating a webpage be sure to link to other interesting webpages Incorrect Click the map to link to other pages in the site lists Three types of lists are available bulleted multicolumn and numbered Avoid nesting bulleted lists within bulleted lists or numbered lists within numbered lists Also avoid using combinations of numbered and bulleted lists that contain more than a few items In such cases the hierarchy can easily become confusing See also lists bulleted lists multicolumn lists numbered lists bulleted Use a bulleted list when you want to stress the parallelism of a number of options elements rules or instructions that need not be presented or performed in a particular order
14. t use quality alone as an adjective include a modifier The compound adjective is hyphenated broadcast quality high quality professional quality question mark button Don t use use Help button Quick Look Note capitalization Do not use quick look as a verb quick reference card No hyphen QuickTime A media player and authoring environment Related software includes the following QuickTime Broadcaster QuickTime Player QuickTime Pro QuickTime Streaming Server QuickTime Streaming Server Publisher QuickTime VR Don t precede names with the Open QuickTime Player QuickTime VR VR stands for virtual reality Don t use QTVR quit Users quit an application they don t exit exit from or leave an application See also force quit interrupt stop quotation marks Use curly opening and closing quotation marks except in code font e With periods and commas Put periods and commas within quotation marks If necessary for clarity periods and commas can go outside as in ANS 1 e With other punctuation Semicolons colons question marks and exclamation points go outside quotation marks unless they re part of an actual quotation e Four character identifiers When you give the name of four character identifiers such as file types use straight single quotation marks in code font and place any punctuation outside the quotation marks Examples of file types are TEXT PICT and APPL e Terminology Use quotatio
15. x Follow these guidelines when you use the letter x to stand for something else e Screen resolutions Use a lowercase x in screen resolutions 1024 x 768 Note the space before and after the x e As a placeholder variable When you use x as a placeholder for replaceable numbers the x is lowercase and in regular text 02xx The x s represent a range of memory addresses e Fora range of version numbers Except in developer documentation don t use x to express a range of software version numbers as in 10 x use a specific number or range of numbers e To designate speed For the speed of disc drives use a lowercase x for example 24x speed There is no space between the numeral and the x See also dimensions version x and y axes Use lowercase and no hyphen See also x axis y axis x and y coordinates Use lowercase and no hyphen See also x coordinate y coordinate x axis Use lowercase and hyphenate See also x and y axes x coordinate Use lowercase and hyphenate See also x and y coordinates XON XOFF All caps Xserve The names of Xserve models can be used with or without an article The Xserve fits into standard racks and cabinets Xserve G5 handles the most demanding workloads Y Y adapter Note capitalization and hyphenation y axis Use lowercase and hyphenate See also x and y axes y coordinate Use lowercase and hyphenate See also x and y coordinates Chapter 1 Style and Usage 189 190 Z Zap zapp
16. A Universal application is written to operate natively on both PowerPC and Intel based Mac computers OK to use Universal version or Universal release Don t use universal binary application or other variations universal binary Note lowercase An application library or framework that can be used on both PowerPC and Intel based Mac computers OK to use universal binary in developer documents in other contexts use Universal application Universal Disk Format See UDF Universal Serial Bus See USB UNIX All caps there is no spelled out version UNIX File System See UFS Chapter 1 Style and Usage unmount v In user documentation avoid when referring to making a disk or disk image unavailable use alternatives such as eject or make unavailable or describe what the user must do to make the disk unavailable Avoid Unmount the disc when you finish using it Preferable Eject the disc when you finish using it In server documentation or documentation for more technical users it s OK to use unmount In Disk Utility select the disk you want to unmount and click Unmount in the toolbar Use this function to unmount one or more server volumes Don t use unmount as an intransitive verb Correct Unmount the volume Incorrect The volume unmounts See also mount v mounted adj unmounted adj In user documentation avoid when referring to a disk or disk image that is not available use alternatives such as not availa
17. A router maintains a logical map of the networks and other routers in an internet allowing the networks to retain separate identities RS 232 C Note hyphenation Similar terms are hyphenated in the same way RSS Abbreviation for Really Simple Syndication A format for displaying the latest changes to websites and blogs Users access these RSS feeds with an RSS reader such as Safari See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations RTF Abbreviation for Rich Text Format Note capitalization of spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations rule Note lowercase An editable action in Mail Chapter 1 Style and Usage 149 run v running adj Use running for programs or processes that operate in the background and have no graphical interface Open Activity Monitor to see what processes are running e Applications Don t use run to describe what a user does with an application a program that has a graphical interface say use instead Correct Before installing the software use Disk Utility to verify your hard disk Incorrect Before installing the software run Disk Utility Don t use running to refer to an open application use open Correct Check to see if any applications are open Incorrect Check to see if any applications are running e Software versions Avoid using running to refer to versions of the operating system or applications
18. Chapter 1 Style and Usage 185 186 while although whereas While means during the time that and implies concurrent activities Use although to mean in spite of the fact that Use whereas to mean it being the fact that or while on the contrary Correct Although the clip won t play back at 1x normal speed every frame plays back with no frames dropped Incorrect While the clip won t play back at 1x normal speed every frame plays back with no frames dropped Correct SD video uses interlaced scanning whereas HD formats may use either interlaced or progressive scanning Incorrect SD video uses interlaced scanning while HD formats may use either interlaced or progressive scanning whir Not whirr But whirring The disk drive whirs and in a moment you see the startup screen who whom Who should always be used as the subject of a verb or as a subject complement Whom should always be used as the object of a verb or preposition Who is the new system administrator This manual is intended for the person who manages the network Be selective about the people to whom you give network access wide Use a hyphen in compound adjectives beginning with wide wide angle viewing wide format screen Exception widescreen Close up words that end with wide companywide enterprisewide industrywide systemwide worldwide If part of the compound is a proper noun use a hyphen Apple wide wide area network See WAN widescreen adj
19. Getting Started with Your MacBook Pro Capitalize e The first and last word regardless of the part of speech For New Mac OS X Users What the Finder Is For e The second word in a hyphenated compound Correct High Level Events 32 Bit Addressing Incorrect High level Events 32 bit Addressing Exceptions Built in Plug in e The words Are If Is It Than That and This Caps Lock key Note capitalization Not Shift Lock captions See figure captions table captions Carbon application An application written and compiled using the Carbon specification Universal Interfaces 3 3 2 or later Don t use Carbonized instead use something like an application updated for Carbon Use the term Carbon only in developer documentation card Refers to a removable circuit board that is installed in a slot Compare board See also interface card PCI PCI X peripheral card card names Capitalize the word card in a card name only if it is part of the name for example AirPort Extreme Card For generic names don t capitalize any part of the card name for example an internal modem card Chapter 1 Style and Usage caret In developer documentation use caret for the blinking bar that marks the insertion point In user documentation the blinking bar is the insertion point Don t use caret when you mean circumflex A circumflex is an accent used in French words such as tre carriage return See CR catalog Refers to a list of all fi
20. Keyboard has a 1 m cable The MacBook computer weighs 2 27 kg Warning The Xserve RAID weighs 27 kg 60 Ib Use care when lifting it The MacBook computer has a 2 1 gigahertz or 2 4 gigahertz processor The iMac computer has a 2 4 GHz or 2 8 GHz processor Chapter 7 International Style
21. Not resizeable resize Not size or grow OK to use change the size of resize control The area in the lower right corner of a window that users drag to resize the window resolution Use a lowercase letter x not the word by to express screen or other resolution 640 x 480 See also dimensions x Chapter 1 Style and Usage 147 148 restore v adj Don t use as a noun Correct Avoid stopping the restore process Incorrect Avoid stopping a restore in progress Correct Restoring stopped because the hard disk is full Incorrect The restore stopped because the hard disk is full return character Not carriage return or CR except in developer documentation when you re referring to ASCII character SOD See also CR Return key Capitalize when you refer to the key on the keyboard Use lowercase when you refer to the character When you press Return you generate a return character RFI Abbreviation for radio frequency interference Note hyphenation of spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Rich Text Format See RTF right arrow Use to refer to a button that looks like a right pointing arrow such as the small arrow that users click to increase a value in a horizontal stepper Click the right arrow to increase the indent level Indent Level 1 JEJ See also Right Arrow key stepper Right Arrow key Note capitalization When you refer to arrow keys generically u
22. Providing a toll free number with a toll number allows customers to call no matter where they are from Usage Telephone number notations begin with the plus sign and are followed by a space the country code city code and number Breaks in national numbering plans may be represented by a space Toll free numbers are expressed in the local style You can reach Apple by calling 1 408 996 1010 or 800 692 7753 in North America You can reach Apple France by calling 33 1 69 86 34 00 or 0800 046 046 Units of Measure Use only units of the International System of Units SI to express the values of quantities Equivalent values in customary units may be given in parentheses following SI values in cases where safety may be an issue or when they are used in a product s name e International Authority Bureau Internationale des Poids et Mesures BIPM e Standard BIPM SI Brochure 7th edition 1998 English language translation and United States interpretation is available from the Department of Commerce Federal Register 63 FR 40333 40340 e Usage Quantities are always expressed with a unit symbol Use a nonbreaking space between the quantity and its symbol Unit symbols are unaltered in the plural and are never hyphenated even when they are used as an adjective Unit symbols are not followed by a period unless they appear at the end of a sentence Don t imply more precision than is reasonable in choosing a unit symbol The Apple
23. SSD sound input sound input output sound output n adj Avoid unless it appears in the user interface Use audio input and so on instead See also audio input audio input output audio output n adj soundtrack One word source code Two words source file Two words Space bar Two words Note capitalization space character Not blank or blank character OK to use just space but in many cases it s necessary to remind the user that a space is actually a character and that margins indention word wrap and page breaks can sometimes be affected by extra space characters or a lack of them Spaces Capitalize only when explicitly referring to the feature or application When you click the Spaces icon in the Dock you re prompted to turn on the Spaces feature Configure your spaces by using the Expos amp Spaces pane of System Preferences S PDIF Acronym for Sony Philips Digital Interface Format Don t use S P DIF The acronym is pronounced spid iff so it is preceded by a not an See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms speakerphone One word special effects n adj No hyphen speed For the speed of disc drives use a lowercase x for example 24x speed Note that there is no space between the numeral and the x Chapter 1 Style and Usage 157 158 spell check v Note hyphenation Also OK to use check the spelling of a document spell checker sp
24. Store using 1 Click ordering or a shopping cart See also one click adj 1U One rack unit or unit equivalent to 1 75 inches Refers to the height of equipment that can be mounted in a rack For example Xserve is 1U tall 2 byte character Don t use use double byte character 2D Abbreviation for two dimensional No hyphen in the abbreviation See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations 3D Abbreviation for three dimensional No hyphen in the abbreviation See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations 3 5 Not 3 7 2 when you refer to 3 5 inch disks 8 core adj Note hyphen and numeral not eight core Refers to a computer with two quad core processors Terms include 8 core processing 8 core Xeon performance and 8 core Mac Pro See also dual core adj Intel Xeon 8 pin minicircular connector Note hyphenation Use a numeral don t spell out eight After first mention the shorter minicircular connector is fine Avoid in user documentation describe the connector by its size and shape by its icon or in another way appropriate to the context because it may have fewer than eight pins See also connector 10Base T 100Base T 1000Base T Note capitalization See also Ethernet Fast Ethernet 100Base T Gigabit Ethernet 1000Base T 24 7 Not 24xZTo spell out use the form 24 hours a day 7 days a week a 24 hour a day 7 day a week support program 56K
25. Usage that Use to introduce a restrictive clause clauses beginning with that are generally not set off with commas This is the computer that has network access There are many computers the phrase that has network access restricts narrows the meaning of the subject of the sentence to one computer The newest computer in the lab which is a Mac Pro is also the students favorite There is only one newest computer the phrase which is a Mac Pro although it provides more information doesn t restrict the subject of the sentence Compare which theater Not theatre then In declarative sentences that consist of two or more independent clauses then should usually be preceded by a comma and and or by a semicolon First you insert the CD and then you double click the icon that appears First you insert the CD then you double click the icon that appears In imperative sentences as in how to steps that include two actions use then with or without and to emphasize the sequential nature of the two actions Insert the CD and then double click the icon that appears If you don t use and you can precede then by either a comma or a semicolon Insert the CD then double click the icon that appears Insert the CD then double click the icon that appears Whichever style you choose be consistent throughout a project Note that you can omit the word then if you don t want to emphasize the sequential nature of two actions
26. above or you can use the angle bracket style Control click the Clip Keyframes control choose Video from the shortcut menu and then choose Motion Bar from the submenu Control click the selection and then choose Send To gt Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Project from the shortcut menu In user documentation don t refer to a shortcut menu as a contextual menu However you can refer to the menu parenthetically as a contextual menu on first reference for users who may be more familiar with that term A shortcut menu also called a contextual menu appears See also choose command names submenus message list The list of messages in the viewer window in Mail metadata One word use lowercase metasymbols Refers to artificial terms that are to be replaced by a value or symbol In running text use italics when you refer to a metasymbol and spell the metasymbol just as it would appear in a syntax description Replace volumeName with a name of up to 12 characters When the words are being used as a regular English phrase don t use italics and put spaces between words Correct The volume name may have up to 12 characters Incorrect The volumeName may have up to 12 characters See also syntax descriptions and Chapter 4 Technical Notation on page 209 Chapter 1 Style and Usage 117 118 MHz n adj Abbreviation for megahertz See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations e Noun
27. activate deactivate Avoid instead use turn on turn off active Use to refer to the application or window currently being used Preferred to in front See also front frontmost in front adapter Not adaptor except in WebObjects documents adaptor appears in the WebObjects software e Types Types of adapters include the following ADC to DVI adapter DVI to ADC adapter DVI to VGA adapter mini DVI to VGA adapter power adapter S video to composite adapter e Capitalization Capitalize names of adapters that are sold separately ADC to DVI Adapter DVI to Video Adapter Apple DVI to ADC Adapter Apple iPod Power Adapter Apple Mini DVI to DVI Adapter Apple Mini DVI to VGA Adapter Apple Mini DVI to Video Adapter Apple Portable Power Adapter Apple VGA Display Adapter Apple Video Adapter ADC Abbreviation for Apple Developer Connection and Apple Display Connector See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Chapter 1 Style and Usage 11 address Can refer either to an Internet address or to the location in the computer s memory where a piece of information is stored OK to use just address for either as long as the context is clear See also email addresses Internet addresses memory address memory location Address Book Don t precede with the Capitalize only when you refer to the Address Book application or the Dashboard widget Use lowercase to refer to the user s collection of contacts in
28. bay An opening in the computer in which a battery or peripheral device can be installed Use a more specific name when appropriate drive bay storage bay or expansion bay Chapter 1 Style and Usage because See since because below You can use below to describe a later element or section of a single page onscreen document such as a single webpage or help page In print documents you can use below for an element such as a table or figure that immediately follows a paragraph if the element doesn t have an element number Otherwise use one of the following styles e Later chapter Use the chapter name and number To learn how to create movies see Chapter 4 Composing Movies e Later section Use the section name followed by the page number For more information see Printing on page 154 Apple Product Documentation and User Publications use this style e Later figure table code listing Use the number of the element followed by the page number For a summary of slot and drive numbers see Table 1 2 page 36 Developer Publications uses this style when referring to a figure table or code listing at a distance If the element is immediately below the page number is omitted See also above earlier later beta A prerelease version of software or hardware OK to use alone with a noun such as software version or release or in a proper name such as iChat AV Public Beta bibliography If you have relied on
29. cable or device Chapter 1 Style and Usage 57 58 document In user documentation refers to a file the user creates and can open edit and print A document is a particular type of file don t use document when the file could be of another type Correct You can organize your folders and files in the Finder Incorrect You can organize your folders and documents in the Finder Compare file document titles When you cite the full title of a document use the capitalization style used in the title The article the is not usually part of the title but for user manuals User Guide Apple Product Documentation or User Manual User Publications often is Consult your editor for titling guidelines specific to your department e Specific references to document titles Always give the title exactly as it appears on the document s cover but eliminate any trademark symbols Don t change an old title to comply with the current guidelines for naming manuals For more information see the Power Mac G5 User s Guide e Generic references to document titles Don t capitalize or use italics for generic references to documents See the user guide that came with your computer To connect your display follow the instructions in the setup guide See also cross references parts volume document document window Don t use use document or window not both In developer documentation document window is OK in reference to the predefined win
30. can also use Intel processors Intel Core processors dual core Intel Core 2 Duo and so on Generally precede the names with an article Note the en dash in phrases such as Intel Core Duo based Mac Don t use terms such as Intel Core Mac See also dual core adj Intel Xeon Intel Xeon Intel Xeon processors used in Mac Pro computers and Xserve servers include the Dual Core Intel Xeon processor and the Quad Core Intel Xeon processor You can shorten the name to Intel Xeon or Xeon Use an en dash in phrases such as Intel Xeon based Mac Don t use terms such as Intel Xeon Xserve See also 8 core adj dual core adj Intel Core interapplication communication See IAC Chapter 1 Style and Usage 93 94 interface card Refers to a type of peripheral card that implements an interface to other devices internal disk drive Use either internal disk drive or built in disk drive internet Short for internetwork refers to any large network made up of a number of smaller networks Compare Internet intranet Internet Refers to the worldwide network made up of interconnected networks that use the TCP IP networking protocol When used as a noun always preceded by the Don t use Internet and World Wide Web or web interchangeably the web is just one part of the Internet Compare internet intranet Internet addresses An Internet address can specify an address on the World Wide Web WWW or on other Internet sites such as File Transfer Pr
31. checkbox click icon radio button C cable Use cable to describe what physically connects two pieces of hardware Don t use cabling even when you mean cable collectively use cables Compare cord cache n v cached v adj caching n v Note spelling See also backside cache level 2 cache level 3 cache RAM cache calendar When you need to refer to a specific type of calendar use Gregorian calendar to refer to the calendar used in Europe and the Western Hemisphere Use Islamic calendar to refer to the lunar calendar used in predominantly Muslim countries Other calendar names are Buddhist Hebrew and Japanese Chapter 1 Style and Usage 31 32 Calendar Capitalize when referring to the calendar application that comes with iPhone and iPod touch and to the MobileMe web application use MobileMe Calendar on first reference Use lowercase to refer to the user s calendar add events to your calendar create calendars for work and home See also MobileMe callback n adj No hyphen callouts Use a callout a short text label with a line that points to part of a figure when you need to identify something within a figure A thin line without an arrowhead known as a leader line connects the callout to what it identifies within the figure e Simplicity Use callouts freely when they are really necessary but keep in mind that too many callouts can be distracting to the reader Keep callouts brief both for clarity and
32. chipset One word A group of integrated circuits that are designed to function as a unit Chapter 1 Style and Usage choose Use choose not select for menu items In general the user selects something such as a disk icon a graphic image or a section of text and then chooses a command to act on the selection Choose File gt New gt Mail Message Choose QuickTime from the pop up menu Choose Make Alias from the shortcut menu See also menus select v circuit board n No hyphen clean installation Note lowercase Not clean install You perform a clean installation you don t do a clean install See also install installation click Use click to describe the act of positioning the pointer on an object onscreen and briefly pressing and releasing the mouse button Don t use click on You don t click the mouse button you press and release it Because most users know what clicking is you need to define it only in documentation designed for beginning users such as tutorials Icon To open the Mail application click the Mail icon in the Dock Button To show the toolbar click the Toolbar button in the top right corner of the window Disc icon Click the disc icon and then choose File gt Make Alias Unnamed elements In the photo viewing area click the disclosure triangle next to the film roll you want to view See also click in press select v tap n v click and drag Don t use You either click or drag
33. clear it s OK to use just style Fonts window The systemwide window for selecting fonts styles sizes and other text features foot ft Note hyphenation when used as an adjective 3 foot height 3 foot high table but is 3 feet high The abbreviation is the same in the singular and the plural Don t abbreviate in text Don t use the symbol unless space limitations prevent the use of foot or ft footnotes See tables Table notes and footnotes force quit Don t use force quit as a verb Correct You can force an application to quit Incorrect You can force quit an application format n Refers to the arrangement and appearance of text graphics and other elements such as footers on a page format v When you refer to disks format and initialize mean the same thing form factor Avoid use design enclosure or another term form feed n form feed adj Note hyphenation of adjective Fortran Note capitalization forward compatibility Not future compatibility or upward compatibility forward compatible adj Note hyphenation Chapter 1 Style and Usage 75 76 Forward Delete key A key on the Apple Keyboard that deletes the character to the right of the insertion point e Apple keyboards On the current Apple Keyboard this key is labeled delete and it also has a right pointing arrow with an x in it OK to abbreviate as Fwd Del if space is tight Keyboards on portable Mac computers and Apple Wireless
34. data transmission bel 10 decibels B sound intensity bit bit size of data bits per second bit s speed of data transmission byte B size of data candela cd luminous intensity candela per square inch cd sq in luminance candela per square meter cd m2 luminance centimeter cm length characters per inch cpi letter spacing in type coulomb ampere second C electric charge quantity of electricity coulombs per volt See farad cubic centimeter cm3 volume cubic foot cu ft volume cubic inch cu in volume cubic meter m3 volume cubic yard cu yd volume cycle c complete execution of a periodically repeated phenomenon cycles per second See hertz day d time decibel 0 10 bels dB sound intensity degree Option Shift 8 angular measure Chapter 2 Units of Measure 193 194 Unit Unit symbol or abbreviation Quantity degree Celsius C Option Shift 8 temperature degree Fahrenheit F Option Shift 8 temperature degree Kelvin See kelvin degree Rankine R Option Shift 8 temperature dots per inch dpi resolution electromotive force emf energy derived from electrical source per unit quantity of electricity electron volt eV energy farad coulombs per volt F capacitance foot ft length gallon gal volume gigabit Gbit computer memory gigabits per second Gbit s standard speed of data transmission Gbps some Apple groups gigabyte GB computer memory gigabytes per
35. dial in to v dial in adj Note hyphenation of the adjective form dialog In user documentation use dialog for windows like the one below that request additional information from the user and are explicitly dismissed by clicking a button within the dialog for example OK Cancel or Print Settings Page Attributes be Format for Any Printer I Paper Size US Letter 8 50 by 11 00 inches Orientation f Cancel Cou A dialog appears Don t use dialog box Dialogs include alerts which contain error messages or warnings about potentially hazardous situations or actions Although a dialog can be implemented as a sheet attached to a window don t use sheet in user documentation Examples Open dialog Print dialog Save As dialog Save Changes alert In developer documentation use panel rather than dialog in most contexts because dialogs are created with programming symbols such as NSOpenPanel When however the dialog is seen by the developer as a user sees it such as when giving instructions for using developer applications use dialog Note that entities that are panels programmatically can be windows rather than dialogs in user terminology for example the NSFont Panel class implements the Fonts window Compare alert n adj pane sheet window dialog box Don t use use dialog dialog message Don t use use message dialogue Use dialogue not dialog to refer to spoken words dial
36. disable when you can use turn off or deselect Don t use disabled when you mean unavailable when you refer to menu items Correct Make sure virus protection software is turned off and your computer isn t set to go to sleep Avoid Make sure virus protection software and system sleep are disabled In developer documentation it s OK to use enabled and disabled when you describe buttons menu items and the like See also allow enable v enabled adj let disc Use disc or optical disc when you refer to optical storage media such as CDs and DVDs For magnetic storage media such as hard disks and floppy disks use disk See also CD DVD Chapter 1 Style and Usage disclosure button A button containing a triangle that expands a dialog or utility window to provide additional choices that are associated with a specific list based selection control such as a pop up menu A frequently seen disclosure button appears after the Save As pop up menu Save As Untitled Disclosure buttons point down in the closed position When the user clicks a disclosure button the window expands and the disclosure button triangle points up See also disclosure triangle disclosure triangle A button that reveals or hides options when clicked not the disclosure button It is usually not necessary to mention that it is closed pointing to the right or open pointing down Correct You can click the disclosure triangle to reveal m
37. handling em dashes in HTML dash en The en dash is shorter than an em dash and longer than a hyphen Use the en dash as follows e Numbers in a range Use an en dash between numbers that represent the endpoints of a continuous range bits 3 17 2003 2005 Compound adjectives Use an en dash between the elements of a compound adjective when one of those elements is itself two words desktop interface specific instructions e Keyboard shortcuts using combination keystrokes Use an en dash between key names in a combination keystroke when at least one of those names is two words or a hyphenated word Command Option Up Arrow Command Shift double click See also key keys e Minus sign Use an en dash as a minus sign except in code font where you use a hyphen 1 65 535 To generate an en dash in a word processing application press Option Hyphen Close up the en dash with the word or number before it and the word or number after it Consult your department s guidelines for instructions on handling en dashes in HTML See also hyphenation data Singular or plural depending on the context When used as a collective noun data takes a singular verb When the meaning is not collective use a plural verb In user documentation avoid in favor of information if information makes sense in the context Collective and thus singular Data is stored in a FileMaker Pro database Not collective and thus plural Selected data are transferr
38. have an Apple SuperDrive installed Avoid iDVD does not support DVD R drives other than the Apple SuperDrive Preferable You can use files in most QuickTime formats with iMovie Avoid iMovie supports most QuickTime formats It s OK to use support to refer to a product or feature that Apple does not provide but that the user can obtain for example using software from other manufacturers Avoid saying Apple does not support something Check the iMovie website for a list of supported camcorders surround sound n adj Lowercase no hyphen Technologies include Dolby Digital 5 1 surround sound and Dolby Surround S video Note capitalization and hyphenation swipe n v Refers to the act of quickly sliding one or more fingers across a Multi Touch screen or trackpad Users can swipe over items in the interface or swipe to navigate or scroll through documents lists or groups of items To show the Delete button swipe left or right over the message To switch between Spaces use four fingers to swipe left or right on the trackpad Use a three finger swipe to rapidly page through documents See also drag flick n v Chapter 1 Style and Usage 161 162 switch on switch off Don t use power down power off power on or power up in user documentation OK to use turn on and turn off symbol OK in a generic sense as in the percent symbol Don t use symbol when you mean character letter or digit Use sign
39. heads disc titles running footers that use chapter titles and cross references to such titles e References to specific book elements In cross references to a specific appendix or chapter capitalize the word Appendix or Chapter exception to The Chicago Manual of Style When you refer to appendixes or chapters in general don t capitalize the word appendix or chapter See Chapter 2 QuickTime on the Internet See Appendix B for a list of specifications See the appendix for specifications e References to untitled sections In cross references to sections that never take a title glossary index table of contents and so on don t capitalize the name of the section Chapter 1 Style and Usage 33 34 e What to capitalize Follow these rules when you use title style capitalization Capitalize every word except e Articles a an the unless an article is the first word or follows a colon e Coordinating conjunctions and but or nor for yet and so e The word to in infinitives How to Start Your Printer e The word as regardless of the part of speech e Words that always begin with a lowercase letter such as iPod and iTunes Prepositions of four letters or fewer at by for from in into of off on onto out over to up and with except when the word is part of a verb phrase or is used as another part of speech such as an adverb adjective noun or verb Starting Up the Computer Logging In to the Server
40. implements the Open dialog Compare dialog pane window controls Standard controls for windows include the close button the minimize button the zoom button and the resize control Windows See Microsoft Windows Windows based adj Windows based pred adj Refers to computers that use Microsoft Windows See also Microsoft Windows PC window titles When you refer to a window by name use the exact words in the title bar of the window the Mail window the About This Mac window Use lowercase for window unless it s included in the window title and capitalized window zooming Note lowercase No hyphen Wintel Jargon for personal computers based on Microsoft Windows software and Intel processors Don t use use a term such as PC Windows based computer or Pentium based computer wired Equipped with or connected by wires or cables Terms include wired connections wired keyboard wired mouse wired networking wired remote and so on wireless enabled Not wirelessly enabled wish See want word processing n word processing adj Note hyphenation of adjective Chapter 1 Style and Usage 187 188 words as words Italicize a word when it is used as a word In text that is read only on the screen use quotation marks instead of italics Use an apostrophe and an s to form the plural but don t italicize the apostrophe or the s He had too many and s in the sentence word wrap Not wraparound or word wraparound In do
41. in a step Insert the CD and double click the icon that appears If the actions are very short you can also omit the comma but be consistent Insert the CD and double click the icon that appears Avoid using then to introduce a subordinate clause that follows an if clause Preferable If you save a document often you re less likely to lose changes Avoid If you save a document often then you re less likely to lose changes Chapter 1 Style and Usage 169 170 third party n third party adj The adjective is hyphenated Avoid in user documentation If possible replace with another descriptive term such as not made by Apple or from other manufacturers Avoid If you ve installed third party plug ins one of the plug ins could be causing the problem Preferable f you ve installed plug ins from manufacturers other than Apple one of those plug ins could be causing the problem thread In the context of a series of related files such as email messages items are in a thread You can reply to an earlier message in the thread three dimensional See 3D throw away Don t use when you mean to drag an item to the Trash Correct After you ve expanded the compressed file drag it to the Trash Incorrect Throw away the compressed file after you expand it thumb Don t use when you mean scroller or slider Tiger Mac OS X version 10 4 See also Mac OS X Tiger Server Mac OS X Server version 10 4 See also Mac OS X Server tild
42. information should go in an appendix e Letters Appendixes are lettered Appendix A Appendix B and so on e Part title An appendix part title may precede the first appendix and includes only the word Appendixes When a document has only one appendix it should be titled Appendix not Appendix A Cross references to a single appendix should refer to the appendix appendixes Not appendices Apple The company s official name is Apple Inc Use Apple Inc in copyright notices and credit lines and in communications that require the legal name of the company such as legal documents contracts and forms 2008 Apple Inc All rights reserved In the text of corporate and marketing communications and in the corporate address refer to the company as Apple You can also use Apple to refer to the company s products and services Today Apple announced the new Mac Pro computer Apple displays offer a brilliant view of your work Don t use Apple alone to refer to products or services always include a noun an Apple computer not an Apple Apple computers not Apples your Apple computer s screen not your Apple s screen The possessive form can be used in references to the company AirPort Extreme is Apple s wireless networking technology You can also use the hyphenated form Apple approved video card Apple certified parts Apple designed templates See also addresses mailing Chapter 1 Style and Usage 17 Apple autho
43. instead of volume to refer in general to hard disks and shared disks e Articles In general do not omit the article in phrases like to a disk or on a disk Correct Store data on a disk Incorrect Store data on disk See also copy drive save volume disk disk drive n adj Don t use disk as a short form A drive writes data to and reads data from a disk Don t hyphenate disk drive when you use the phrase as a compound adjective See also drive diskette Don t use use disk disk image Two words no hyphen Note the k in disk disk name Use when you refer to the name that appears below a disk s icon on the desktop don t use disk title for this purpose display n In most cases use display not monitor to refer to the primary display connected to a desktop computer Also use display to refer to the built in display in a portable or all in one computer Don t use when you mean desktop or screen Correct A window appears on the screen Incorrect A window appears on the display Correct Arrange your display so that the top of the screen is slightly below eye level See also monitor screen display v Don t use display when you mean appear Correct The Print dialog appears Incorrect The Print dialog displays See also appear display cable Use instead of monitor cable or monitor power cord for Apple displays Chapter 1 Style and Usage display device Refers to a device connected to the compu
44. left to right and indeterminate progress bar for the spinning striped cylinder If you have to mention a progress indicator in user documentation use the generic term and describe it You see a progress indicator looks like a spinning gear A progress indicator a moving bar shows the status of the download A progress indicator a spinning striped cylinder lets you know that a process is taking place See also asynchronous progress indicator determinate progress bar indeterminate progress bar spinning wait cursor Chapter 1 Style and Usage 141 142 prompt n v adj Avoid as a verb except in reference to what the system does when it displays an actual prompt character on the screen The prompt reminds you to do something The system then prompts you for information with a prompt character The prompt character is sometimes a bracket pronunciation If the pronunciation of an acronym is not self evident provide a pronunciation key Use all caps for the stressed syllable use a hyphen between syllables Enclose the phonetic spelling in quotation marks WYSIWYG pronounced WIZ zee wig This style guide provides pronunciation keys for many acronyms Don t invent your own pronunciation key unless this guide doesn t show the pronunciation Consult your editor propeller Use Command key not propeller key to refer to the key with the symbol See also Command key protocol When the word is part of the name o
45. legal documents e Contractions to avoid Don t form contractions from nouns and verbs For example avoid constructions such as this Apple s going to introduce a new computer today Avoid contractions not normally used in print such as would ve it ll e Its and it s Don t confuse it s the contraction for it is with the possessive pronoun its It s important that the department keep track of its computers control character n control character adj Note hyphenation of adjective Control click v adj Note capitalization and hyphenation The hyphen denotes a combined action Control click is equivalent to press the Control key and click To open a document Control click the document icon and choose Open from the shortcut menu control key Don t use in a general sense use modifier key The name of the specific key is capitalized Control key Control key It s OK to abbreviate as Ctr when space constraints don t allow the use of the full term as in column heads in tables Don t use CTRL controlled controlling Not controled controling convert to Not convert into cookies Not cookie files Use to refer to small text files a website may copy to a user s hard disk to record information about the user or the computer To use some websites you must set your web browser to accept cookies coprocessor No hyphen copy You copy a file to a disk not on a disk or onto a disk copy protect v copy prote
46. metasymbols in code examples Instead use metasymbols that suggest the kind of item that the programmer is to fill in TObject FirstMethod TObject SecondMethod Chapter 4 Technical Notation How to Write a Glossary This chapter provides guidelines on content definitions and format for a glossary of terms A good glossary can enhance the usefulness of the documentation you produce A term that one reader sees as jargon is seen by another as an everyday term in constant use Audience Considerations Keep in mind the needs of the people for whom you are writing First time users If your document is intended for first time computer users or first time Apple product users you ll probably have to include obvious terms such as window screen menu start up and command Look at earlier user documentation for ideas about what to include and ask your developmental editor for suggestions Intermediate users Documentation for intermediate users and installation manuals for peripheral devices lie in a gray area Can you assume for example that the person buying a hard disk has already learned how to use the computer Perhaps not But some hard disk buyers will be very advanced users When deciding which terms to include you should probably err on the side of including terms that most readers might already know rather than leaving out those that some readers won t know Developer documentation For developer documentation yo
47. modem The generic name for any modem that can achieve download speeds of up to 56 kbit s See also V 90 V 92 802 1X Note capitalization A standard for enhancing the security of networks 802 11 wireless networking standard Pronounced eight oh two dot eleven AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express are based on the 802 11n standard A AAC Abbreviation for Advanced Audio Coding an industry standard audio compression format See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations abbreviations and acronyms An acronym is a pronounceable word formed from the initial letter or letters of major parts of a compound term An abbreviation is usually formed in the same way but is not pronounced as a word Abbreviations are often lowercase or a mix of lowercase and uppercase Acronyms are almost always all caps regardless of the capitalization style of the spelled out form Abbreviation mph for miles per hour MB s for megabytes per second Acronym ROM for read only memory Chapter 1 Style and Usage Consider including acronyms and abbreviations in a glossary e When to spell out Spell out an abbreviation or acronym on first occurrence in a chapter if you think your audience may not be familiar with it In help documents spell out the term when you introduce it e How to spell out When you spell out a term generally put the spelled out version first with the abbreviation or acronym in parentheses Inte
48. not symbol in the following terms division sign equal sign greater than sign less than sign minus sign multiplication sign number sign plus sign sync synced syncing Not synch synched or synching Don t use synchronize or synchronization as alternative terms for sync or as an explanation of the term sync Correct Make sure syncing is turned on for the device Incorrect Make sure synchronization is turned on for the device Although sync is most often used as a verb it can also be used as a noun or adjective You can also start a sync manually Avoid changing sync settings while iPod is syncing Syncing can apply to either the devices or the content that s on them e Devices Use with rather than from or to Correct Sync iPod with your iTunes library Correct Sync your computer with MobileMe Incorrect Sync iPod to your iTunes library e Content Use to to specify the target from to specify the source or between if information is synced both to and from each source iTunes lets you sync all of your music or just selected songs You can sync bookmarks to iPhone from Safari on a Mac or from Internet Explorer on a PC Sync contacts between iPhone and your computer With multiple devices across is appropriate Sync information across computers and devices using MobileMe synchronous dynamic random access memory See SDRAM Chapter 1 Style and Usage syntax descriptions Follow these conventions e Literals
49. of abbreviations and symbols see Chapter 2 Units of Measure on page 191 Chapter 1 Style and Usage 10 able suffix When you add able to a word ending in e drop the e unless the word ends with a soft c or a soft g browsable deletable sharable sizable changeable pronounceable purgeable serviceable abort Avoid in user documentation Compare exit interrupt quit stop above You can use above to describe an element or section of an onscreen document that cannot be paged through such as a single webpage Don t use above in print documents instead use one of these styles e Earlier chapter Use the chapter name and number To learn how to create movies see Chapter 4 Composing Movies e Earlier section Use the section name followed by the page number For more information see Printing on page 154 Apple Product Documentation and User Publications use this style e Earlier figure table or code listing Use the number of the element followed by the page number For a summary of slot and drive numbers see Table 1 2 page 36 Developer Publications uses this style for references to a figure table or code listing at a distance If the element is immediately above the page number is omitted See also below earlier later AC Abbreviation for alternating current See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations AC adapter Don t use use power adapter See also
50. or log out from Correct You must log out of the server Incorrect You must log out from the server Incorrect You must log off the server Use login window to refer to the window that appears when a new user logs in to Mac OS X login items Applications or files that open automatically when the user logs in In user documentation it s preferable to use descriptive language for example items that open automatically The pane in the Accounts pane of System Preferences is named Login Items log on log off Don t use use log in and log out look and feel n No hyphens look up v lookup n adj Spell the verb as two words close up the noun or adjective lo res Don t use use low resolution n or low resolution adj low bit n low bit adj Note hyphenation of adjective Not o bit or lo bit Low bit is an acceptable short form of the noun ow order bit lowercase n adj One word no hyphen Don t use lowercase as a verb When used in conjunction with uppercase as a noun or to modify a noun use uppercase and lowercase both words spelled out in that order low order bit n Not lo bit or lo bit Low bit is an acceptable short form low resolution n low resolution adj Not o res The short form low res n adj is OK when space constraints don t allow use of the full phrase as in column heads in tables Chapter 1 Style and Usage M Mac Note spelling The term is pronounced dot M
51. published sources other than Apple documents in writing a document you should credit those sources in a bibliography You can also use a bibliography to provide suggestions for further reading In complex documentation you can place a topic specific bibliography at the end of a chapter rather than as part of the back matter bibliography entries Follow these guidelines for entries e Author s name In each entry invert the first author s name last name first with a comma both before and after the first name or names e Titles Italicize book and periodical titles Enclose article titles in quotation marks Article Harrison Claire Visual Social Semiotics How Still Images Make Meaning Technical Communication February 2003 46 60 Chapter 1 Style and Usage 25 26 e Edition numbers When you refer to an edition number use lowercase and spell out both the ordinal number and the word edition Technical Introduction to the Macintosh Family second edition e Publisher location Don t give the name of the state or country when the place of publication is a well known city If you need to provide a state name use the correct postal abbreviation given in The Chicago Manual of Style Book Norman Donald A and David E Rumelhart Explorations in Cognition San Francisco W H Freeman 1975 For more rules on bibliographic citation refer to The Chicago Manual of Style bidirectional adj Use to refer to a scrip
52. references use the viewer window virtual machine Note lowercase virtual memory Not Virtual Memory or VM voicemail One word Don t use as a verb voiceover One word Don t use as a verb Instead use record a voiceover or something similar voice quality microphone Note hyphenation volume disk In general don t use volume to refer to disks in user documentation use disk or the specific kind of disk to which you re referring OK to use volume to refer to a server or to individual partitions on a disk Also OK to use volume to refer generically to units of storage when these may include different kinds of disks You can use the Find command to search for items on all volumes connected to your computer Chapter 1 Style and Usage volume document Documents are divided into volumes when page length exceeds manageable limits The volumes of a multivolume document have the same title because the division into volumes doesn t represent a difference in subject matter however each volume may have a subtitle e Volume numbers The type of numeral used Arabic or Roman varies by department Consult your editor for guidelines Mac OS X Server Administrator s Guide Volume 2 Final Cut Pro 6 User Manual Volume Il Editing e Cross references In cross references to specific volumes capitalize but don t italicize Volume See Volume 1 of the Mac OS X Server Administrator s Guide for more information For more information abo
53. see Chapter 3 Apple Products on page 199 Chapter 1 Style and Usage 137 138 power button Note lowercase The button on a computer or display marked with the icon See also power switch power cord Not power cable power down n adj power down v OK in developer documentation Don t use in user documentation use switch off turn off or shut down Power Mac Use an article before Power Mac model names The Power Mac is designed for creative professionals The Power Mac G5 reinvents business computing For a list of model names see Chapter 3 Apple Products on page 199 power off v Don t use especially in user documentation use shut down switch off or turn off power on v Don t use especially in user documentation use switch on or turn on power on light Note hyphenation use lowercase PowerPC One word Use PowerPC based computer to refer generally to computers with a PowerPC microprocessor See also G3 G4 G5 power port Note lowercase power switch OK to use when your re not sure what kind of power control a device has See also power button power up n adj power up v OK in developer documentation Don t use in user documentation use switch on turn on or start up PRAM Acronym for parameter random access memory Pronounced PEA ram See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms pre prefix Close up words beginn
54. spelling out abbreviations iApp iApplication Don t use use iLife iLife applications digital media applications digital lifestyle applications or a specific application name such as iPhoto or iMovie Don t use digital applications l beam Note capitalization Refers to this pointer iBook The names of iBook models can be used with or without an article You can connect the iBook G4 to a wide range of peripherals iBook is designed for life on the go For a list of model names see Chapter 3 Apple Products on page 199 IC Abbreviation for integrated circuit No apostrophe for the plural ICs See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations icon An icon is a graphic that represents another item such as a file in a Finder window or an album in iPhoto e Icons that don t act like buttons If an element in the user interface looks like an icon displays a picture and does not appear three dimensional and doesn t act like a button does not initiate an action when clicked always call it an icon For example always call the following items icons lal An iPhoto album icon An iPhoto film roll icon e A hard disk icon Macintosh HD Chapter 1 Style and Usage e Icons that act like buttons If an element in the user interface looks like an icon displays a picture and does not appear three dimensional but acts like a button causes something to happen when clicked you can cal
55. stationery A feature of Mac OS X Mail Use lowercase except for interface elements step Don t capitalize even in specific references step 1 steps 1 and 2 several steps stepper In developer documentation use to refer to a control that has up and down arrows or left and right arrows to increase or decrease a value Don t use in user documentation unless it is necessary to refer to the control itself use up arrow down arrow right arrow left arrow or arrows as appropriate For example Click one of the arrows to increase or decrease the volume stereotypes See fair language Stickies Don t use to refer to the things you create using Stickies use notes Sticky Keys Capitalize when you refer to the feature that can be set in the Universal Access pane of System Preferences Chapter 1 Style and Usage 159 160 stop A general term meaning to cause a process command or program to cease Don t use when you mean quit an application See also exit interrupt quit style of type Not typestyle or type style sub prefix Close up words beginning with sub subaccount submenu subdirectory subnetwork subdirectory In developer documentation can be used to refer to a directory within another directory In user documentation use folder See also folder submenu indicator Refers to the triangular symbol that indicates an additional set of choices in a menu Move Left H Submenu indicators Move Right gt submenus Use
56. style e Electronic delivery f a print manual will also be delivered electronically for example as a PDF file don t call the book an electronic manual simply describe it for the user The manual is also available as a PDF file on the installation disc e Cross references To refer to documentation that may be either printed or electronic use documentation See the documentation that came with your computer See also document titles user guide user manual mass storage device No hyphen OK in reference to a hard disk drive tape backup unit DVD drive or CD drive but not in reference to a 3 5 inch disk drive maximize Don t use to refer to an item in the Dock use make active To make an item in the Dock active click the item may can See can might may MB n adj Abbreviation for megabyte MB equals 1000 bytes in the context of file size or disk storage capacity or 1024 bytes in the context of computer memory See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations e Noun In the noun form use a space between the numeral and the abbreviation The preposition of is necessary before the unit that the value quantifies 20 MB of memory 500 MB of storage capacity e Adjective Don t hyphenate the adjective form a 3 MB L2 cache a4 MB file Chapter 1 Style and Usage Mbit n adj Abbreviation for megabit See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations
57. the ranking is year month week day hour minute second This standard in addition to being used in many Asian languages solves ambiguities in the date notations used in Canada the United States and the United Kingdom e Usage Dates are expressed numerically as year month day and are separated by a hyphen Times are expressed on a 24 hour clock A colon separates hours minutes and seconds Coordinated Universal Time UTC times are expressed as Z Local time zones are expressed as the number of hours from UTC The iPhone 3G was introduced on 2008 07 11 The file will be posted at 18 00Z The file will be posted at 18 00 0800 PST Decimals Decimals are expressed by a period or a comma For numbers larger than 999 don t use a period or comma as a separator A nonbreaking space Option Space bar may be used instead e International Authority Bureau Internationale des Poids et Mesures BIPM e Standard BIPM SI Brochure 7th edition 1998 e Rationale Breaking up large numbers makes them easier to read especially in tables A nonbreaking space cannot be confused as a decimal marker Chapter 7 International Style e Usage Use a period to produce a decimal in English Numbers may be divided in groups of three on either side of the decimal to make them easy to read Use a nonbreaking space instead of a period or comma to divide numbers Express large numbers in their smallest form to make them easier to read A kiloby
58. to use in server and developer documentation to refer to placing configured computer systems services or software in a specific environment or making these items available for use in that environment In large organizations collaboration services are usually deployed at both corporate and workgroup levels depress Don t use use press deselect OK to use when you mean cancel a selection Not uncheck unselect unhighlight or dehighlight Compare unselected adj desired Try to avoid Correct make your changes select the folder Incorrect make the desired changes select the desired folder desktop n adj One word note lowercase Refers to the background area of the screen desktop computer Don t use desktop as a noun to refer to the computer use desktop computer desktop system or just computer or system See also computer system determinate progress bar In developer documentation the progress bar that fills from left to right In user documentation use progress indicator and describe what it looks like Developer documentation Use a determinate progress bar when you can tell the user how much of a process has been completed User documentation A progress indicator a moving bar shows the status of the download device name Two words Note the treatment of these similar terms filename host name pathname user name volume name diacritical mark Not diacritic Chapter 1 Style and Usage 51 52 dial in
59. up adj Note hyphenation Don t use dial up as a verb different from Not different than Make sure that the elements being compared are parallel nouns Correct The Mac user interface is different from that of a Windows PC Incorrect The Mac user interface is different than that of a Windows PC Incorrect The Mac user interface is different from a Windows PC Chapter 1 Style and Usage differently than Use when comparing two parallel clauses Don t use different than different from or differently from for this purpose But rewrite whenever possible to set up a construction in which different from is used to compare two parallel nouns Correct She uses the computer differently than he does Preferable Her use of the computer is different from his Incorrect She uses the computer differently than him digital Don t use a hyphen in compound adjectives beginning with digital digital video editing digital media applications Don t use digital applications digital camcorder See camcorder digital camera Use to refer to a digital still camera After the first mention camera is fine You can connect a digital camera if both your computer and camera have built in USB ports digital rights management See DRM digital to analog converter See DAC digital video n adj No hyphen See also DV digital video camera See video camera digital video recorder See DVR Digital Visual Interface See DVI dimensions In general us
60. using earlier and later to refer to other parts of a document Use specific cross references when you can Sometimes a general reference to another topic is appropriate In such cases it s OK to use earlier and later Earlier in the tutorial you learned to change fill color An explanation of color wells appears later in this document Compare above below earphones One word Capitalize in product names iPod Earphones easy installation Note lowercase Not easy install You perform an easy installation you don t do an easy install See also custom installation normal installation EBCDIC Acronym for Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code Note capitalization of spelled out version The acronym is pronounced EB si dik See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms editing Don t use a hyphen when you use editing in a compound adjective video editing application audio editing system editor Capitalize editor only when using the full name the Property List Editor but the editor e g Don t use use for example or such as See also abbreviations and acronyms eject trans v Don t use as an intransitive verb Correct The disk drive ejects the disk Correct To eject the disk drag its icon to the Trash Incorrect The disk ejects Chapter 1 Style and Usage Eject button The button next to the name of a CD DVD disk server or other device in the sidebar o
61. website To refer to the Apple website address use www apple com not apple com or Apple com Visit the Apple website at www apple com You can also use Apple com to refer to the website in webpages and some other contexts See also Internet addresses application A computer program that performs a specific task such as word processing database management and so on Don t use app or apps except in special terms such as App Store and in app purchase In general use application to refer to a program that has a graphical user interface use program for one that does not See also app program Application Chooser menu In VoiceOver a menu for navigating among open applications The menu appears when the user presses Option Control F1 twice application menu The application menu is the menu to the right of the Apple menu It shows the application name in boldface You don t need to include the word application when you refer to a specific application menu Commands for hiding Mail and for showing and hiding other applications are in the Mail menu application names Follow the style of the software itself for capitalization and spaces for example TextEdit Image Capture DigitalColor Meter iPhoto In general don t use the with application names Correct Open QuickTime Player Incorrect Open the QuickTime Player application programming interface See API Applications folder Use the Applications folder to refer to the Applicati
62. 09 Chapter 1 Style and Usage 39 40 code names Use exactly the same form for a product s code name throughout a document If the name is sometimes misspelled or otherwise treated inconsistently a global search and replace operation is not possible In final documentation don t refer to a product by its code name unless marketing specifically decides to associate the code name with the product cold start n v cold start adj Not coldstart colons Avoid using colons in text heads If you must use a colon in a head capitalize the first word after the colon regardless of its part of speech Setting Up A Beginner s Guide Precede all lists with colons whether the sentence before the colon is a complete thought or a partial thought exception to The Chicago Manual of Style See also lists bulleted color lookup table See CLUT color picker Avoid naming this feature in user documentation instead use a phrase such as Choose a color in the dialog color pixels Not colored pixels colors Colors include shades of gray so you can use colors to refer to settings for both grayscale and color displays On first mention of setting colors say for example You can set the number of colors or shades of gray displayed on the screen Thereafter use colors column view A way to display and select items in a hierarchy of data for example the column view in Finder windows Column View button Note capitalization The bu
63. 201 Keyboards and Mouse Devices e Apple Desktop Bus Mouse e Apple Desktop Bus Mouse II e Apple Extended Keyboard e Apple Extended Keyboard II e Apple Keyboard e Apple Keyboard II e Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad e Apple Mouse e Apple Pro Keyboard e Apple Pro Mouse e Apple USB Keyboard e Apple USB Mouse e Apple Wireless Keyboard e Apple Wireless Mouse e Magic Mouse e Mighty Mouse Storage Devices e Apple Drive Module Combo drive DVD ROM CD RW e MacBook Air SuperDrive e SuperDrive DVD R CD RW e SuperDrive DVD RW CD RW e SuperDrive DVD R DL DVD RW CD RW e SuperDrive DVD R DL DVD RW CD RW Wireless Networking Products e AirPort AirPort Extreme AirPort Express e AirPort Base Station AirPort Extreme Base Station AirPort Express Base Station e AirPort Card AirPort Extreme Card e Time Capsule 202 Chapter 3 Apple Products Accessories AppleDesign Powered Speakers AppleDesign Powered Speakers II Apple Earphones Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic Apple Headphone Apple In Ear Headphones Apple In Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic Apple Microphone Apple PlainTalk Microphone Apple Pro Speakers Apple Remote Apple TV Apple Universal Dock Apple USB Ethernet Adapter Apple USB Modem iPhone Bluetooth Headset iPhone Stereo Headset iPod Hi Fi iPod In Ear Headphones iPod Universal Dock iPod Universal Dock Adapter iSight Mac Pro RAID Card MagSafe Airline Adapter MagSafe Power
64. 202 202 202 203 204 208 209 209 209 209 210 210 Contents About This Guide What s in This Guide Standard Editorial Resources Conventions Used in This Guide Style and Usage Units of Measure Prefixes for Units of Measure Names and Unit Symbols for Units of Measure Apple Products Desktop Computers Portable Computers iPhone and iPod Products Servers Displays Keyboards and Mouse Devices Storage Devices Wireless Networking Products Accessories Software and Technologies Programs and Services Technical Notation General Considerations Code Syntax Descriptions Code Font in Text Metasymbols in Text Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 211 211 212 213 215 217 217 217 217 218 218 218 219 220 221 221 221 222 222 223 224 224 How to Write a Glossary Audience Considerations Content Guidelines Matters of Form Assembling the Glossary How to Develop an Index Choosing the Number of Levels Main Entries Subentries Wording Commands Cross References Order of Entries Style of Entries International Style Basic Rules Currency Dates and Times Decimals Languages Telephone Numbers Units of Measure Contents About This Guide Preface The Apple Publications Style Guide provides editorial guidelines for text in Apple instructional publications technical documentation reference information training programs and the software user interface Writers editors and devel
65. 3 24 backward adv Not backwards when you refer to direction But in certain other contexts such as putting a card in backwards it s OK to use backwards backward compatibility Not backwards compatibility backward compatible adj Note hyphenation bandwidth One word based Use a hyphen in compound adjectives that include based Mac based standards based Windows based Intel based Use an en dash Option Hyphen if based follows a term with two or more words Mac OS based open standards based Windows XP based Intel Xeon based Don t use a hyphen or en dash in predicate adjectives that include based Each track in a sequence is assigned an index value that is zero based base station A device that transmits and receives data in a wireless network also called access point wireless access point or wireless router Capitalize in product names AirPort Base Station AirPort Express Base Station AirPort Extreme Base Station See also AirPort batteries Describe batteries in terms of the number required size and type e Description Include only the appropriate information lithium ion battery lithium polymer battery eight AAA alkaline batteries one AA rechargeable nickel cadmium battery two nickel metal hydride batteries e Abbreviations Abbreviate the battery type only if space is limited Abbreviations include the following NiCd nickel cadmium Li lithium Li ion lithium ion NiMH nickel metal hydride
66. 42 command names Use title style capitalization for command names don t capitalize command the Find command the By Icon command e Commands used as ordinary verbs Don t capitalize a command name when you use the name as a normal English verb Correct Now cut the selected text from your document Incorrect Now Cut the selected text e Ellipsis points In menus some command names are followed by three unspaced periods ellipsis points to indicate that further action will be required Don t include the ellipsis points when you refer to the command name in text or text heads Correct Choose File gt Print and then enter the number of copies Incorrect Choose File gt Print and then enter the number of copies See also choose command menus commas Use a serial comma before and or or in a list of three or more items Correct Apple sells MacBook Pro computers the AirPort Extreme Card and Final Cut Pro software Incorrect Apple sells MacBook Pro computers the AirPort Extreme Card and Final Cut Pro software Common Gateway Interfaces See CGI communication communications Use the singular to describe the act of communicating the plural to describe the technology communications link Don t use use network connection compact disc See CD Company Co Spell out or abbreviate according to the particular company s preference compile time n compile time adj Note hyphenation of adjective compo
67. ADB non Apple non Macintosh En dash non Mac OS X platforms See also dash em dash en prefixes nonsexist language See fair language Chapter 1 Style and Usage 123 124 nonstartup disk Avoid when possible Instead use a disk that does not contain system software or another appropriate phrase normal installation Note lowercase Not normal install You perform a normal installation you don t do a normal install See also custom installation easy installation normal user See standard user Note Use the Note tag for information that is relevant to a topic but that may not apply to all readers You can also use a note for a bit of information that s tangential to a topic Use notes and other notices sparingly They lose their effectiveness if they appear too often Don t use a Note tag immediately before or after a Warning Important notice or another Note or immediately after a text head See also Important Warning notebook computer OK to use notebook computer but portable computer is preferred On first occurrence use notebook computer Thereafter it s OK to use notebook alone as a noun See also portable computer notebook computer laptop computer null character Use for ASCII character 00 Don t confuse with zero character ASCII 30 number Abbreviate as no if space is limited See also number sign numbers Follow these guidelines for numbers e Cardinal numbers In general spell out cardinal nu
68. AM disk Two words Note capitalization random access memory See RAM RAW A file type Use all caps even though RAW is not an acronym Don t use RAW alone use RAW file RAW image RAW setting and so on When you take photos using your camera s RAW setting the camera creates a RAW file that retains all the image data captured by the camera re prefix Usually closed up even when it forms a double vowel as in reenter and reinstall Exceptions re create as in re create the file re sort as in re sort the database Read Me A document usually in text only or Rich Text Format that accompanies a product and contains information the user needs to read before installing or using the product e Titles In user documentation don t call such documents the Read Me or Read Me file Instead use the document s name enclosed in quotation marks Call a file Read Me only if that s the actual filename Titles for application software For some software products use Read Before You Install product name for the title of a standalone Read Me one that is a separate file on the user s hard disk or the product disc Read Before You Install iPhoto Titles for other products For Read Me files that contain information other than before you install information for example those that provide the only documentation for a product such as a firmware update downloaded from the web you can use the name About product name fo
69. Adapter Nike iPod Sensor Nike iPod Sport Kit Xserve RAID Card Chapter 3 Apple Products 203 204 Software and Technologies e Address Book e Address Book Server e AirTunes e Aperture e Apple Hardware Test e Apple Loops Utility e Apple ProRes e Apple Qadministrator e Apple Qmaster e Apple Remote Desktop e AppleScript e AppleTalk e AppleWorks e Audio MIDI Setup e Audio Units e Automator e Back to My Mac e Backup e Batch Monitor e Bonjour Boot Camp e Calculator e Cinema Tools e Color e ColorSync Utility e Compressor e Core Animation e Core Audio e Core Data e Core Graphics e Core Image e Core Location e Core MIDI e Core Text e Core Video e Cover Flow Chapter 3 Apple Products e Darwin e Dashboard e Dashcode e Dictionary e Directory e Directory Utility e Disk Utility e DVD Player e DVD Studio Pro e Enterprise Objects e Expos e FileVault e Final Cut Express e Final Cut Express HD e Final Cut Pro e Final Cut Pro HD e Final Cut Server e Final Cut Studio e Finder e FireWire e Font Book e Front Row e FxPlug e FXScript e GarageBand e GarageBand Jam Pack e Grab e Grand Central Dispatch e Help Viewer e iCal e iCal Server e iChat e iChat Server e iChat Theater e iDisk e iDVD e iLife Chapter 3 Apple Products 205 206 e Image Capture e iMovie e iMovie HD e Impulse Response Utility e InkPad e Inkwell e Interface B
70. Address Book or to a generic address book application or feature such as the address book on a mobile phone addresses mailing Use the forms shown here for addresses To include the country name in a U S based Apple address use USA no periods e Apple corporate address If you include the Apple phone number corporate address and URL use this form Apple not Apple Inc 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CA 95014 408 996 1010 www apple com Specific Apple mailing addresses Department Name Apple 1 Infinite Loop MS xx xx Cupertino CA 95014 e Fax and email Elements such as fax numbers and email addresses can be included in Apple mailing addresses Place the elements below the phone number using the following format Fax 408 123 1234 Email appleci apple com e Other addresses For other addresses spell out elements such as Avenue Drive Road Street and Suite It s OK to abbreviate Blvd and Bldg Use the format shown in the preceding examples for city and state phone numbers fax numbers and email addresses Use two letter abbreviations for state names see The Chicago Manual of Style adjuster Don t use to refer to a control that has up and down arrows or left and right arrows to increase or decrease a value In user documentation use up arrow down arrow right arrow left arrow or arrows as appropriate For example Click one of the arrows to increase or decrease the volume lf it is necessary to refer to the contr
71. Apple Consultants Network is a service mark of Apple Inc Unregistered service mark Third party trademarks Some companies have special requirements for the use of their trademarks in Apple documents and for the wording in a trademark notice For a list of those trademarks and their notices see the Special and Licensed Trademarks and or Copyrights section of the Apple trademark list e Trademark symbols In user and developer documentation print and electronic don t use trademark symbols for Apple trademarks in headings or text Note that other types of documents such as press releases do use trademark symbols in text Follow the guidelines for your type of documentation Trademark status may change with time For the most current Apple trademarks consult the trademark list on the web web apple com areas trademarkinformation internal www apple com legal trademark appletmlist html external Chapter 1 Style and Usage 173 174 trademarks usage Follow these guidelines for using trademarks in text e Adjectives Trademarks are correctly used as adjectives modifying nouns Don t use a trademark as a noun on first use in text Thereafter you can occasionally use the noun form but use the adjective form frequently throughout the text Correct first mention Congratulations on the purchase of your new iMac computer Incorrect first mention Congratulations on the purchase of your new iMac Acceptable later reference
72. Apple Publications Style Guide Apple Inc Copyright 2009 Apple Inc All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means mechanical electronic photocopying recording or otherwise without prior written permission of Apple Inc with the following exceptions Any person is hereby authorized to store documentation on a single computer for personal use only and to print copies of documentation for personal use provided that the documentation contains the Apple copyright notice The Apple logo is a trademark of Apple Inc registered in the U S and other countries Use of the keyboard Apple logo Shift Option K for commercial purposes without the prior written consent of Apple may constitute trademark infringement and unfair competition in violation of federal and state laws Apple 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino California 95014 408 996 1010 www apple com Apple the Apple logo AirMac AirPort AirPort Express AirPort Extreme Apple Cinema Display AppleScript AppleShare AppleTalk Apple TV AppleWorks Aqua Back to My Mac Bonjour Boot Camp Carbon Cocoa ColorSync Cover Flow Dashcode DVD Studio Pro eMac Expos FileVault Final Cut Final Cut Pro Final Cut Studio FireWire GarageBand iBook iCal iChat iDVD iLife iMac iMovie Inkwell iPhone iPhoto iPod iPod classic iPod Hi Fi iPod nano iPod shuffle iPod to
73. Apple product Correct Avoid placing the base station near sources of interference Incorrect Avoid placing the Base Station near sources of interference alert n adj Refers generically to a signal either visual a dialog or auditory a beep that calls the user s attention to an unusual situation Visual alerts such as the one shown here provide messages about error conditions or warn users about potentially hazardous situations or actions Do you want to save the changes you made in Z the document Untitled ss Your changes will be lost if you don t save them _ Don t Save Cancel Save In user documentation you can use alert sound or alert message to describe generic alerts Avoid error message except in developer documentation You hear a sound called the alert sound when the computer needs your attention An alert message appears if a problem occurs during the installation In specific situations however avoid the word alert if you can simply describe what the user sees or hears A message appears when the installation is finished A message asks you to insert Install Disc 2 alias Note lowercase Use for with alias not of or to The alias for the selected file is on the desktop You can also use file alias or folder alias In developer documentation the object that the alias represents is called its target In user documentation the object is called the original item Do
74. Drive and the DVDs it uses See also double layer n double layer adj dual processor adj Note hyphen Computers with two processors are dual processor computers They have dual processors dual Intel Xeon processors and so on Don t use a dual processor or DP See also dual core adj due to Not due to the fact that A phrase beginning with due to must follow a linking verb and must function as a subject complement it cannot function as an independent prepositional phrase Use because of with prepositional phrases The interference was due to a faulty cable Your applications will open faster because of the additional memory Chapter 1 Style and Usage DV An industry standard video format Generally use DV to refer to the format or to products that use the format Don t use DV to refer to the medium digital video Related terms include DV format DV standard DV camera DV camcorder DVD Don t spell out DVD doesn t stand for a specific term DVD technologies include the following DVD Audio read only DVD R recordable DVD R recordable DVD R DL recordable double layer DVD R DL recordable double layer DVD R SL recordable single layer DVD R SL recordable single layer DVD RAM rewritable DVD ROM read only DVD RW rewritable not DVD R W or DVD RW DVD RW rewritable not DVD R W or DVD RW DVD Video read only Refer to the specific type of disc or drive or use the general term DVD D
75. In the noun form use a space between the numeral and the abbreviation at a rate of 800 MHz e Adjective Don t hyphenate the adjective form an 800 MHz processor mice Try to avoid but if you must use the plural of mouse it s OK to use mice or mouse devices See also mouse microarchitecture One word micro DVI A video output port for connecting external displays and TVs microphone OK to use mic for short Microsoft Windows OK to use Windows Computers that use Microsoft Windows can be called Windows based computers Windows computers Windows based PCs or Windows PCs See also PC MIDI Acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface Note capitalization of spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms millimeter mm OK to abbreviate Note hyphenation when the spelled out version is used as an adjective 2 4 millimeters 2 4 mm 2 4 millimeter slot 2 4 mm slot For film sizes close up the numeral and the abbreviation 16mm film million instructions per second See MIPS MIME Acronym for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension commonly used to distinguish an email format from plain text format It s not necessary to spell out on first occurrence Use as an adjective a MIME file MIME format mini prefix Hyphenate before a word beginning with a vowel a proper noun or an abbreviation close up before a word beginning with a consonant mini application
76. Keyboards don t have this key e Windows keyboards On Windows keyboards the equivalent to the Forward Delete key is the Delete key the key that is equivalent to the Mac Delete key is the Backspace key fps Abbreviation for frames per second Note lowercase Include a space between the number and fps 24 fps See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations fractions In user documentation spell out fractions whose denominator is 10 or lower in running text except in specification lists technical appendixes or tables For spelled out forms hyphenate the fractions one tenth one fifth three fourths This application uses one fifth of available memory The other application uses only 20 of available memory When you express a noninteger greater than 1 in fractional form use a mixed numeral rather than an improper fraction Correct 1 6 Incorrect 6 frame buffer Two words frame rate Two words frames per second See fps free Don t use to refer to available random access memory RAM or storage space use available FreeBSD Note spelling freeze Use to refer to the behavior of a pointer on the screen Avoid using freeze as a noun or to refer to something the computer does Instead use a phrase such as not responding Correct If the pointer freezes on the screen or the computer stops responding to the mouse or keyboard follow these instructions Incorrect If the computer freez
77. Note hyphenation If the hyphen is not used in something the user sees in the interface or in a filename match what the user sees Locate the QuickTime Plugin file on your hard disk In text that uses title style capitalization use lowercase for the i in Plug in exception to the rule that you capitalize the second word in a hyphenated compound plug in v plug into v Use when you refer to the specific act of plugging a connector into a port or outlet For example a power cord plugs into an electrical outlet you can plug a USB connector into a USB port See also connect connector into in to plurals Follow these guidelines for plurals e Acronyms and abbreviations To form the plural of an acronym or an abbreviation add an s but no apostrophe CDs DVDs e Adjectives Don t add s to an adjective unless necessary For example it s electronic circuit but electronics engineer Other words that fall into this class of adjectives are graphic and graphics communication and communications numeric and numerics e Letters and symbols To form the plural of a letter or symbol add an apostrophe andans p s s e Numbers Form the plural of numbers by adding an s 1s 1930s e Nouns Don t use s to indicate that a noun can be either singular or plural Spell out the singular and plural forms if necessary if possible rewrite to avoid either construction Acceptable initializing your hard disk or disks Preferable initial
78. One word note lowercase An area containing buttons such as in Finder windows and Mail Don t call toolbar buttons icons or shortcuts toolkit One word tooltips Don t use unless tooltips is the term used in the interface Use help tags See also help tags Torx screwdriver Note capitalization Not Torex or Torque TOSLINK Note spelling A connector used in optical digital audio cables touch and hold Refers to the act of touching a Multi Touch screen or trackpad and leaving the finger motionless until something happens Don t use tap and hold Touch and hold to see a magnified view then drag to position the insertion point touchscreen One word touch tone adj Note hyphenation Chapter 1 Style and Usage toward Not towards trackball One word An input device used as a substitute for a mouse track list Two words trackpad One word trademarks credit lines and symbols The name of any trademarked Apple product or service mentioned in a document must appear in the appropriate credit line on the copyright page Categories include registered trademarks trademarks registered service marks and service marks Final Cut Pro is a trademark of Apple Inc registered in the U S and other countries Registered trademark Finder is a trademark of Apple Inc Unregistered trademark AppleCare is a service mark of Apple Inc registered in the U S and other countries Registered service mark
79. The Ethernet cable is 40 meters long Don t use a period after an SI unit unless the unit appears at the end of a sentence Mixing names and symbols Don t mix unit names and symbols kilogram m2 or unit symbols and abbreviations U sec Don t mix a prefix name with a unit symbol kiloHz or a prefix symbol with a unit name khertz Prefixes for Units of Measure Factor Prefix Symbol or abbreviation 1024 yotta Y 1021 zetta Z 1018 exa E 1015 peta P 1012 tera T 109 giga G 106 mega M 103 kilo k 102 hecto h 101 deka da 10 1 deci d 10 2 centi c 10 3 milli m 10 6 micro u 10 9 nano n 10 12 pico p 10 15 femto f 10 18 atto a 10 21 Zepto Zz 10 24 yocto y Chapter 2 Units of Measure Names and Unit Symbols for Units of Measure In the following table when a unit symbol includes a nonalphanumeric character the keystrokes that generate the character are included in brackets after the unit symbol or abbreviation Unit Unit symbol or abbreviation Quantity ampere A electric current ampere hour Ah rate of delivery of electricity ampere second See coulomb amperes per meter A m magnetic field strength amperes per square meter A m2 current density amperes per volt See siemens angstrom 10 10 meters attoampere 10 18 amperes Option Shift A aA optical wavelength electric current baud signal events per second Bd speed of
80. Use both hands to lift your iMac e Plural form Don t use a trademarked name in the plural form Correct If you have more than one Mac computer Incorrect If you have several Macs e Possessive form Don t use a trademarked name in the possessive form Correct Learn more about MacBook features Incorrect Learn more about MacBook s features e Third party trademarks For third party trademarks follow the usage guidelines posted by the third party company Transmission Control Protocol Internet Protocol See TCP IP Trash Note capitalization Use an article drag the file to the Trash tray loading adj Not tray load See also slot loading adj troubleshoot v troubleshooting n adj One word tune in to Three words See also into in to turn on turn off OK to use when you describe power to a computer or peripheral device You can also use turn on to describe enabling features such as file sharing as in turn on file sharing See also startup n adj start up v switch on switch off TV Not TV set or television set TV monitor Don t use Use video monitor or monitor twisted pair cable Note hyphenation two dimensional See 2D type n Use in general references to the text that appears on a printed page Don t use type when you mean font or font family Chapter 1 Style and Usage type v Use to describe the act of pressing keys to produce characters on the screen Use code font or quotation mark
81. User documentation You see a progress indicator looks like a spinning gear ATA Abbreviation for Advanced Technology Attachment A hard disk drive interface Types of ATA hard drives used in Mac computers include Serial ATA and Parallel ATA See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations See also hard disk n adj Parallel ATA Serial ATA attach Don t use to mean connect as in Connect the USB device to your computer audio Close up the following words beginning with audio audiobook audiocassette audiotape audiovisual Don t use a hyphen in compound adjectives that include audio audio editing application audio CD Not CD audio disc audio chat audio chatting n v adj Two words OK to use audio chat or audio conference audio conference audio conferencing n v adj Two words OK to use audio conference or audio chat audio input audio input output audio output n adj No hyphen You can shorten to audio in audio in out and audio out Types of audio input output include audio line in audio line out analog audio and optical digital audio or optical audio Chapter 1 Style and Usage Audio Units Always plural not Audio Unit Note capitalization In user documentation use only as an adjective the Audio Units format OK to use lowercase and to use as a noun in developer documentation Logic Pro supports Audio Units plug ins You can install third party Audio Units fi
82. abbreviations SDRAM Abbreviation for synchronous dynamic random access memory See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations search field Note lowercase search results list Note lowercase The list that appears after a Spotlight search secondary cache second level cache Don t use use level 2 cache or L2 cache select adj OK to use select to mean special or exclusive In select Starbucks locations you can purchase songs from featured collections select v Use select not choose to refer to the action users perform when they select among multiple objects such as icons graphic images radio buttons or checkboxes in a dialog or when they highlight text for editing Select a name in the list of users To select several files at once hold down the Shift key and then click the files Select the text you want to make bold Select the Autosave Vault checkbox e Selecting objects Although users generally click to select objects they can also use the keyboard you need to use the complete phrase click to select only if you think there s potential for confusion Both of the following examples are acceptable Click to select a name in the list of users Select a name in the list of users e Checkboxes See checkbox e Item names Although it s usually clearest to include both the name of the interface item and what type of item it is such as a checkbox or radio button you can als
83. ac Replaced by MobileMe See also MobileMe Mac Macintosh Use Mac or Macintosh to describe Apple computers and related products Mac is the preferred term to describe Apple products Mac computer the Mac your Mac Mac users the Mac platform for Mac and Windows Mac compatible products e Adjective On first use and frequently thereafter use Mac as an adjective When you use Mac as a noun place an article or a possessive before it Correct first mention your Mac computer Acceptable later reference your Mac e Plural form Don t use the plural form of the noun Mac Macintosh or any other trademarked name Correct Mac computers Incorrect Macs e Possessive form Don t use the possessive form of Mac Macintosh or any other trademarked name Correct the Mac features your Mac computer s features the features of your Mac Incorrect the Mac s features your Macintosh s features For a list of Mac model names see Chapter 3 Apple Products on page 199 MacBook The names of MacBook models can be used with or without an article You can install additional memory in the MacBook Pro MacBook Air is designed for quick and easy setup For a list of model names see Chapter 3 Apple Products on page 199 Mac Help Note capitalization See also help machine Don t use when you mean computer machine language n machine language adj Note hyphenation of adjective Mac mini The name can be used with or witho
84. ac OS X Snow Leopard Server In developer documentation don t use version names such as Snow Leopard use version numbers only Mac Pro Use an article before the name Correct The Mac Pro features four full length expansion slots Incorrect Mac Pro features four full length expansion slots Macworld Note capitalization not MacWorld Mail Capitalize when referring to the email application that comes with Mac computers iPhone and iPod touch and to the MobileMe web application use MobileMe Mail on first reference MobileMe members have a me com email address See also MobileMe mailbox One word note lowercase In Mail a mailbox is essentially a folder which can contain messages sent draft and received email and other mailboxes mailbox list Note lowercase The list of mailboxes on the left of the viewer window in Mail main logic board Not motherboard or main circuit board You can also use main board main memory Not central memory male connector Don t use use plug See also connector Chapter 1 Style and Usage 113 114 manual Use manual to refer generically to a print book that comes with a computer or other product You can also use user manual user s manual or user guide depending on the manual title See the manual that came with your camcorder See your user guide for instructions Apple Product Documentation uses this style See your user manual for instructions User Publications uses this
85. acters e Allow passwords to be as long as is practical e Never display the password on the screen in clear text not even while the user is typing it e Provide a way for the user to verify the password when it is entered or changed See also lists lists multicolumn Use a multicolumn list when you want to present simple data in tabular form without all the formal parameters of a table You can use column heads if you wish A multicolumn list does not have spanners row titles or stubs and it does not use horizontal rules as a table does e Numbers and titles Multicolumn lists do not have numbers or titles If you need to refer to a list in text anywhere other than in the paragraph preceding the list use a standard table e Length Don t use a multicolumn list for very complex sets of information or for very lengthy lists of data The entire list should not exceed one page for best results in page layout it should probably be no more than half a page long Here are some examples of file types APPL Launchable application mMoov QuickTime movie TEXT Stream of ASCII characters GIFF Animated GIF file Midi MIDI file See also lists Chapter 1 Style and Usage 107 108 lists numbered Use a numbered list when you want to stress the sequential nature of steps rules or instructions In numbered task lists steps each item should be a complete sentence Use sentence style capitalization for each item and end each
86. adapter power adapter Accelerated Graphics Port See AGP access n v It s OK to use access as a verb when you cannot be more specific Even in developer documents consider more precise terms such as og in to Avoid Access the server using an administrator account Preferable Log in to the server using an administrator account Avoid You can access the Internet with your MacBook Preferable You can connect to the Internet with your MacBook access point Also called a wireless access point A device such as a base station that transmits and receives data in a wireless network See also AirPort ACGI Abbreviation for Asynchronous Common Gateway Interface Note capitalization See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Chapter 1 Style and Usage acronyms See abbreviations and acronyms action Note lowercase A component of an Automator workflow A workflow is an entire task Each action is a specific part of the task such as opening a new message in Mail action description Note lowercase In Automator the description of the selected workflow action Action pop up menu Note capitalization A pop up menu labeled with a gear and a down arrow in the Finder and in applications such as Mail te EJ New Folder New Burn Folder Open Move to Trash Get Info Compress Documents Duplicate Make Alias Copy Documents Show View Options Label x BSBuUBae
87. address for your computer contact your system administrator or network administrator See also administrator n administrator adj system files Note lowercase Refers to any files used by the computer to start up or to provide systemwide information System folder Note lowercase f System Preferences Note capitalization for the name of the application See also preferences system software Note lowercase Not systems software See also application program version systemwide adj One word Chapter 1 Style and Usage 163 164 T tab In the user interface the tab itself is called the tab name tab but the content you see when you click a tab is the pane Note that most controls that used to look like tabs now look like buttons In general if it looks like a tab call it a tab if it looks like a button call it a button See also pane Tab key tab character Capitalize when you refer to the key on the keyboard Use lowercase when you refer to the character When you press Tab you generate a tab character The tab character HT for horizontal tab has the ASCII value 09 table captions Table captions include a table number and a table title In developer documentation most tables are numbered In user documentation many tables have no numbers and no titles When you use table titles keep them short don t exceed a line and a half of text Avoid using complete sentences for table titles table of co
88. adjective Warning Use a Warning notice when the reader needs to know that an action may cause bodily injury damage to hardware or software or loss of data Use warnings and other notices sparingly They lose their effectiveness if they appear too often Don t use a Warning notice immediately before or after a Note an Important notice or another Warning notice or immediately after a text head Apple hardware documentation follows the ANSI 2535 6 standard which reserves Warning just for actions that may cause bodily injury and uses Notice instead for actions that may cause property damage See also Important Note waveform n adj One word wavelength n One word we Don t use first person rewrite in terms of the reader or the product Correct For best performance your computer should have at least 512 MB of RAM Incorrect We recommend that your computer have at least 512 MB of RAM See also recommend Chapter 1 Style and Usage web Short for World Wide Web You go to visit or view pages on the web Note the treatment of terms beginning with web webcam webcast webcasting weblog webmail webmaster webpage website web authoring web browser web camera web clip web publishing web server See also Internet addresses World Wide Web web addresses See Internet addresses URL webpage web clip Two words Capitalize when referring to the Dashboard widget otherwise use lowercase webpage One word A s
89. ag or a language specific character input output See I O insertion point Use to describe the point at which the user types or inserts data The vertical blinking bar marks the insertion point See also cursor pointer inside Not inside of inspector A window that enables users to view the attributes of a document or a selected item and often to modify those attributes You can refer to the inspector or the inspector window You can format most elements of your document using the inspector You can open multiple inspector windows to work with different aspects of your document e Capitalization Capitalize Inspector when it is a button name or in a menu command Click the Inspector button in the toolbar Choose Tools gt Inspector Otherwise spell with a lowercase i Correct You can add a hyperlink using the inspector Incorrect You can add a hyperlink using the Inspector e Panes When referring to a pane of an inspector use the pane name inspector Use the Table inspector to change the row height To change the appearance of links use the Link inspector You can also use the pane name pane of the inspector for example the Table pane of the inspector to introduce the concept of multiple panes in an inspector e Inspector buttons Inspectors with multiple panes typically have buttons that enable users to switch between panes The name of the button should match the name of the pane it opens Click the Text
90. age Internet Protocol See IP Internet service provider See ISP interprocess communication See IPC interrupt OK to use as a noun in developer documentation Compare exit force quit quit stop into in to Use in to when in is part of the verb Use into to imply motion to the inside of something Correct Log in to the computer Incorrect Log into the computer Correct Insert the CD into the disc drive See also onto on to plug in v plug into v intranet Note lowercase A private network usually owned by a corporation or institution your company s intranet Compare internet Internet in use light Note hyphenation inverted Don t use when you mean highlighted I O Abbreviation for input output See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations IP Abbreviation for Internet Protocol Note capitalization of spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations IPC Abbreviation for interprocess communication Note lowercase in spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations iPhone In general references don t use an article When referring to the user s particular iPhone it s OK to use your iPhone supports the most popular email standards IMAP and POP3 If you experience problems with your iPhone iPhoto Don t use iPhoto to refer generally to photos or pictures Corr
91. al iPod iPod with dock connector iPod with scroll wheel iPod with touch wheel iPod with Click Wheel iPod with color display iPod with video Don t use terms such as video iPod or Click Wheel iPod IrDA Abbreviation for Infrared Data Association Note capitalization See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations ISDN Abbreviation for Integrated Services Digital Network See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations iSight OK to use without an article ISP Abbreviation for Internet service provider not ISP provider Note capitalization of spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations iSync Note capitalization Not Synch Chapter 1 Style and Usage italics Follow these guidelines for using italics e References to titles of discs and titles of documents talicize the entire title See the iPhone User Guide e Letters as letters words as words and phrases as phrases Italicize the i the o s the word boot the phrase Welcome to Mac OS X But type Q press Command S e Emphasis Use italics to emphasize a word or phrase but don t overdo this use of italics Make sure that the power cable is plugged in and that power is available at the outlet e Metasymbols in syntax examples talicize metasymbols Read file var e Terms that stand for or define other terms Use italics not quotation marks
92. alization A standard that allows data transmission rates of up to 1 gigabit per second 1000 megabits per second See also Ethernet Fast Ethernet 100Base T Fiber Gigabit Ethernet gigabits per second See Gbit s gigabyte See GB n adj gigabytes per second See GB s gigaflops One word note lowercase One billion floating point operations per second gigahertz See GHz n adj glossary The writer and editor determine whether a document needs a glossary See Chapter 5 How to Write a Glossary on page 211 for guidelines on preparing a glossary glyph In discussions of font technology use when necessary to refer to the distinct visual representation of a character that a display device such as a computer screen or printer can display In some non Roman writing systems several different glyphs may be used to represent a single character Gopher Note capitalization Use as an adjective a Gopher site a server with Gopher software The UNIX command gopher is all lowercase GPU Abbreviation for graphics processing unit Note lowercase in spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations See also graphics card Chapter 1 Style and Usage Grab Capitalize when referring to the Grab application Don t use as a verb graphic adj Not graphical except in graphical user interface Compare graphics n adj graphical user interface Note lowercase Don t use the ac
93. and Usage blinking Use to describe the insertion point Don t use flashing for this purpose blog n v Short for weblog A blog is a webpage that serves as a person s publicly accessible personal journal Blue appearance Note capitalization An appearance available in Mac OS X Bluetooth Note capitalization Don t use Bluetooth as a noun Correct If your computer did not come with an internal Bluetooth module you can have one installed by an Apple Authorized Service Provider Correct Your computer can connect to and transfer information to devices that use Bluetooth wireless technology Incorrect Your computer can connect to devices that use Bluetooth Don t use a hyphen with Bluetooth Correct Bluetooth enabled device Incorrect Bluetooth enabled device Blu ray Note hyphenation and capitalization A high capacity optical disc format using blue violet lasers also referred to as Blu ray Disc BD The discs can be used to store data or video Capitalize Disc only when referring to the format Use lowercase when referring to individual discs You can create Blu ray video and audio files and burn them to a Blu ray disc board Don t use when you mean card A board is built in a card can be removed by the user Compare card bookmark n v One word Boolean adj Note capitalization boot Don t use for start up or switch on except in developer or server documentation In documentation written for new users
94. application server database server file server HTTP server mail server network server print server streaming server web server service manual Note lowercase setup n adj set up v One word except as a verb Setup Assistant Two words Capitalize when you refer to an application that helps users configure the system or software use lowercase for a generic reference Don t use the before Setup Assistant You must have an AirPort Extreme Card installed in your computer to use AirPort Setup Assistant Apple Remote Desktop provides an easy to use setup assistant to guide you through the process See also Assistant sexism sexist language See fair language shared disk In user documentation use shared disk when you discuss connecting to another computer over the network When you discuss setting up a folder to share on your own computer use shared folder Use file server only when explaining the concept of file servers Chapter 1 Style and Usage 153 154 shared folder In user documentation use shared folder when you discuss setting up a folder to share on the user s computer Use shared disk when you discuss connecting to another computer over the network See also shared disk share point Two words A folder hard disk or removable storage device that is available over a network sheet Refers to a dialog attached to a specific document window In user documentation call a sheet a dialog sheet is mainly used in
95. apter 1 Style and Usage 47 48 e To part titles Use title style capitalization and enclose the title but not the word Part or the part number in quotation marks See Part Ill Real Time and Rendering for more information See the Final Cut Pro 6 User Manual Volume Part III Setting Up Your Editing System e To onscreen help When you refer to onscreen help don t place quotation marks around the names of specific help books Look in Address Book Help for more information about adding contacts Do place quotation marks around the names of chapters of a help book as you would the chapters of a print book See Managing Audio Files for more information See the New to iTunes section of iTunes Help CRT Abbreviation for cathode ray tube Note hyphenation of spelled out version Don t use when you mean display or screen See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Ctrl Abbreviation for Control note capitalization Use the abbreviation only when space constraints don t allow use of the full term as in column heads in tables otherwise use Control as in Control key or Control S Don t use CTRL curly brackets Don t use curly brackets to describe these symbols use braces cursor In describing the Mac OS user interface use insertion point or pointer depending on the context The term cursor is appropriate when you describe the VoiceOver interface an
96. ar Two words Note lowercase titled Not entitled titles chapter and section Make part titles chapter titles and heads concise and consistent Keep the reader s needs in mind and remember that these elements are used primarily as locators for someone skimming through a document titles disc See disc titles titles document See document titles Chapter 1 Style and Usage 171 172 titles window See window titles titles of works Use italics for the titles of books magazines newspapers manuals movies videos plays television shows radio shows podcast series blogs music albums and works of art If italics are not available or would be hard to read such as in some onscreen text use quotation marks for these titles Use plain text and quotation marks for the titles of works that are more limited in scope such as articles stories reports TV episodes podcast episodes sections of blogs songs chapters and sections of works and photographs See also disc titles document titles title style capitalization Capitalize each word except for articles prepositions of four or fewer letters and so on Compare capitalization sentence style See also capitalization title style to do adj Note hyphen to do list Use lowercase except for interface elements in Mail iCal and MobileMe Calendar Don t use as a noun toggle v OK to use in developer documentation don t use in user documentation toolbar
97. at came with your model provides instructions modem port Note lowercase Not phone port modern Do not use to specify the requirements for an application such as a web browser instead state the specific version of the application or use recommended or compatible Make sure you re using a recommended web browser such as Safari version 3 or later Friends and family can view albums in the iPhoto window or in a compatible web browser modifier key Use instead of control key in the generic sense for a key that affects the action of other keys such as the Command Shift Option Control and Esc keys monitor In general don t use to refer to the primary display connected to the user s computer use display You can use monitor to refer generically to different kinds of display devices that may be connected to a user s computer such as a CRT monitor or NTSC monitor Connect the display to your Mac Pro If you want to show your movie on an external monitor first connect the monitor to your computer monitor cable Not video cable or monitor cord Use when you refer to cables for displays other than Apple displays otherwise use display cable Use display power cord or monitor power cord for the cord that goes from the display or monitor to the power source See also display cable monitor depth Avoid use color depth monitor port Not video port Use to refer to the port to which a monitor is connected Don t use monitor por
98. ation so keep paragraphs short and tight See also Chapter 7 International Style on page 221 localize v Takes the preposition for not to Correct Whether you localize your application for the French language or for French Canada make sure you test its interface Incorrect Whether you localize your application to the French language or to French Canada make sure you test its interface lock Users lock documents or applications they write protect their disks Disks are copy protected by the manufacturer logical operators Don t use as verbs Correct Using OR to combine x and y produces the result TRUE if either one is true or if both are true Incorrect ORing x and y produces the result TRUE if either one is true or if both are true Correct The directive uses the logical operator AND to compare the accumulator contents with the contents of memory specified by the operand Incorrect The directive logically ANDs the accumulator contents with the contents of memory specified by the operand Chapter 1 Style and Usage 109 110 log in v login n adj log out v logout n adj Use log in to not log into Correct You must log in as an administrator Correct If you turn on automatic login for yourself your account opens when the computer starts up Incorrect You must log into the computer Users log in to a file server not log on to users log out of a file server not log off log off of
99. ation marks Consult your department guidelines for whether to include the chapter number See Chapter 2 The Cinema Tools Interface For more information see Using Mac OS X Technologies Similarly check your department guidelines for whether to include page numbers in cross references to chapter titles and what style to use for them See Chapter 3 Setting Up Your Computer on page 24 Apple Product Documentation and User Publications use this style See Kernel Architecture page 40 Developer Publications uses this style e To document titles Use title style capitalization and italics don t use quotation marks unless italics aren t available for example in some text designed to be read only onscreen Don t capitalize or italicize phrases like user guide unless they are part of the title as it appears on the cover of the document Don t include trademark symbols See the iPhone User Guide See the user guide that came with your MacBook Air When you refer to a volume number don t italicize the word Volume or the volume subtitle if there is one See the Final Cut Pro 6 User Manual Volume II Editing for more information e To section titles Use title style capitalization and enclose the title in quotation marks Consult your department s guidelines for whether to include page numbers See Trouble Starting Up in Chapter 4 See Before You Install the Software on page 16 Ch
100. ats Abbreviation Extension Full name AIFF aif Audio Interchange File Format CAF caf Apple Core Audio Format DMG dmg disk image GIF gif Graphics Interchange Format JPEG jpg Joint Photographic Experts Group MP3 mp3 MPEG Audio Layer 3 PDF pdf Portable Document Format RTF rtf Rich Text Format TIFF tif Tagged Image File Format WAV WAVE wav Waveform format file locations See pathnames FileMaker Inc Note capitalization filename One word In specific references capitalization should agree with the way the filename appears in the interface the file system In user documentation the name appears in body font Name the file Paperdoc Apple Product Documentation and User Publications use this style The folder contains CurrencyConverter nib Developer Publications uses this style You can find a document by typing its filename in the search field Note the treatment of these similar terms device name host name pathname user name volume name file server Two words In user documentation use only when you explain what a file server is a computer that is dedicated to holding files shared by users on a network Use shared disk to refer to a file server icon on the desktop See also shared disk Chapter 1 Style and Usage file sharing n file sharing adj Two words Note hyphenation of adjective Use lowercase unless you re referring to a specific onscreen element that is capitalized Tu
101. atter of judgment Use code font for all text fragments that the reader should construe as expressions in a programming language Use code font for names of files volumes directories and libraries StandardcRuntime o library MainProg c file Don t use a function or method name as a verb Correct Run 1s on both directories Incorrect Is both directories Correct Use cd to change to the root directory Incorrect cd to the root directory Don t mix fonts within a single word Rewrite to avoid forming the plural of a word in code font Correct values of type integer Incorrect integers Use regular text font not code font for punctuation following a word or phrase in code font unless the punctuation mark is part of the computer language element represented NAN 004 nan 4 and NaN are examples of acceptable input Metasymbols in Text In running text use italic regular text font when referring to a metasymbol that is an artificial term that has meaning only in your documentation and is to be replaced by a value or symbol Spell the metasymbol just as it would appear in a syntax description Don t use a metasymbol when you can use a regular English term in ordinary prose Correct Replace volumeName with a name of up to 12 characters Correct The volume name can be up to 12 characters long Incorrect The volumeName can be up to 12 characters long Avoid foo bar baz or frobozz to represent hierarchical or ordered
102. before the unit that the value quantifies 800 KB of memory e Adjective Don t hyphenate the adjective form a 687 KB file Chapter 1 Style and Usage kbit n adj Abbreviation for kilobit See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations e Noun In the noun form use a space between the numeral and the abbreviation The preposition of is necessary before the unit that the value quantifies 256 kbit of memory e Adjective Don t hyphenate the adjective form 256 kbit device kbit s Standard international abbreviation for kilobits per second See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Some Apple groups use kbps instead KB s Standard international abbreviation for kilobytes per second See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Some Apple groups use KB sec instead Kbyte Don t use Use KB Kerberized OK to use to mean configured for Kerberos authentication or able to be configured for Kerberos authentication When a Mac OS X user is authenticated using Kerberos the user doesn t have to enter a user name and password every time a Kerberized service is used To take advantage of the single sign on feature users and services must be Kerberized configured for Kerberos authentication and use the same Kerberos Key Distribution Center KDC server Kerberos Note capitalization A network authentication protocol key key
103. ble or not visible in a Finder window Avoid If a disk is unmounted you can t access files on it until you mount it again Preferable If a disk is unavailable you can t access files on it until you make it available again In server documentation or documentation for more technical users it s OK to use unmounted Disk Utility lists both mounted and unmounted volumes See also mount v mounted adj unselected adj Use to describe something that is not selected Not deselected or dehighlighted Compare deselect unhighlighted adj up arrow Use to refer to the small arrow that you click to increase a value in a stepper Click the up arrow to increase the text indent Text indent 0 5 in 6 See also stepper Up Arrow key Chapter 1 Style and Usage 177 178 Up Arrow key Note capitalization When you refer to arrow keys generically use lowercase but capitalize and use the complete name when you refer to one or more arrow keys by name See also arrow keys update Use to refer to something that updates a major version of software but does not upgrade it to the next major version if one exists For example the Mac OS X v10 5 8 Update is an update to Mac OS X v10 5 Don t use maintenance release or dot release See also upgrade upgradable Not upgradeable upgrade Use to refer to a major standalone version of a software product For example Mac OS X v10 6 Snow Leopard is an upgrade to Mac OS X v10 5 Leo
104. button to open the Text inspector Chapter 1 Style and Usage install You install items on a disk not onto a disk Don t use install as a noun See the examples in installation installation Don t use install when you mean installation Correct Insert the installation disc Incorrect Insert the install disc Installer installer Capitalize when you refer to a specific installer application but not when you refer to installers in general The iWork Installer application asks you to specify where to install the software You can install some applications by dragging them to the Applications folder other applications require an installer instant message instant messaging See IM Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers See IEEE insure See ensure insure integrated circuit See IC Integrated Services Digital Network See ISDN Intel Use nte to refer to Intel Corporation or to its processors and other technologies Always use as an adjective except as the company name Terms include Intel processors Intel based Mac computers Intel based iMac Mac with Intel processor and so on Don t use terms such as Intel Mac See also Intel Core Intel Xeon Intel Core Intel Core refers both to Intel s Core microarchitecture and to a family of Intel processors Intel Core processors used in Mac computers include the Intel Core Solo Intel Core Duo and Intel Core 2 Duo You can shorten the names to Core Solo Core Duo and Core 2 Duo You
105. ces Style any punctuation following a word or phrase in code font as regular body font unless the punctuation mark is part of the computer language element represented or part of something the user is to type Style the spaces that immediately precede or follow text in code font in regular body font If the language with which you re working has a standard style of indentation use it If it doesn t have such a style develop a logical style of your own and use it consistently Develop a method of spacing around punctuation and use it consistently It s often best to use standard spacing one space between a punctuation mark and the next character e Where not to use In user documentation don t use code font for the following e Part or chapter titles e Text headings e Cross references to parts chapters or sections e Entries in the table of contents e Internet or web addresses e Figure captions or callouts e Names of files folders or directories e System or alert messages If you quote a system or alert message exactly as it appears on the screen use body font in quotation marks If you paraphrase a message use body font without quotation marks If your source clip is not as long as the duration between the sequence In and Out points you see an Insufficient content for edit message When a message appears asking if you want to clear the keyboard layout click Yes See also Chapter 4 Technical Notation on page 2
106. ck other Apple documentation on related topics for highly specific definitions that may not appear elsewhere Look in other dictionaries or write your own definition You don t necessarily have to use an existing definition verbatim Make up your own variant or examples if appropriate If an entry contains both a simple definition and a complex one and you don t need both use only the applicable part Correct errors or misconceptions if you find them Chapter 5 How to Write a Glossary 215 How to Develop an Index This appendix provides guidelines for developing and checking index entries The index is an important tool for readers as they search for information Making an index accurate comprehensive and useful is worth the extra time and effort required Choosing the Number of Levels For most documents two levels of entries are enough Some documents may require three The indexer writer and developmental editor should agree on the number of levels before the indexing begins though the indexer may suggest changing the number after work begins Main Entries A main entry shouldn t have more than five page numbers after it If there are more than five page numbers use subentries Don t use s to make a main entry both singular and plural Subentries can be worded so that all of them read correctly with one form of the main entry Subentries Don t use adjectives as main entries with nouns as subentries such subentries sh
107. ckout For novice users text box or number box may be more appropriate These are OK too but try to be consistent within a document Chapter 1 Style and Usage figure captions Use of figure captions varies by department Consult your department guidelines to determine whether to use them e Number and title Most figure captions include both a figure number and a figure title Unnumbered figures are not included in a list of figures and tables A figure with a number must also have a title a figure with a title generally has a number e Title length Figure titles should be short and to the point a line and a half should be considered the absolute maximum e Capitalization Use sentence style capitalization for figure titles Don t end a title with punctuation even if the figure title is a complete sentence Use articles in captions whenever appropriate Correct The Apple menu Correct An external FireWire drive connected to a computer Incorrect External FireWire Drive Connected to a Computer e In text references Each numbered figure should have an in text reference to point the reader to the figure at the appropriate point You can use various styles for in text references depending on the needs of the sentence An explicit see reference as a separate sentence in parentheses See Figure 6 2 An explicit see reference in parentheses within a sentence Choose Mail gt Mail Preferences see Figure 6 2 Just the figure
108. contrasting or complementary term is defined elsewhere Don t say compare with You can also use same as and opposite of for synonyms and antonyms open To make available You open files or documents in order to work with them Compare close See also icon window Important Make sure all cross referenced terms are in your glossary Chapter 5 How to Write a Glossary Multiple Definitions For entries with multiple definitions precede each definition in a sequence with a number in parentheses followed by a single space graphics 1 Information presented in the form of 2 The display of pictures If the definitions are for different parts of speech show the part of speech abbreviation with a period in parentheses branch v To pass program control to a line or statement other than the next in sequence n A statement that performs the act of branching See also conditional branch unconditional branch More complexity is possible Consult a developmental editor if necessary when dealing with complex entries Independence A glossary should stand alone Don t include references to other parts of the document or to other documents Assembling the Glossary The following steps provide an overview of what is needed to put together a glossary Decide which terms you need to include and define for your readers Check to see if your department has a glossary from which you can cut and paste appropriate entries Che
109. cted adj pred adj copy protection n Hyphenate in all forms A copy protected disk or file cannot be copied legally The disc is copy protected Chapter 1 Style and Usage copyright page All documentation must have a copyright page or copyright notice In a longer print document such as a user manual the copyright information is usually on the second page which does not have a page number or a running footer In short print booklets or update sheets the copyright information is usually at the bottom of the last page Onscreen documents also require a copyright notice e Finding the correct copyright notice The copyright page is a boilerplate element Consult with your department editor to be sure you have the appropriate boilerplate e Apple trademarks All Apple trademarks mentioned in the document must receive a credit line on the copyright page See the most recent Apple trademark list which is available at web apple com areas trademarkinformation internally www apple com legal trademark appletmlist html externally e Third party trademarks Certain third party trademarks also must receive a credit line on the copyright page See the Special and Licensed Trademarks and or Copyrights section of the most recent Apple trademark list which is available at the websites shown above See also trademarks credit lines and symbols trademarks usage cord Use only to describe a power cord or a phone cord Compare cab
110. cumentation written for new users however you may want to mention the term wraparound or include it in your glossary because users may see it elsewhere work Close up the following words beginning with work workflow workforce workgroup workplace workshop workspace workstation workflow One word note lowercase A series of actions that together perform a specific task workspace Don t use as a synonym for desktop or Finder workstation n adj Don t use when you mean desktop computer OK to use when you discuss network administration Worldwide Developers Conference See WWDC World Wide Web Note capitalization After first occurrence use web Don t abbreviate as WWW See also Internet addresses web wraparound n Don t use use word wrap See also word wrap write Avoid as a verb in user documentation use copy or burn In developer or server documentation the following are acceptable write to a disk write to disk write on a disk Don t use write a disk User documentation Copy the files to your hard disk Developer documentation The application needs to write to the hard disk Server documentation Give the user permission to write to the disk See also burn WWDC Abbreviation for Worldwide Developers Conference Note spelling See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations WWW Don t use as an abbreviation for World Wide Web Use web instead Chapter 1 Style and Usage
111. d may be appropriate when you describe other interfaces and in developer documentation See also insertion point pointer custom installation Note lowercase Not custom install You perform a custom installation you don t do a custom install See also easy installation install installation normal installation D DAC Acronym for digital to analog converter Note lowercase and hyphenation in spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms daisy chain n daisy chain v adj daisy chained adj pred adj Note hyphenation of verb and adjective forms Dashboard Note capitalization Don t precede Dashboard with the or your See also widget Chapter 1 Style and Usage dash em Use the em dash to set off a word or phrase that interrupts or changes the direction of a sentence or to set off a lengthy list that would otherwise make the syntax of a sentence confusing Don t overuse em dashes If the text being set off does not come at the end of the sentence use an em dash both before it and after it Setting just three edit points the clip In point the clip Out point and the sequence In point gives you total control of the edit that s performed To generate an em dash in a word processing application press Shift Option Hyphen Close up the em dash with the word before it and the word after it Consult your department s guidelines for instructions on
112. d then moving them closer together or farther apart Pinch the photo to zoom in or out In most cases you can use just pinch but if you need to describe the motion in more detail you can use pinch open to describe moving the fingers apart and pinch closed for moving the fingers together Note that developer documentation uses pinch close pinout n One word pixel Short for picture element Not synonymous with bit Use dot to describe a single pixel playback n adj play back v Note that the verb is two words player Don t use the with the full name of a product whose name includes Player unless the product name is used as an adjective modifying a noun Correct Use QuickTime Player to view the movie Correct Open the QuickTime Player application Incorrect Open the QuickTime Player playhead One word The control that users manipulate to move around in a movie playlist One word sometimes capitalized iTunes playlist iPod playlist Smart Playlist please Avoid using please in instructional text and cross references Correct Follow the steps below Incorrect Please follow the steps below Correct For more information see Metronome Settings on page 941 Incorrect For more information please see Metronome Settings on page 941 plug Not male connector See also connector plug and play v pred adj plug and play adj Note hyphenation of adjective Chapter 1 Style and Usage plug in n
113. developer documentation When you choose Print the Print dialog appears User documentation When the user responds to a sheet and another sheet for that document opens the first sheet must close before the second one opens Developer documentation Shift click v adj Note capitalization and hyphenation The hyphen denotes a combined action Shift click is equivalent to press the Shift key and click Use the Shift click technique to select more than one icon To include another item in the selection Shift click it Shift key Note capitalization Shift lock Don t use use Caps Lock shortcut One word See also keyboard shortcut shortcut menu See menus shows up Don t use use appears When you choose Find a dialog appears shuffle Lowercase except in the names of interface elements shuffle your songs click Shuffle to mix up your music Use iPod shuffle not shuffle to refer to the iPod model See also iPod shutdown n adj shut down v One word except as a verb sidebar One word note lowercase A column in a Finder or application window that shows items such as available disks and other devices mailboxes playlists or favorite items sign Use sign not symbol in the following terms division sign equal sign greater than sign less than sign minus sign multiplication sign number sign and plus sign signaled signaling Not signalled signalling sign in n adj sign in v No hyphen in ve
114. dow type Dolby Digital 5 1 surround sound Note capitalization dot Use dot to describe the character that appears in the close button of a document with unsaved changes and for the characters that appear when a user types a password in a dialog Password seeeeeed Use dot not bit when you describe an individual screen pixel See also bit n adj bullet pixel dot matrix n dot matrix adj Note hyphenation of adjective dots per inch See dpi Chapter 1 Style and Usage double Hyphenate compound adjectives beginning with double double precision double sided double wide double byte characters Note hyphenation Not 2 byte characters double click n double click v double clicking n v Note hyphenation Small children may have trouble with a double click Adults can double click without difficulty You do this by double clicking the icon On mobile devices with a Home button such as iPhone and iPod touch users double click not double tap or double press the Home button Double click the Home button to quickly go to Phone Favorites See also click Double Data Rate See DDR double layer n double layer adj Hyphenate as an adjective but not as a noun double layer disc DVD R DL Double Layer Use lowercase for general references You can burn up to 4 hours of video on a double layer DVD See also DVD double tap n double tap v double tapping n v Note hyphenation A si
115. e See pathnames timecode One word no hyphen timeline One word Chapter 1 Style and Usage time of day Follow these guidelines for times unless your department uses international style see the Dates and Times section of Chapter 7 International Style for those guidelines e Numerals Use numerals for times of day 2 00 4 15 7 30 e a m and p m Include a m and p m lowercase with periods preceded by a space as needed 10 45 a m 6 30 p m e Noon and midnight Use 12 00 noon and 12 00 midnight or just noon and midnight e Range of times In text it s preferable to use to with a range of times 10 00 a m to 2 00 p m 1 30 to 3 00 p m Otherwise for example in an event agenda or course listing use an en dash Option Hyphen 10 00 a m 2 00 p m If times in a range are both a m or both p m the first abbreviation can be omitted or included depending on the design 1 30 3 00 p m or 1 30 p m 3 00 p m Don t use from with the en dash Correct from 1 30 to 3 00 Incorrect from 1 30 3 00 timeout n adj One word no hyphen timestamp n v One word no hyphen time zone Use lowercase for the names of time zones except for proper nouns Pacific standard time PST Pacific daylight time PDT mountain standard time MST mountain daylight time MDT central standard time CST central daylight time CDT eastern standard time EST eastern daylight time EDT title b
116. e terabit Tbit computer memory terabits per second Tbit s standard speed of data transmission Tbps some Apple groups terabyte TB computer memory terabytes per second TB s standard speed of data transmission tesla webers per square meter TB sec some Apple groups T magnetic flux density ton tn or ton mass weight volt V electric potential difference electromotive force volt ampere See watt volts point to point Vpop electric potential volts root mean square Vims electric potential watt joules per second W power Chapter 2 Units of Measure Unit Unit symbol or abbreviation Quantity watt hour Wh energy weber Wb magnetic flux webers per square meter See tesla yard yd length distance year yr time Chapter 2 Units of Measure 197 Apple Products This chapter lists the names of Apple products and services The names of Apple products and services appear in the following sections e Desktop Computers e Portable Computers e iPhone and iPod Products e Servers e Displays e Keyboards and Mouse Devices e Storage Devices e Wireless Networking Products e Accessories e Software and Technologies e Programs and Services Use the spelling and capitalization shown in this chapter Note that Apple continually introduces products and the list does not include every product in the selected categories For information about trademarks see the trademark entries in C
117. e Apple Online Store for Business See also Apple Store Apple Remote Note capitalization OK to shorten to the remote after using the full name AppleScript AppleScript is used to create a script or scripts not an AppleScript or AppleScripts Don t use terms such as AppleScriptable or AppleScripting Apple Store Use Apple Store when referring to a specific Apple Retail Store location Set off the location with commas The Apple Store SoHo opened on July 18 2002 You can also use Apple Store in communications designed specifically for use in Apple Retail Stores such as the calendar of events and brochures about programs such as One to One Learn about One to One personal training at the Apple Store In other references to Apple s online and retail stores use Apple Online Store or Apple Retail Store See also Apple Online Store Apple Retail Store applet Can be any small application but usually refers to a piece of code that is attached to an HTML document on the World Wide Web Chapter 1 Style and Usage 19 20 AppleTalk Refers to an overall network system and any software that uses it including the resources you turn on and off in Network preferences The following terms are appropriate uses of the word AppleTalk AppleTalk developer AppleTalk identification number AppleTalk network Shared devices used over an AppleTalk network such as a shared printer can be called AppleTalk services See also Ethernet Apple
118. e Introductory punctuation Precede all lists with colons whether the sentence before the colon is a complete thought or a partial thought exception to The Chicago Manual of Style See also colons e Capitalization All list items start with a capital letter unless the word is a product name that begins with a lowercase letter or in developer documentation is a computer literal that begins with a lowercase letter e Punctuation within a list List items that are fragments or that complete the thought started by the main clause have no period list items that are complete sentences have a period e Parallelism Within a single list all bulleted items should be parallel e A regular sentence broken into a list This type of list emphasizes the parts of a series The syntax of the sentence is unbroken Using Dashboard widgets you can e Check stock prices e Get local weather information e Check the status of an airline flight e See what movies are playing at local theaters Chapter 1 Style and Usage e A simple list The main clause is an independent clause and each bulleted item is a sentence fragment The kernel environment has five major components e Mach e BSD e Device drivers and the I O Kit e Networking e File systems e A complex list The main clause is an independent clause and each bulleted item is a complete sentence Follow these guidelines for password systems e Allow passwords to contain both alphabetic and numeric char
119. e also Mac OS X Server jargon Avoid jargon whenever possible Define technical terminology on first occurrence Java A programming language developed by Sun Microsystems Java technologies include Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition J2EE platform Java 2 Platform Standard Edition J2SE platform Java Database Connectivity JDBC Java Development Kit JDK Java Message Service JMS JavaServer Pages JSP JavaScript Java Servlets and Java virtual machine JVM Joint Photographic Experts Group See JPEG JPEG Acronym for Joint Photographic Experts Group pronounced JAY peg Note capitalization JPEG usually refers to the image compression standard that this group developed for color and grayscale images It s not necessary to spell out JPEG on first occurrence junk mail n adj Two words Avoid spam justification Don t use to refer to the alignment of text to the right or left margin use alignment Text that is aligned on both the right and the left margins is justified Compare alignment K K Don t use use KB K 12 Note en dash Option Hyphen K 12 education KB n adj Abbreviation for kilobyte KB equals 1000 bytes in the context of file size or disk storage capacity or 1024 bytes in the context of computer memory See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations e Noun In the noun form use a space between the numeral and the abbreviation The preposition of is necessary
120. e by not x to show dimensions 3 2 by 6 0 by 11 4 in 8 1 by 15 2 by 28 9 cm 8 5 by 11 inches 8 5 by 11 inch paper 4 by 6 inches 4 by 6 inch photo acceptable 4 by 6 photos 4 x 6 photo If you use x instead of by use the x consistently throughout a document See also resolution x DIMM Acronym for dual inline memory module See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms Chapter 1 Style and Usage 53 54 dimmed Use dimmed not hollow or grayed to describe a shaded icon menu item button or option in a dialog Dimmed options cannot be selected Dimmed menu items cannot be chosen Dimmed icons can represent disks whose contents are displayed in a window disks that have been ejected or files or folders in the window of a disk that has been ejected You don t need to say dimmed unavailable because a dimmed object is understood to be unavailable DIN Use all caps when you refer to a type of connector as in DIN 8 Don t use mini DIN direct connect adj Note hyphenation direction keys Don t use use arrow keys directory Standard UNIX term for an organizational unit or container used to organize files and other directories into a hierarchical structure known as a file system In developer documentation use directory in other Apple documentation use folder See also folder directory pathnames See pathnames disable v disabled adj In user documentation avoid
121. e determined User documentation A progress indicator a spinning striped cylinder lets you know that a process is taking place index For information about indexing see Chapter 6 How to Develop an Index on page 217 and your department guidelines indexes Not indices unless you mean mathematical indices indicator See progress indicator submenu indicator indicator light Not LED industry standard n industry standard adj Note hyphenation the industry standard an industry standard video format information Use instead of data in user documentation if it makes sense in the context Info window Not Get Info window or Info box infrared No hyphen in front Use to explain the term active the active window is in front of other windows subsequently use active You can also use to describe windows that float on top of active windows See also active front frontmost initialize When you refer to disks initialize and format mean the same thing inkjet One word Chapter 1 Style and Usage 91 92 inline One word in order to Don t use unless absolutely necessary use just to input n adj Avoid using as a verb use enter or type depending on the context Input menu Note capitalization A menu that appears at the right side of the menu bar with other menu bar icons when the user has selected at least one item in the Input Sources pane of Language amp Text preferences The menu s icon is a country fl
122. e line e Punctuation If an email address ends a sentence it s OK to use a period See also Internet addresses Chapter 1 Style and Usage 65 66 embed Not imbed em dash See dash em EMI Abbreviation for electromagnetic interference See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations enable v enabled adj Avoid in user documentation when you mean turn on Turn on implies initiating an action or starting a process immediately enable implies doing a task that makes subsequent actions possible Correct Turn on Windows file sharing Incorrect Enable Windows file sharing Avoid using enabled when you mean selected for example when you refer to radio buttons or checkboxes or available when you refer to commands or buttons that are sometimes dimmed but not in this case Correct Make sure the Magnification checkbox is selected in Dock preferences Incorrect Make sure the Magnification option is enabled in Dock preferences Correct The Copy command isn t available because no text is selected Incorrect The Copy command isn t enabled because no text is selected It s OK to use enable to describe a task that makes other actions possible To use this website you must enable cookies Slide the Hold switch to enable the iPod buttons In developer documentation it s OK to use enabled and disabled when you describe buttons menu items and the like See also allow disab
123. e name in quotation marks Click Cancel Click the Position on screen button If a button name uses all capital letters or all lowercase letters use title style capitalization when writing the button name in documentation L BUY NOW Click the Buy Now button tg Tap Mute e Button descriptions Buttons have color or don t have color don t refer to buttons as clear Don t describe the default button in a dialog as blue because the user may have chosen Graphite in Appearance preferences simply call it the default button Chapter 1 Style and Usage e Unlabeled buttons If a button does not have a label and there is no established name for the button consult your editor to determine what to call it Use title style capitalization for the name of the button n Click the Lock button Q Click the Search button Fu Click the Full Screen button e Buttons and icons lf an element in the user interface looks like a button appears three dimensional and acts like a button causes something to happen when clicked always call it a button don t call it an icon For example the following interface elements look and act like buttons E3 DOI e e Icons that act like buttons If an element in the user interface looks like an icon displays a picture and does not appear three dimensional but acts like a button causes something to happen when clicked you can call it either a button or an icon See also
124. e path is a folder rather than a file You can choose whether or not to use a terminating slash but be consistent within a document You can find the files you ve downloaded in Library Mail Downloads e Code font In developer documentation pathnames are in code font See also code font home folder home directory PB n adj Abbreviation for petabyte PB equals 10005 bytes in the context of file size or disk storage capacity or 1024 bytes in the context of computer memory See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations e Noun In the noun form use a space between the numeral and the abbreviation The preposition of is necessary before the unit that the value quantifies 1 6 PB of memory 1 PB of data e Adjective Don t hyphenate the adjective form 1 6 PB RAM module 4 PB multiserver system PC Avoid PC when you refer to Apple personal computers Use personal computer or computer It s OK to use PC Windows based PC or Windows PC to refer to non Apple personal computers QuickTime is available for both Mac computers and Windows based PCs You can share Mac files with a PC on a wireless network See also Microsoft Windows PC Card Note capitalization A card that conforms to the standard set by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association PCMCIA On first occurrence include a parenthetical reference to PCMCIA cards You use PC Cards PCMCIA cards to expand your compu
125. e percentage as in a small percentage of the population periods See ellipsis points peripheral A device that can be connected to the computer Peripheral devices include printers scanners disk drives modems displays and keyboards OK to use peripheral device peripheral or device The adjective is singular peripheral manufacturer peripheral connections peripheral card Not accessory card When appropriate use the more specific term interface card Peripheral Component Interconnect See PCI PCI X peripheral slot Don t use use expansion slot personal digital assistant See PDA petabyte See PB n adj Phillips screw Phillips screwdriver Note capitalization and spelling Not Phillips head screw or Phillips head screwdriver phone numbers See telephone numbers phone port Don t use use modem port piggyback board Don t use use expansion board Chapter 1 Style and Usage 133 134 pin In user documentation avoid referring to connectors by the number of pins because the actual number of pins may not match the designation Describe the connector by its size and shape its icon or in another way appropriate to the context In developer documentation use a numeral and a hyphen before pin 9 pin 11 pin 25 pin 50 pin Exception to the rule that numbers ten and smaller are spelled out except when used as numerals per se pinch v Refers to the act of placing two fingers on a Multi Touch screen or trackpad an
126. e when you mean Velocity Engine OK to say that the Velocity Engine is based on AltiVec technology Alt key Don t use except when you give instructions for Windows users For Mac users use Option key a m Note lowercase and periods 8 30 a m Use a space before the abbreviation ambient light sensor Lowercase no hyphen Don t use ALS America American Refers to both North and South America Don t use when you mean United States See also U S Chapter 1 Style and Usage 15 16 American National Standards Institute See ANSI ampersand Use the ampersand character amp in text only when you describe a command name an onscreen element or a document or disc title that uses the character analog Note spelling Use hyphens in the adjectives analog to digital and digital to analog and or Rewrite to avoid this construction Correct document and application icons Avoid document and or application icons angle brackets Use angle brackets not brackets to describe these symbols lt gt Use left angle bracket and right angle bracket when you need to distinguish between opening and closing brackets You can also use ess than sign and greater than sign for these symbols if appropriate in the context Compare greater than sign less than sign See also braces brackets menus anonymous FTP Note lowercase a See also FTP ANSI Acronym for American National Standards Institute Note capitalization See abbreviations and ac
127. easing keys on the keyboard and mechanical buttons and switches Don t use click hit push tap or type Don t use press for onscreen items use click or tap Correct Press the Return key Correct Press the power button Incorrect Press a Dock icon until a menu appears Don t use press when you mean hold down unless the sentence makes it clear that the user needs to press continuously Correct Position the pointer over a Dock icon and then hold down the mouse button until a menu appears Correct Position the pointer over a Dock icon and then press the mouse button until a menu appears Incorrect Position the pointer over a Dock icon and then press the mouse button to see a menu It s not clear that the user needs to keep pressing to see the menu Don t say press and drag simply say drag See also click enter hold down tap n v type v print v Not print out printed circuit board Note hyphenation printer port Note lowercase printout n One word print out v Don t use use print print server Two words problem Don t use in phrases such as this is a known problem or this version fixes that problem Use condition issue or situation It s OK to use problem in a general way such as the following If you have a problem registering try again in a few moments Chapter 1 Style and Usage processor Synonymous with microprocessor for Apple products In user documentation the simpler
128. ect You can use iPhoto to place your pictures in an album Incorrect You can email your iPhotos to friends Chapter 1 Style and Usage 95 96 iPod A portable digital music player for Mac and Windows In general references don t use an article with iPod When referring to the user s particular iPod it s OK to use your iPod supports many audio formats If you experience problems with your iPod e iPod names Always include iPod in the name don t use classic mini nano photo shuffle or touch alone Don t capitalize iPod names even in title style heads e Possessives and plurals Rewrite to avoid the possessive and plural forms For example to make iPod plural use a phrase such as iPod digital music players iPod music players or iPod players If necessary you can distinguish among similarly named iPod models in the following ways e Capacity Examples include 30 GB iPod 2 GB iPod nano 512 MB iPod shuffle and so on Or you can place the capacity after the name iPod 30 GB iPod nano 2 GB iPod shuffle 512 MB e Generation Examples include first generation iPod nano second generation iPod shuffle fifth generation iPod and so on The generation can also follow the name iPod nano first generation and so on It s OK to use a numeral such as 7st 2nd or 5th if space is limited but do not use variations that shorten generation such as fifth gen and 5G Description Appropriate descriptors include origin
129. ed immediately database n adj One word As a noun database refers to the body of data manipulated by a database application data file Two words Chapter 1 Style and Usage 49 50 data terminal ready signal See DTR Date amp Time Note the ampersand and capitalization The name of a System Preferences pane dates Follow these guidelines for dates unless your department uses international style see Chapter 7 International Style on page 221 for those guidelines e Commas Use a comma between the day of the month and the year May 23 2008 When you use the full date follow the year with a comma on May 23 2008 at 10 00 a m If you give only the month and year don t use commas in January 2008 at Macworld e Cardinal and ordinal numbers Use cardinal numbers 7 2 3 in dates that include the month Use ordinal numbers 1st 2nd 3rd in dates without the month For ordinal numbers use full size letters 7st not superscript 1 The conference was held on August 12 The conference was held on the 12th e When to spell out Spell out the names of days and months in text Use numerals for the year except when it appears at the beginning of a sentence spell out the year there or rewrite to avoid Slashes in dates Don t use the form 6 5 08 because American usage is different from European usage See also Chapter 7 International Style on page 221 daughter board Don t use use expansion boa
130. elf contained document that can be viewed on a website A single website can contain many webpages You connect to or go to a page you are then at that page Text graphics and links however are on the page Don t use website and webpage interchangeably See also homepage Internet addresses website website Refers to a collection of webpages stored in a particular location A website may be organized into several parts sections or areas each of which may contain more than one page Use part section or area to refer to such an entity Use page to refer to a single webpage Use website to refer to the entire collection You can browse visit or go to a website but don t use such phrases as point your browser at the website and surf the website See also homepage webpage well behaved Don t use to describe software use compatible well constructed and the like which Use only to introduce a nonrestrictive clause clauses beginning with which are always set off with commas The newest computer in the lab which is a Mac Pro is also the students favorite There is only one newest computer the phrase which is a Mac Pro although it provides more information doesn t restrict the subject of the sentence This is the computer that has network access There are many computers the phrase that has network access restricts narrows the meaning of the subject of the sentence to one computer Compare that
131. elling checker Either term is OK spin down v Avoid using Use stop spinning instead OK for use in service related publications spinning gear See progress indicator spinning wait cursor In developer documentation the colored pinwheel cursor In user documentation use wait cursor Developer documentation Try to avoid situations in your application that cause the window server to display the spinning wait cursor User documentation You might see a wait cursor looks like a colored pinwheel while the application is opening splash screen Don t use use opening display startup display or startup screen Spotlight The systemwide search technology introduced in Mac OS X v10 4 Related terms include the following Spotlight icon in the menu bar Spotlight search field Spotlight results menu or Spotlight menu Spotlight results window or Spotlight window spring loaded Use to describe the ability of a folder to open automatically spring open when an item is dragged onto it Don t use spring open square wave n square wave adj Note hyphenation of adjective Stacks Capitalize only when explicitly referring to the feature One of the most useful new features in Leopard is Stacks When you click a stack the files in the stack spring open in a fan or a grid The Documents stack is a great place to keep word processing files standalone adj One word Don t use as a noun standard definition n standa
132. equal sign Not equals sign equals sign or equal symbol error message Don t use except in developer documentation Instead use message alert alert message or alert sound See also alert n adj Escape key See Esc key Esc key Include the word Escape in parentheses on first occurrence First occurrence Press the Esc Escape key Thereafter Press Esc When you describe escape sequences don t use a hyphen between names of keys because the user presses and releases the keys separately Esc 4 Esc F Chapter 1 Style and Usage 67 68 et al Don t use except where called for in a bibliography use and others See also abbreviations and acronyms etc Don t use use and so forth or and so on See also abbreviations and acronyms Ethernet One word Note capitalization Refers to one type of cable system used to link computers and peripheral devices OK to use Ethernet network or simply Ethernet depending on the context See also Fast Ethernet 100Base T Gigabit Ethernet 1000Base T exclamation points OK to use exclamation points occasionally in promotional text and dialogue Avoid in documentation exit In user documentation don t use to refer to quitting an open application use quit See also interrupt quit stop expansion bay The space inside a computer where hardware modules such as optical drives can be inserted and removed OK to use drive bay if the bay in question takes only storage devices ex
133. er Correct After you turn on the computer Incorrect Once you turn on the computer one click adj Use to refer to actions or functions that are very simple From one click fixes to detailed editing there are a number of tools available in the iPhoto edit view Don t use 1 Click to refer to simple actions see also 1 Click on hook off hook n adj Note hyphenation online One word Use to describe items to which the user gains access over a network You can search an online database e Connection Avoid online when you refer to the state of being connected to a network Instead use a specific appropriate term Correct connected to the network Correct logged in Incorrect if you re online e Local files Avoid using online to describe items such as tutorials that are viewed onscreen but stored on a local disk Instead substitute a more specific word such as onscreen Avoid To learn how to use Pages take the online tutorial Preferable To learn how to use Pages take the onscreen tutorial Note that it s OK to use online to describe tutorials and other materials that are available on the Internet Learn how to get the most out of iTunes by taking the online tutorials available at the Apple website on off switch Note lowercase Not on off button onscreen adj adv One word onscreen text Use quotation marks not italics for words as words letters as letters and phrases as phrases and f
134. er 2 Units of Measure on page 191 provides preferred style for spelled out and abbreviated forms of units of measurement likely to occur in Apple publications Chapter 3 Apple Products on page 199 lists the official names of many Apple hardware and software products e Chapter 4 Technical Notation on page 209 provides special style and usage rules that apply largely or exclusively to developer documentation Some of these rules are also included by topic in Style and Usage e Chapter 5 How to Write a Glossary on page 211 provides guidelines for preparing a glossary e Chapter 6 How to Develop an Index on page 217 provides guidelines for creating an index e Chapter 7 International Style on page 221 provides guidelines for creating material for localization Standard Editorial Resources In general follow the style and usage rules in e The American Heritage Dictionary e The Chicago Manual of Style e Words into Type Exceptions to certain guidelines in these resources are noted in this guide In cases where reference sources conflict with each other follow e The Chicago Manual of Style for questions of style and usage e The American Heritage Dictionary for questions of spelling Also refer to any department specific materials provided by your editor Conventions Used in This Guide Modifiers consisting of two or more words are often hyphenated when they precede a noun bu
135. es follow these instructions Incorrect If you experience a freeze follow these instructions Chapter 1 Style and Usage frequently asked questions See FAQ front frontmost The active window is the front or frontmost window See also active in front front end n front end adj Note hyphenation front panel n front panel adj Note hyphenation frontside bus Note spelling A type of system bus Don t use FSB FTP Abbreviation for File Transfer Protocol Note capitalization of spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Avoid as a verb use transfer files instead The UNIX command ftp is all lowercase In the term anonymous FTP the a is lowercase Correct You use FTP software to transfer files from a remote computer to your hard disk Correct You use the ftp command to transfer files from a remote computer to your hard disk Incorrect You can FTP files from a remote computer to your hard disk full Use a hyphen in compound adjectives beginning with full full duplex full featured full height full page full screen full size Don t use a hyphen with fully fully buffered fully charged fully loaded full screen adj full screen pred adj Note hyphenation full screen controls view full screen functionality Avoid Use function feature or another appropriate term such as behavior performance speed capacity reliability Function k
136. esent as in binary coded decimal or color matching algorithm The two modifiers are a number or a single letter and a noun or a participle as in 32 bit color or D shaped connector Follow these guidelines in various specific cases Units of measure When you use a spelled out unit of measure in a compound adjective hyphenate the compound 3 5 inch floppy disk When you use an abbreviation or a metric unit of measure including KB MB mm and so on don t hyphenate 4 GB hard disk Location compounds Hyphenate compounds such as ower left corner top right portion Adverbs Don t hyphenate compounds with very or with adverbs that end in ly very high speed recently completed project Keyboard shortcuts using combination keystrokes In combination keystrokes use hyphens to signify that the first key or keys should be held down while the last key is pressed Don t use hyphens if each key should be pressed and released separately Make sure you explain this convention on first use Shift Control N Esc N When one of the key names in a combination keystroke is itself two words use an en dash wherever you would ordinarily use a hyphen Option Right Bracket Command Option Up Arrow Shift double click Command Shift double click See also dash en Chapter 1 Style and Usage 87 88 IAC Abbreviation for interapplication communication Note lowercase in spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about
137. ess Note capitalization A keychain stores certificates and passwords for servers Internet resources and applications Users create keychains by using the Keychain Access application key down adj Note hyphenation keypad One word Use keypad or numeric keypad not numeric keyboard keypress One word keystroke One word key up adj Note hyphenation keyword Refers to a special word that identifies a particular type of statement or command such as int or while Follow the capitalization style of the programming language involved The term keyword refers also to assigned identifiers in applications such as iPhoto Use keywords to make your photo albums easy to search kHz n adj Abbreviation for kilohertz See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations e Noun In the noun form use a space between the numeral and the abbreviation at a rate of 44 1 kHz e Adjective Don t hyphenate the adjective form a 44 1 kHz rate kilobit See kbit n adj kilobits per second See kbit s kilobyte See KB n adj kilobytes per second See KB s kilohertz See kHz n adj Chapter 1 Style and Usage L L2 cache L3 cache See level 2 cache level 3 cache labeled labeling Not labelled labelling labels See figure text LAN Acronym for local area network No hyphen in the spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms
138. ey See Fn key function keys The keys on a keyboard labeled F1 F2 F3 and so on Note that function is lowercase Chapter 1 Style and Usage 77 78 future tense Whenever possible use present not future tense Don t switch unnecessarily from present to future tense when present tense is sufficient to express a sequence of steps or events Conditional constructions Use present tense for conditional constructions such as the following Correct If the nowait parameter is true play from the disk stops immediately and program control returns to the caller Incorrect If the nowait parameter is true play from the disk will stop immediately and program control will return to the caller e Future events Future tense is sometimes appropriate for example when a product described is not yet available The configuration of the slot connector will change whenever a newer more powerful microprocessor is used in the Mac family Interapplication communication will play an increasingly important role in system software Fwd Del key See Forward Delete key G G3 G4 G5 These terms can be used to refer to the PowerPC G3 G4 or G5 processor respectively or to computers containing the PowerPC G3 G4 or G5 processor The full name is preferred but it s OK to use terms such as G5 processor G5 computer or G5 as long as the meaning is clear Don t use variations of the names of products such as G3 iBook iMac G4 or G5 P
139. eyboard shortcut do not show only the upper of the two characters and assume that the user will know to press the Shift key Correct To increase the Loupe diameter press Shift Option Plus Sign Incorrect To increase the Loupe diameter press Option Plus Sign e Key graphics With graphic representations of combination keystrokes in tables for example use the plus sign instead of a hyphen between keys option o avion s J e Escape and Function Spell out the key names Escape and Function the Fn key ona portable computer when you introduce them In subsequent references it s OK to abbreviate them as Esc and Fn First occurrence Press the Esc Escape key Thereafter Press Esc Don t abbreviate any other key names except when space is very tight in table heads for example See also specific key names keyboard equivalent Don t use use keyboard shortcut keyboard focus The location where your actions take effect when you use the keyboard When using VoiceOver the keyboard focus can be different from where the VoiceOver cursor is focused Chapter 1 Style and Usage 101 102 keyboard icon Not script symbol or script icon Refers to the small icon associated with each keyboard layout These icons are used in the Input menu and the Input Sources pane of Language amp Text preferences keyboard shortcut Use instead of keyboard equivalent See also key keys keychain Keychain Acc
140. f Finder windows Also the button next to the name of an iPod or other device in the iTunes window I gt electromagnetic interference See EMI ellipsis points Follow these guidelines for using ellipsis points e In menus Some menu commands are followed by three unspaced periods ellipsis points to indicate that further action will be required Don t include the ellipsis points when you refer to the command name in text or text heads e In text As three spaced periods ellipsis points are used to indicate an incomplete sentence a break in thought or omitted words in a quotation See The Chicago Manual of Style for guidance on these uses e The ellipsis character Make sure to create the ellipsis character using the key combination Option Semicolon rather than three period characters This ensures that an assistive application can provide the correct interpretation of the character to a disabled user email n adj v One word note lowercase Send an email message to your manager Your manager wants you to email her You can contact Apple by email email addresses Email addresses use this format username location subdomain domain The address mac worm apple com specifies a user named mac at the site worm in the apple subdomain of the com domain e In text Use plain text for email addresses in text e Line breaks Avoid line breaks in an email address If necessary set the address on a separat
141. f a protocol capitalize Protocol Name Binding Protocol NBP File Transfer Protocol FTP When you use protocol as a generic term use lowercase standard Internet protocols e Third party products When you refer to protocol names in third party products capitalize according to the third party company s style e Articles Use an article before the spelled out name of the protocol Don t use an article before the abbreviation when it stands alone The Name Binding Protocol resides at the transport layer of the reference model A protocol like NBP resides at the transport layer of the reference model pseudo prefix Close up except before o a proper noun or a proper adjective In those cases use a hyphen pull down adj Note hyphenation To refer to methods of converting film or video frame rates use pulldown See also menus Chapter 1 Style and Usage punctuation Punctuation marks should be in the same type style and font as the main body text except for punctuation that belongs to a title in a different font This address called a vector directs program control to a specified destination The second comma is not italicized See the glossary for the definition of word wrap The period is not boldfaced See What Do Do Now for troubleshooting information The question mark is italicized Note the following e Punctuation in code font Punctuation following code font in running text should be in the font
142. f file sharing is not on turn it on Incorrect If necessary turn on file sharing Correct If the file size is larger than the maximum your mail application allows compress the file Incorrect If necessary compress the file i LINK Don t use use FireWire i LINK is the Sony version of the technology IM Abbreviation for instant message n v or instant messaging n adj Note lowercase and no hyphen in the spelled out versions See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations iMac The names of iMac models can be used with or without an article The iMac makes it easy to set up wireless networking iMac G5 reinvents desktop computing For a list of model names see Chapter 3 Apple Products on page 199 IMAP Acronym for Internet Message Access Protocol Note capitalization of spelled out version Pronounced eye map See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms imbed Don t use use embed iMix Note capitalization An iTunes playlist that users can publish on the iTunes Store Use iMix playlists for the plural form iMovie Note capitalization Don t use iMovie when you mean a movie Correct You can open an existing iMovie project Incorrect You can open an existing iMovie Important Use an Important notice to alert the reader to significant potential trouble spots that don t cause bodily injury damage or loss of data Those s
143. for an uncluttered look e Capitalization and punctuation Use sentence style capitalization Use a period for a complete sentence and no ending punctuation for a sentence fragment It s OK to have a mixture of complete sentences and phrases in one illustration camcorder Use to refer to a video camera and recording device combined in one unit Don t use video camera when you mean camcorder Correct You can connect a camcorder to your computer to log and capture your video footage Incorrect You can connect a video camera to your computer to log and capture your video footage Because most camcorders are now digital it usually isn t necessary to include the word digital but you can use digital camcorder if the context requires it Today s digital camcorders provide many advantages over their older analog counterparts In general references it s OK to use camera You can apply the SmoothCam filter to your clip to correct camera movement See also video camera can might may Use can to express the capacity to do something use might or may to suggest the possibility of doing something use may to express permission You can log in to your account from another computer You might be able to connect to the Internet at a nearby hotspot You may borrow my iPod if you return it tomorrow canceled canceling cancelation Not cancelled cancelling cancellation Chapter 1 Style and Usage capability If possible av
144. for terms after stands for labeled named termed the term and so on If the term is an onscreen element however use plain text for elements whose names are capitalized title style use plain text in quotation marks for elements whose names are capitalized sentence style INIT stands for initialize A folder named New Folder appears Click the checkbox labeled Keep lines together e When italics aren t available When italics aren t available such as in some text designed to be read only on the screen use quotation marks for references to titles of discs and documents and for letters as letters words as words and phrases as phrases See also titles of works iTunes Gift Card Note capitalization OK to shorten to card or gift card after the first reference iTunes Store Not iTunes Music Store Music movies and other features are available in on or from the iTunes Store Find your favorites in the iTunes Store Buy your favorites from the iTunes Store After the first reference to the iTunes Store you can use the full name or simply the store iTunes U An area of the iTunes Store that provides access to free educational content Chapter 1 Style and Usage 97 98 J jack A small round 1 pin socket used in audio and video connections Don t use connector to refer to a jack See also connector port slot socket Jaguar Mac OS X version 10 2 See also Mac OS X Jaguar Server Mac OS X Server version 10 2 Se
145. ft arrow to decrease the indent level Indent Level 2 e i gt See also Left Arrow key stepper Left Arrow key Note capitalization When you refer to arrow keys generically use lowercase but capitalize and use the complete name when you refer to one or more arrow keys by name See also arrow keys left hand Avoid except in reference to left hand verso pages use just eft whenever possible leftmost No hyphen left side Not left hand side Leopard Mac OS X version 10 5 See also Mac OS X Leopard Server Mac OS X Server version 10 5 See also Mac OS X Server less fewer Use less for quantity or bulk use fewer for countable items The fewer devices in your network system the less cable you need less than sign Note hyphenation Use ess than sign not less than symbol to describe this symbol lt You can also use left angle bracket if appropriate in the context Compare angle brackets let Avoid using let when you can restructure the sentence so that the reader is the subject Acceptable The Sort command lets you sort items in your document Preferable You use the Sort command to sort items in your document Or You sort items in your document with the Sort command See also allow disable v disabled adj enable v enabled adj Chapter 1 Style and Usage letters as letters Italicize a letter when it is used as a letter in documents designed to be read only onscreen use quotation marks e Plural Avo
146. ge amp Text and click Formats It s OK to refer to a pane within a pane Don t use panel to refer to a pane In developer documentation use view in most contexts because panes are views programmatically When however the pane is seen by the developer as a user sees it such as when giving instructions for using developer applications use pane For example a programming guide that explains how to add a pane to a standard dialog such as the Print dialog uses view but a user guide for a developer application uses pane for the changeable area of the Print dialog See also tab panel Don t use in user documentation use dialog window or pane In developer documentation use panel in most contexts because Panel appears in the names of programming symbols for example NSFont Panel and NSColorPanel When however it is seen by the developer as a user sees it such as when giving instructions for using developer applications use the appropriate user term See also dialog pane window Panther Mac OS X version 10 3 See also Mac OS X Panther Server Mac OS X Server version 10 3 See also Mac OS X Server Chapter 1 Style and Usage 129 130 Parallel ATA A hard disk drive interface OK to use the acronym PATA if space is limited but spell out whenever possible See also ATA hard disk n adj Serial ATA parental controls Note lowercase Don t use family controls parenthesis sing parentheses pl Note different spell
147. ge 191 e Connectors Don t spell out the numerals preceding connectors 8 pin minicircular connector 9 pin connector e Starting a sentence Rephrase to avoid starting a sentence with a number If you must start a sentence with a number spell out the number e Approximation Always spell out numbers to express an approximation e Larger smaller When you refer to the size of numbers use larger and smaller not higher and lower e Software version numbers When you refer to software version numbers use later and earlier For example refer to Mac OS X version 10 6 or later See also version e Commas in numbers Use a comma to set off numbers of five digits or more Express the number in its smallest form If your editor has asked you to follow international style see Decimals in Chapter 7 International Style on page 221 1024 65 536 3 7 million Don t use a comma in memory addresses or numbers representing microprocessors SFFFF FFFF 68020 microprocessor e Plural Form the plural of a number by adding an s 1s and 5s the 90s Chapter 1 Style and Usage 125 126 e Code values in text Use numerals for numeric values in text except for zero in the same sentence as nonzero ord blue returns 0 The function fseek returns nonzero for improper seeks otherwise it returns zero e Large numbers For very large numbers that are a power of 2 you can use the exponential form to avoid a long stri
148. groups megabyte MB computer memory megabytes per second MB s standard speed of data transmission MB sec some Apple groups megahertz MHz frequency meter m length distance meters per second m s velocity micrometer 10 6 meters um Option m length micron See micrometer mil 10 3 inches mil length mile mi except in mph length distance miles per hour mph velocity millimeter 10 3 meters mm length million instructions per second MIPS microprocessor speed millisecond 10 3 seconds ms time millivolt 10 3 volts mV electric potential milliwatt 10 3 watts mW power minute min time month mo time Chapter 2 Units of Measure 195 196 Unit Unit symbol or abbreviation Quantity newton kilogram meters per N force second squared newtons per square meter See pascal ohm Q Option Z electric resistance ounce Oz volume weight pascal Pa pressure stress newtons per square meter petabyte PB computer memory pound Ib weight poundal pdl force radian rad plane angle radians per second rad s angular velocity radians per second squared rad s2 angular acceleration revolutions per minute rpm angular velocity second s unit symbol or sec time abbreviation siemens amperes per volt S conductance square foot sq ft area square inch sq in area square meter m2 area square mile sq mi area square yard sq yd area steradian sr solid angl
149. hapter 1 Style and Usage 199 Desktop Computers eMac iMac iMac DV iMac DV iMac DV Special Edition iMac G5 iMac Special Edition Mac mini Mac Pro Power Mac G4 Power Mac G4 Cube Power Mac G5 Power Macintosh G3 Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh Portable Computers iBook iBook G4 iBook Special Edition MacBook MacBook Air MacBook Pro Macintosh PowerBook G3 Macintosh PowerBook G3 Series PowerBook PowerBook G4 200 Chapter 3 Apple Products iPhone and iPod Products e iPhone e iPhone 3G e iPhone 3GS e iPod e iPod classic e iPod mini e iPod nano e iPod photo e iPod shuffle e iPod touch e iPod U2 Special Edition Servers e Macintosh Server G3 with AppleShare IP e Macintosh Server G3 with Mac OS X Server e Macintosh Server G4 with AppleShare IP Macintosh Server G4 with Mac OS X Server e Xserve The software used with this product is Mac OS X Server e Xserve G5 Xserve RAID Displays Measurements given are the diagonal screen size not the viewable image size e Apple Cinema Display 20 inch flat panel e Apple Cinema Display 22 inch flat panel e Apple Cinema HD Display 23 inch flat panel e Apple Cinema HD Display 30 inch flat panel e Apple LED Cinema Display 24 inch flat panel e Apple Studio Display 17 inch CRT e Apple Studio Display 21 inch CRT e Apple Studio Display 15 inch flat panel e Apple Studio Display 17 inch flat panel Chapter 3 Apple Products
150. he Option key and click See also Alt key option names For options and other onscreen elements of two or more words whose names are capitalized using sentence style use quotation marks in text to avoid misreading Select the checkbox labeled Keep lines together OS X Avoid use Mac OS X See also Mac OS Mac OS X outbox One word outline font Not outlined font Chapter 1 Style and Usage output n adj Avoid as a verb use write to display on print on or print to outside Not outside of over Don t use when you mean more than Correct You can add more than 1000 songs Incorrect You can add over 1000 songs P page See homepage webpage PAL Acronym for Phase Alternating Line a European color video standard See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms pane In user documentation use pane to refer to changeable areas within a window or dialog such as areas that can be changed by clicking a button or choosing an item from a pop up menu and areas in windows that change automatically as in an installer Also use pane to refer to the parts that result when a user splits a document window Examples Copies amp Pages pane Print dialog iPhoto pane Media Browser Formats pane Language amp Text preferences In many cases in user documentation you can avoid using pane by describing how to get to a particular onscreen item Open System Preferences click Langua
151. however you may want to mention the term boot or include it in the glossary because users may see the term elsewhere boot chime Don t use for the chord heard during a successful startup sequence Use startup sound boot disk Don t use except in developer or server documentation Instead use startup disk bottommost One word no hyphen box Don t use dialog box use dialog See also dialog bps Don t use as the abbreviation for bits per second Use bit s Chapter 1 Style and Usage 27 28 braces Use braces not curly brackets to describe these symbols When you need to distinguish between the opening and closing braces use left brace and right brace brackets Use brackets not square brackets to describe these symbols Don t use brackets when you mean angle brackets lt gt When you need to distinguish between the opening and closing brackets use left bracket and right bracket braille Note lowercase bridge Don t use interchangeably with router See also router broadband One word OK to use alone or in terms such as broadband Internet connection browsable Not browseable browse v It s OK to use browse as either a transitive verb browse the web or an intransitive verb browse through a website browser Internet browser web browser Use lowercase for browser when referring to an application used to gain access to the World Wide Web and other Internet and intranet services See also Media Browse
152. iations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Some Apple groups use Tbps instead TB s Standard international abbreviation for terabytes per second See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Some Apple groups use TB sec instead Chapter 1 Style and Usage TCP IP Abbreviation for Transmission Control Protocol Internet Protocol Note capitalization of spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations telecommunication Telecommunication refers to the act telecommunications refers to the field When used as an adjective the correct term is telecommunications Telecommunication gets simpler by the day though you can t prove it by most manuals on this subject The telecommunications industry is expanding rapidly telephone numbers Use hyphens in U S phone and fax numbers don t use parentheses or a leading 7 Use toll free number not 800 number For numbers with extensions use extension or ext not x For phone numbers that use letters for easier recall include the numeric form in parentheses when possible 800 282 2732 800 MY APPLE 800 692 7753 800 800 APPL 800 800 2775 408 996 1010 See also addresses mailing and Chapter 7 International Style on page 221 television TV is preferred Don t use television set or TV set television monitor Don t use Use video monitor or monitor Telnet Note capitalizatio
153. id using the plural if you must use an apostrophe and an s to form the plural but don t italicize the apostrophe or the s 05 p5 S5 e Fonts When you discuss fonts and character formation using italics for letters as letters may be misleading for example when you discuss a particular character in plain style In such cases use quotation marks The letter a can be converted to a e Key names Don t italicize a letter when you use it as the name of a key Press Command Q level 2 cache level 3 cache Note lowercase Can be abbreviated as L2 cache or L3 cache Don t use secondary cache or second level cache when you mean L2 cache See also backside cache library Use lowercase in general references your iTunes library the photo library Capitalize the names of interface elements click Library like suffix Close up words ending with like unless the word is a proper name or a compound term or the resulting word is difficult to read businesslike Ethernet like typewriter like limited warranty Note lowercase line Not necessarily the same as statement One line may contain several statements and one statement may extend over several lines line breaks Don t break a line between Part Chapter or Appendix and its number or letter between Figure or Table and its number between s ot or port and its number or between a product name and its number Don t break a line within an email address or URL line feed
154. iko Family name examples Contreras Johnson Kawabata Meyer Scharanski Stern Wong e Situations Portray both women and men in a variety of occupations and situations not just stereotypical ones e Pronouns Avoid using male pronouns generically Use he or she or switch to the plural when he or she is awkward However don t use their when the subject is singular Sometimes you can use the second person Correct Each student imports his or her GarageBand composition into iTunes Correct The students import their GarageBand compositions into iTunes Incorrect The student imports his GarageBand composition into iTunes Incorrect Each student imports their GarageBand composition into iTunes family controls Don t use use parental controls family pack Use lowercase in general references a family pack Capitalize in product names MobileMe Family Pack accounts the Mac OS X Snow Leopard Family Pack FAQ Abbreviation for frequently asked questions FAQ is singular use the article an Use FAQs to refer to more than one set of frequently asked questions Use title style capitalization if the full term precedes a noun the Frequently Asked Questions document See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Fast Ethernet 100Base T Note capitalization A standard that allows data transmission rates of up to 100 megabits per second See also Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet 1000Base T fast forward
155. ing Don t use as in zapping PRAM Use reset Reset the PRAM zero character OK for the ASCII character 30 Don t confuse with null character 00 zero configuration networking Note hyphenation Refers to Bonjour and other technologies for connecting to computers printers and other devices without complicated setup procedures zeros Not zeroes zip code Note lowercase Zip disk Zip drive Note capitalization Don t call a Zip disk a cartridge zoom OK to use zoom zoom in zoom in on zoom in to zoom out and zoom out of zoom button Note lowercase The rightmost button of the three window controls at the left of the title bar Zoomed Video port Note capitalization A port that enables data to be transferred directly from a PC Card to a VGA controller Chapter 1 Style and Usage Units of Measure This chapter provides usage guidelines for units of measure and lists abbreviations and symbols for frequently used units Follow these guidelines when you use units of measure in documentation When to spell out In user documentation spell out units of measure and give the abbreviation in parentheses on first occurrence Repeat the spelled out version in new sections and chapters if the unit symbol or abbreviation is obscure and if the audience requires it First occurrence 20 gigabytes GB of memory Subsequent occurrences 20 GB of memory Always spell out customary units of measure in text for example 17 inch disp
156. ing of singular and plural See also punctuation parts Most print documents don t need to be divided into parts division into chapters is usually sufficient Good candidates for division into parts are documents that describe two or more separate products or two or more mutually exclusive applications on the same disk or documents so long that division into parts is necessary to make the organization clearer to the reader e Part titles Documents are divided into parts when each part deals with a distinct topic Part titles indicate that difference in subject matter e Part numbers Roman numerals are usually used for part numbers but your department s design style may specify Arabic numerals e Chapter numbering In a document with parts chapter numbering continues uninterrupted from part to part e Cross references In references to specific parts of a document italicize the document title but not the word Part the part number or the part title Enclose the part title in quotation marks For more information see the Final Cut Pro 6 User Manual Volume Ill Part I Audio Mixing See also volume document passcode One word passive voice Avoid when possible and use active voice Passive voice is sometimes appropriate and necessary when using the active voice would require highly convoluted sentence structure or excessive anthropomorphism for example but rewrite to avoid passive voice if you can In tutorials a
157. ing with pre except when one element is a proper noun or a date preinstalled preexisting preproduction pre WWDC pre 2008 Chapter 1 Style and Usage preface Depending on your department s guidelines you may use a preface to tell the reader about the document to describe conventions such as special notation for example code font and to outline what the reader will find where Discussion of the product itself usually belongs in the document text not in the preface although it is sometimes appropriate to include introductory information about the product in the preface A preface should have a title such as About This Guide or Introduction When you refer to a document s preface use the full preface title See the preface About This Guide If your department template includes the word Preface you may instead refer to it as the preface preferences When discussing System Preferences the Mac OS X application you can shorten the name of each set of system preferences to preference name preferences note lowercase preferences as in Universal Access preferences When discussing preferences for any application use lowercase for preferences but always capitalize the Mac OS X application System Preferences Use the Sound pane of System Preferences to choose an alert sound Use Sound preferences to change volume settings Use the Sharing pane of iTunes preferences to share your music library prefixes In mo
158. isk Utility that is used primarily by UNIX and UNIX based operating systems Not necessary to spell out on first occurrence UK No periods OK to abbreviate or to spell out United Kingdom as a noun Use the abbreviation for the adjective form ultra prefix Close up except in words beginning with a vowel ultra efficient ultrafast ultralight ultrasharp ultrathin ultrawide Chapter 1 Style and Usage 175 176 unavailable Use to describe an item such as a menu item or an option in a dialog that the user cannot select or choose because certain conditions are not met The Copy command is unavailable if there is no text selected See also dimmed uncheck Don t use use deselect unclick Don t use use deselect See also checkbox under Don t use to describe an operating system environment Use in or with in Mac OS X not under Mac OS X unhighlight v Don t use Use deselect for the action of clicking to remove highlighting unhighlighted adj Don t use use not highlighted Compare unselected adj Unicode A 16 bit character encoding standard developed by the Unicode Consortium used for representing characters as integers Uniform Resource Locator See URL uninstall OK to use uninstall and uninstaller See also install unit Don t use to refer to a hardware product Use a different noun as appropriate Correct Take apart the computer Incorrect Take apart the unit Universal application Note capitalization
159. it s OK to use just camera A multicamera shoot uses multiple cameras to record an event from different angles See also camcorder video card Don t use use graphics card See also graphics card video chat video chatting n v adj Two words OK to use video chat or video conference video conference video conferencing n v adj Two words OK to use video conference or video chat video input video input output video output n adj No hyphen You can shorten to video in video in out and video out Types of video input output include component video composite video DVI HDMI S video and VGA video video jack Not video connector Chapter 1 Style and Usage 181 182 video mirroring n adj No hyphen A dual display mode in which the same image appears on two displays video port Don t use when you mean the port to which the display is connected use display port for Apple displays or monitor port for non Apple displays See also display port monitor port video random access memory See VRAM View control The four button unit for changing views of Finder windows The View control comprises the Icon View button the List View button the Column View button and the Cover Flow button See also Column View button Cover Flow button Icon View button List View button viewer window The main Mail window where mailboxes and messages appear On first occurrence call it the Mail viewer window for later
160. item with closing punctuation To burn a CD 1 Insert a blank disc into your computer 2 In iTunes select the playlist you want to put on the disc 3 Click the Burn button See also lists list view A way to display items in a list with one or more columns of data for example the list view in Finder windows List View button Note capitalization The button second from the left in the View control in Finder windows EE OO lm lithium ion adj Note hyphenation See also batteries live link Don t use to refer to hypertext links in webpages use hypertext link or just link lo bit Don t use use low order bit adj or low bit n local area network See LAN localizable Don t use Correct An application that follows the human interface guidelines should be easy to localize Incorrect An application that follows the human interface guidelines should be easily localizable Chapter 1 Style and Usage localization n adj Many Apple publications written in English go through the localization process which involves revision and translation for non English speaking users e Idiomatic language To make the localization process easier avoid idiomatic phrases such as these nitty gritty details start from scratch piggy backing e Examples and graphics Avoid examples and graphics that show events or activities specific to a particular nation or culture e Conciseness Remember that text length may expand on transl
161. item to refer to items that aren t commands such as window names in the Window menu Don t use menu option A menu item is in a menu not on or under a menu a menu contains items or commands e Pull down menus Note hyphenation A pull down menu is a menu in the menu bar When you give instructions for choosing an item from a pull down menu a menu in the menu bar use the style shown here Choose menu gt item gt submenu item Choose Edit gt Find gt Find Next Choose File gt Save As Don t use an angle bracket when you re simply identifying which menu contains the item Correct the Page Setup command in the File menu Incorrect the File gt Preferences command Chapter 1 Style and Usage e Pop up menus Note hyphenation A pop up menu is a menu in a dialog or other window labeled with up and down arrows or just a down arrow For pop up menus use the style shown here Choose Intranet LAN from the Connection Speed pop up menu Choose a format from the Format pop up menu If the pop up menu doesn t have a name simply call it the pop up menu Choose Numeric from the pop up menu e Shortcut menus A shortcut menu is a menu that appears when a user presses the Control key and clicks an item on the screen For shortcut menus use the style shown here Control click one of the selected clips and then choose Make Multiclip from the shortcut menu If the shortcut menu has submenus you can use the style shown
162. iting for novice users you might need to define drag on first mention Use drag to refer to actions users perform with objects onscreen For example a user can drag an onscreen item such as a folder or file drag a control such as a slider or drag across part of the screen for example to create a shape or select an area of a document to work with Don t use drag the mouse or drag the pointer Correct Drag the Volume slider to change the volume Correct Choose Tools gt Annotate gt Rectangle and then drag to create a rectangle Incorrect Drag the mouse to draw a rectangle Don t use click and drag Don t use place put or move when you mean drag Correct Drag your songs into the order you want Correct Drag the icon to the Trash Incorrect Click and drag the icon to the Trash Incorrect Put the icon in the Trash Chapter 1 Style and Usage e On devices with Multi Touch screens Drag refers to the act of moving one finger across the screen Note that although some portable Mac computers have Multi Touch trackpads dragging on a Multi Touch trackpad fits the description given above for desktop and portable computers Users can drag to scroll through items drag controls or drag to pan around items such as photos and webpages Drag up or down to scroll through your contacts Drag the slider to unlock iPhone To move around in a webpage drag up down left or right Don t use tap and drag Correct Drag t
163. ition See AVCHD AFP Abbreviation for Apple Filing Protocol Note capitalization See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations afterward Not afterwards AGP Abbreviation for Accelerated Graphics Port An industry standard graphics technology Computers have AGP 2X AGP 4X AGP 8X or AGP 8X Pro support Don t use variations such as AGP 4x 4X AGP or 4x AGP See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations AirMac The name for AirPort in Japan AirMac wireless networking AirMac Extreme Base Station AirMac Express Base Station and so on Chapter 1 Style and Usage 13 14 AirPort Note capitalization Versions include AirPort and AirPort Extreme You can use AirPort to refer generally to Apple s wireless networking products or technologies or to refer to the family of AirPort products your AirPort network AirPort software e Software AirPort software includes AirPort Utility and AirPort Disk Utility Don t precede these application names with the e Hardware AirPort hardware includes the AirPort Express Base Station the AirPort Extreme Base Station and Time Capsule You can shorten AirPort Express Base Station to AirPort Express but don t use AirPort Extreme unless you are referring to the technology Use an article or your with AirPort Express Use lowercase for base station if you don t use the full product name Correct The AirPort Extreme Base Station is an
164. ituations require a Warning notice Use Important notices and other notices sparingly they lose effectiveness if they appear too often Avoid using an Important notice immediately before or after a Note Warning or another Important notice or immediately after a text head See also Note Warning inbox One word Chapter 1 Style and Usage inch in Note hyphenation when used as an adjective 2 inch height 1 inch thin design but is 1 inch thin Use inch not inches for measurements of 1 inch or less 0 76 inch thin The abbreviation is the same in the singular and the plural Don t abbreviate inch in text Don t use the symbol unless space limitations prevent the use of inch or in Incorporated Inc Spell out or abbreviate according to the particular corporation s preference incrementer Don t use to refer to a control that has up and down arrows or left and right arrows to increase or decrease a value In user documentation use up arrow down arrow right arrow left arrow or arrows as appropriate For example Click one of the arrows to increase or decrease the volume If it is necessary to refer to the control itself use stepper indeterminate progress bar In developer documentation the progress bar that has a spinning striped cylinder In user documentation use progress indicator and describe what it looks like Developer documentation Use an indeterminate progress bar when the duration of a process can t b
165. izing hard disks Incorrect initializing your hard disk s e Trademarked product names Form the plural of trademarked product names by adding the plural generic noun to the singular product name Correct Mac computers MacBook Pro computers iMac computers Incorrect Macs MacBook Pros iMacs If a product name includes a generic noun as well as a trademarked adjective form the plural as you would with any noun AirPort Cards AppleCare Service Parts Kits e Words as words Form the plural of a word italicized to show that it is used as a word by adding an apostrophe and an s Don t italicize the apostrophe or the s He had too many and s in the sentence Chapter 1 Style and Usage 135 136 plus sign Not plus symbol p m Note lowercase and periods 6 30 p m Use a space before the abbreviation podcast podcasting n v adj Terms include photo podcast and video podcast Use italics to refer to the title of a podcast series use quotation marks for the titles of episodes point n Use only when writing about font sizes Don t use as a synonym for dot or to describe a place or spot on the screen point v When you describe the desktop interface avoid using point as a verb Instead use move the pointer to or similar wording Preferable Hold the pointer over an item to see a description of what you can do with it Avoid Point to an item to see a description of what you can do with it pointer OK in general
166. k When the audience consists of developers or administrators use user to refer to end users and you to address the developer or administrator You may need to prevent users from accidentally making changes You can give users access to the server User is also appropriate in the context of Mac OS X users for example when you discuss the Users pane of Accounts preferences See also end user n end user adj user friendly adj user friendly pred adj Note hyphenation user group Not users group or user s group user guide user manual The terms user s guide instructor guide and student guide are alternative forms used by some Apple groups consult your department s style guidelines See also manual user name Two words Note the treatment of these similar terms device name filename host name pathname volume name utility Use lowercase when utility is not part of a proper name or when you use it generically Capitalize and don t use the when the word is part of a proper name Use Apple Loops Utility to Use the Audio MIDI Setup utility to You can use the utility to utility application OK to use when you compare utility applications to other applications otherwise use utility See also utility utility program Don t use use utility See also utility Chapter 1 Style and Usage 179 180 V V 90 V 92 Note capitalization International Telecommunications Union ITU modem serial protocols Do
167. l it either a button or an icon e Unnamed icon If an icon does not have a label and there is no established name for the icon consult your editor to determine what to call the icon Use lowercase for the name of the icon To refer to an unnamed icon follow this form the headphone 4 port the Add button See also button icon view A way to display and select items by viewing them as icons for example the icon view in Finder windows You can view items in Finder windows as icons in a list in columns or in Cover Flow Icon View button Note capitalization The leftmost button in the View control in Finder windows iDisk A MobileMe web application that provides storage space for documents pictures movies website files and other data Use MobileMe iDisk on first reference MobileMe members have an iDisk Note the distinction between your iDisk on Apple s Internet servers and a local copy of your iDisk on the user s computer See also MobileMe iDVD iDVD is used to create DVDs not iDVDs i e Don t use use that is See also abbreviations and acronyms IEEE Abbreviation for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations IEEE 802 11 See 802 11 wireless networking standard Chapter 1 Style and Usage 89 90 if necessary Avoid in user documentation Describe the circumstance in which the action would be necessary Correct I
168. l nouns Form the possessive of a plural noun that ends in s by adding an apostrophe Form the possessive of a plural noun that does not end in s by adding an apostrophe and an s the students curriculum children s requirements e Proper nouns or names Form the possessive of a singular proper noun or proper name including one that ends in s by adding an apostrophe and an s Form the possessive of a plural proper noun or proper name by adding an apostrophe David Williams s biography singular the Joneses computer plural e Product names Rewrite to avoid forming a possessive of any product name trademarked or not for example don t use Keynote slides See also trademarks usage post prefix Close up words beginning with post except when one element is a proper noun or a date postgraduate postmortem posttest post WWDC event post 2006 Exception post production post v OK to use post to or post on when referring to publishing something on the Internet or another network Post Office Protocol See POP PostScript Note capitalization Don t use small caps pound sign Don t use use number sign for this character See also number sign power adapter Lowercase except in product names 60W MagSafe Power Adapter Avoid AC adapter PowerBook Use an article before PowerBook model names Wireless networking is easy with the PowerBook The PowerBook G4 reinvents mobile computing For a list of model names
169. lay It s OK to abbreviate such units in tables and technical specifications Display size 17 in Noun When you use a unit symbol or abbreviation as a noun insert a space between the number and the abbreviation and use the preposition of before the unit the value quantifies 20 GB of memory Note that Apple Marketing Communications style for many abbreviations is to close up the number and the abbreviation 20GB of memory Adjective When you use a spelled out unit of measure in a compound adjective hyphenate the compound 17 inch display 3 meter cable When you use a unit symbol or abbreviation in a compound adjective don t hyphenate add a space between the number and the abbreviation 20 nA battery 30 GB capacity Capitalization With the exception of degrees Celsius units of measure derived from a proper name are not capitalized when spelled out but their unit symbols are capitalized For example the unit symbol for joule is J 191 192 Punctuation Abbreviations for customary nonmetric units are followed by a period 30 in display Plurals Unit symbols and abbreviations are unaltered in the plural forms for example b not bs International System of Units Use the unit symbol for units of the International System of Units SI after first occurrence If the unit symbol for meter could be confused with another term in your document spell out meter The maximum size for a memory card is 35 mm
170. le core Short for execution core or processor core See also 8 core adj dual core adj Corporation Corp Spell out or abbreviate according to the particular corporation s preference corrupted Avoid if possible Use damaged instead Cover Flow Note capitalization A feature that enables users to browse previews of files in the Finder or the cover art of items in iTunes iPod or iPhone Users can use Cover Flow or view items in Cover Flow When you need to distinguish between Cover Flow and other views such as icon view or list view it s OK to say Cover Flow view Use Cover Flow to flip through your music library You can view items in a Finder window as icons in a list in columns or in Cover Flow To switch from column view to Cover Flow view click the Cover Flow button See also Cover Flow button View control Chapter 1 Style and Usage 45 46 Cover Flow button Note capitalization The rightmost button in the View control in Finder windows CPU Abbreviation for central processing unit Avoid in user documentation use processor to refer to the chip and use computer or system to refer to the computer itself See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations See also computer processor system CR Abbreviation for carriage return Use only when you refer specifically to ASCII character OD or its equivalent Explain the term carriage return if your audience includes first time comp
171. le v disabled adj let en dash See dash en end of file See EOF end user n end user adj Avoid in favor of user See also user energy management software No hyphen energy saving adj Note hyphenation Chapter 1 Style and Usage ENERGY STAR Note capitalization enhanced definition n enhanced definition adj Note hyphenation in enhanced definition enhanced definition TV ensure insure Use ensure to mean make sure or guarantee Use insure to describe what an insurance company does Compare assure enter Use enter not type to describe inputting text based information or data for example in a text field or spreadsheet or at a command line prompt Such text is typically entered by typing but it could also be copied and pasted or even dragged Use type to describe simply pressing keys to produce characters on the screen Use press not type to refer to pressing keys on the keyboard Enter your account information and tap Save The intelligent keyboard may suggest corrections as you type Press the Return key Compare press type v Enter key Note capitalization Enterprise Objects enterprise objects Capitalize when you refer to the technology use lowercase when you refer to objects entitled Don t use use titled named or called EOF Abbreviation for end of file Note hyphenation of spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations
172. leMe ProCare Chapter 3 Apple Products Technical Notation This chapter gives special style and usage rules that apply largely or exclusively to developer documentation Many of the rules covered here are also included by topic in Chapter 1 Style and Usage General Considerations When writing about a particular programming language be careful to follow the capitalization style of that language Code Use code font for code Develop a method of spacing around punctuation and use the method consistently It s often best to use English style spacing one space character between words because it s easy to remember and to stick with height width extended quo integer PageSize 1024 Syntax Descriptions Use code font for literals parts of the language values and so on italic text font for metasymbols artificial terms that have meaning only in your document and are to be replaced by a value or symbol and plain style regular text font for brackets that enclose something that s optional Pay close attention to punctuation Read file var Use embedded caps to connect words that act as a single metasymbol sourceFile Be consistent when naming metasymbols for example don t alternate between commands and commandList 209 210 Code Font in Text Most developer documentation uses code font for computer language elements in text Whether to use code font in text for other documents is a m
173. les and folders stored on a volume Don t use this term in user documentation cathode ray tube See CRT CD Abbreviation for compact disc See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations CD technologies include the following CD ROM read only CD R recordable CD RW rewritable not CD R W or CD RW e Types Types of CDs include audio CDs or music CDs MP3 CDs and data CDs Refer to the specific type of disc or drive or use the general term CD e Usage Don t use CD ROM CD RW or CD R as a noun the term must modify another word such as drive or disc For the plural don t use CD ROMs CD RWs and so on Instead use CD ROM discs CD RW discs and so on or simply CDs Use disc not disk to refer to CD media See also disc CD drive Not CD player When you include the drive speed hyphenate the adjective form 24x speed CD drive Don t leave out the x cell phone cellular phone Don t use use mobile phone cell signal indicator No hyphen central memory Don t use use main memory central processing unit See CPU CGI Abbreviation for Common Gateway Interface Note capitalization See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Use CGI scripts as the plural form on first occurrence Thereafter it s OK to use CGIs chain OK to use when you mean a series of USB devices connected together See also daisy chain n daisy chain v adj daisy chained adj
174. lications and plug ins in a file package that appears as a single file in the Finder burn You burn files on a disc or to a disc but not onto a disc You can also burn a disc Use iPhoto to burn your photos on a CD Select the playlists you want to burn to a CD If you have a SuperDrive you can burn DVDs See also write bus buses Note spelling of plural In documentation for audio technology you can use busses for the plural but be consistent in all documentation for a particular product bus powered self powered In user documentation try to avoid when indicating whether devices draw power from a power cord or from another USB device When possible describe the device don t give it a label Correct A device that plugs into an electrical outlet Incorrect A self powered device Correct A device that gets its power from another USB device Incorrect A bus powered device Chapter 1 Style and Usage 29 button Buttons always initiate an action when clicked tapped or pressed You click or tap an onscreen button you press a mechanical button Click the Save As PDF button Press the Reset button The following screenshot shows two kinds of onscreen buttons standard buttons and radio buttons Button 1 Radio Button 1 s m QO Radio Button 2 Button 2 e Button names In general write the names of buttons exactly as they appear onscreen If the button s name uses sentence style capitalization enclose th
175. lters GarageBand automates Audio Units instruments and effects audio video Refers to equipment and applications that deal with sound and sight The term can be abbreviated as AV or A V AWV receiver A V equipment iPod AV Cable auto prefix Close up in words beginning with a consonant autoconfiguration autoplay autosave autosensing autosync auto answer auto update Autofill AutoFill The iPod shuffle feature is Autofill the Safari feature is AutoFill Use autofill for the verb autoplay Autoplay The feature is lowercase the button name is capitalized autosync n v adj Note spelling AVCHD Abbreviation for Advanced Video Coding High Definition a high definition digital video format for recording and playback See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations B back end n back end adj Note hyphenation of adjective backlight backlit One word back panel Two words backside cache A kind of level 2 cache Backside cache operations are faster than those of other level 2 caches Also OK to use backside level 2 cache See also level 2 cache level 3 cache backslash Use backslash to describe this character See also slash backspace n v adj One word Backspace key Note capitalization A key on Windows keyboards that is equivalent to the Delete key on a Mac keyboard backup n adj back up v One word except as a verb no hyphen Chapter 1 Style and Usage 2
176. mal number hexagonal head screw Not hex head screw HFS Abbreviation for hierarchical file system Avoid in user documentation use Mac OS Standard format instead See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations HFS Plus Note capitalization Don t use HFS Avoid in user documentation use Mac OS Extended format instead HFS Plus Journaled Note capitalization Don t use HFS Journaled Avoid in user documentation use Mac OS Extended Journaled format instead hierarchical file system See HFS high Use a hyphen in compound adjectives beginning with high high bandwidth high definition high level high quality high resolution high bit n high bit adj Not hi bit or hi bit High bit is an acceptable short form for the noun high order bit high definition n high definition adj See HD n adj Chapter 1 Style and Usage 83 84 highlight trans v Don t use in user documentation In developer documentation don t use as an intransitive verb Correct Your application should identify the selection range and highlight it properly Incorrect The icon highlights when you click it Compare highlighted adj highlighting n select v highlighted adj No hyphen Not hilighted Don t use inverted except in developer documentation When explaining highlighting use a highlighted icon changes color or a highlighted icon is filled in Correct When you click the ic
177. mbers from zero through ten except when you express numbers as numbers Use a numeral no matter how small to express numbers as numbers Use numerals when you refer to a specific address bit byte chapter field key pin sector slot or track or when expressing amounts of memory The outlines of the four glyphs are aligned Leave at least 12 pixels of space between controls The numeral 8 occurs eight times e Ordinal numbers Spell out ordinal numbers from zero through ten Form ordinal numbers larger than ten by adding st nd rd or th as appropriate Chapter 1 Style and Usage e Numbers that appear together Where two numbers appear together consider spelling one of them out There are sixteen 32 bit registers Use numerals for numbers of the same category within a paragraph if any of the numbers is larger than ten We have 25 computers and 4 printers on the network Computers and printers are the same category There are two kinds of 32 bit registers only one of which must be saved Kinds of registers and bits are different categories e Ranges of numbers Use an en dash between numbers that represent the endpoints of a continuous range bits 3 17 Use the full span for continuing numbers Correct 2008 2009 Incorrect 2008 09 e Units of measure Use numerals for units of measure inches feet seconds no matter how small the number is For a list of units of measure see Chapter 2 Units of Measure on pa
178. mentation if the path goes more than two folders deep from the top level of the hard disk Place the file in the System Library Keychains folder Relative path If there is no leading slash the path is a relative path that is relative to some location other than the root folder Make sure the file is in Library Application Support Home folder In user documentation use your to indicate that the item being described is in the user s home folder Use plain English no slashes to describe folders that are just one or two levels deep Your files are saved in your Documents folder Your fonts are located in the Fonts folder in your Library folder If the folders go more than two levels deep you can use slashes to avoid awkward construction and wordiness Don t use a leading slash because that would indicate that the starting point is at the top level of the startup disk not the user s home folder Copy the file to Library Application Support Address Book in your home folder For more technical audiences you can use a tilde to specify a path within the user s home folder The files are saved in Documents Copy the file to Library Application Support Address Book You can also use an absolute path with the word username in italics Each user s files are saved in Users username Documents Chapter 1 Style and Usage 131 132 e Terminating slash A terminating slash indicates that the final element of th
179. mini DVI mini VGA minicircular connector minitower minicircular connector Use 8 pin minicircular connector on first occurrence except in user documentation thereafter minicircular connector is fine Don t use minicircular 8 connector See also connector mini DIN Don t use use DIN See also DIN MiniDV A digital video format Chapter 1 Style and Usage mini DVI A video output port for connecting external displays and TVs minimize button The middle button of the three window controls at the left of the title bar You click this button to put a window in the Dock minimize the window minimized OK for describing a window in the Dock Windows in the Dock are minimized See also maximize minus sign Use minus sign not minus symbol to describe this symbol Use an en dash generated by pressing Option Hyphen for a minus sign except in code font where a hyphen is used MIPS Acronym for million instructions per second Don t drop the s when you refer to a single unit 7 MIPS not 1 MIP See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms mixed directional adj Note hyphenation Use to refer to a combination of left to right and right to left text within a single line French and Arabic on one line for example Compare bidirectional adj M JPEG Note hyphenation and capitalization Pronounced em jay peg The M stands for motion and the form Motion JPEG is some
180. mple double tap lets you zoom in Double tap the photo to zoom in or out You can zoom in by double tapping See also tap n v down arrow Use to refer to the small arrow that you click to decrease a value in a stepper Click the down arrow to decrease the text indent Text Indent 0 5 in 5 See also Down Arrow key stepper Down Arrow key Note capitalization When you refer to arrow keys generically use lowercase but capitalize and use the complete name when you refer to one or more arrow keys by name See also arrow keys Chapter 1 Style and Usage 59 60 download n v downloadable adj One word downtime One word dpi Abbreviation for dots per inch n and dot per inch adj See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations The printer provides a resolution of 600 dots per inch dpi it can be upgraded to 1200 dpi The printer provides a 600 dot per inch dpi resolution some printers offer 1200 dpi resolution drag Refers to an action that can be performed on a desktop or portable computer or on a mobile device with a Multi Touch screen Usage is slightly different in each case follow the guidelines below e On desktop computers and portable computers Drag refers to the act of positioning the pointer pressing and holding down the mouse or trackpad button moving the mouse or on a trackpad the user s finger and then releasing the mouse or trackpad button If you re wr
181. n v adj Note hyphen Chapter 1 Style and Usage 69 70 fast user switching Note lowercase Favorites Capitalize when you refer to the Favorites folder in the Library folder of a home folder fax n v adj Short for facsimile Use lowercase fax is not an acronym or an abbreviation FB DIMM Short for fully buffered DIMM the type of memory used in Mac Pro and Xserve systems Terms include fully buffered memory FB DIMM memory DDR2 ECC FB DIMM memory and FB DIMM slot Precede FB DIMM with an not a See also DIMM memory female connector Don t use use socket See also connector fewer less Use fewer for countable items use ess for quantity or bulk The fewer devices in your network system the less cable you need Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Note capitalization Gigabit Ethernet using fiber optic cable See also Gigabit Ethernet 1000Base T fiber optics n fiber optic adj The adjective is not hyphenated fiber optic cable Fibre Channel Note capitalization A high speed serial data transmission technology Xserve RAID has a 2 Gbit not 2 GB Fibre Channel interface field Use to refer to the boxes that appear in windows dialogs webpages or database records in which users enter information It s not necessary to specify text field or number field but if a field has a name try to use it For example Enter the video timecode in the Current Timecode field Fill in the required fields and then click Che
182. n Don t use as a verb The UNIX command telnet is all lowercase Correct You use Telnet to connect to another computer as a terminal Correct You use the telnet command to connect to another computer as a terminal Incorrect You Telnet to another computer to use its software temperatures To list temperatures repeat the degree symbol but not the abbreviations Use a space between the symbol and the abbreviation 50 to 104 F 0 to 40 C terabit See Tbit n adj terabits per second See Tbit s terabyte See TB n adj terabytes per second See TB s Chapter 1 Style and Usage 167 168 terminal A device or software for sending commands to a computer Capitalize when referring to the Terminal application terminal emulation n adj No hyphen text field See field text file Two words text heads Use different levels of text heads to make the organization of documentation clearer to the reader but remember that too many heads too close together distract the reader and clutter the page e Organization In general organize your sections so that level four heads are subordinate to level three heads level three heads to level two heads and so on Don t skip a level of text heads When the next logical level of text head seems too prominent for a given usage in troubleshooting chapters for example you can use display sentences rather than skipping a level of text heads e Chapter openings Avoid beginni
183. n marks not quote marks or quotes Quote is a verb quotation is a noun or an adjective e Cross references and quotations Use quotation marks for references to other sections of documents chapter titles and direct quotations See Maintenance on page 83 See Chapter 2 Using iMovie Chapter 1 Style and Usage e Onscreen use Use quotation marks around text that appears only onscreen for letters as letters words as words and document and disc titles e Onscreen messages Enclose quotations from the screen such as alert messages in quotation marks e Terms that stand for or define other terms Use italics not quotation marks for terms after called known as labeled stands for termed and so on Use plain style for onscreen elements whose names are in title style capitalization A folder called My Files appears e Sentence style onscreen elements Use quotation marks for elements whose names use sentence style capitalization and for title style phrases in which any word is in lowercase Select the checkbox labeled Keep lines together Search for iTunes and Music Store e Smart quotation marks Most applications have an option called smart quotation marks which automatically generates curly quotation marks and apostrophes as you type Check your department s guidelines for how to handle quotation marks in HTML See also titles of works R racism racist language See fair language
184. n t use V 90 or V 92 when you mean 56K modem unless you re referring specifically to the V 90 or V 92 protocol See also 56K modem value slider A special type of slider used in some applications that includes the numerical value of the parameter in the control Dragging the middle area where the number is works the same as an ordinary slider dragging to the right increases the value and dragging to the left decreases the value version Use lowercase for version when you refer to versions of software as in iPhoto version 8 For applications it s OK to leave out version Use Keynote 5 to create your slideshow e Version numbers for software To include the version number use the form application name 4 not 4 0 unless a more specific reference is required such as application name 4 0 1 Motion 4 Motion 4 0 1 e Earlier or later Use earlier or later rather than lower or higher or newer or older This application requires Mac OS X version 10 6 or later e Abbreviating the word version When you abbreviate a version of Mac OS X use v closed up without a period following Mac OS X Mac OS X v10 6 e The letter x Except in developer documentation don t use x to mean any number as in 70 x use a specific number or range of numbers See also Mac OS X versus Not vs Rewrite to avoid using versus when possible via OK to use to mean by means of especially in relatively technical documentation Sometimes over
185. n t use aliased Chapter 1 Style and Usage alignment Use instead of justification to refer to the horizontal placement of lines of text with respect to the left and right edges of the margin Alignment can be flush left flush right centered or justified that is flush on both the left and right margins Compare justification all in one Refers to computers with built in displays such as eMac and iMac computers Also refers to products that combine functions such as printing faxing scanning and copying allow Avoid using allow when you can restructure a sentence to make the reader the subject Weak FileMaker Pro allows you to create a database Preferable You can create a database with FileMaker Pro See also enable v enabled adj let alphabetic Not alphabetical except when you refer specifically to alphabetical order Exception to American Heritage alphabetization Alphabetize letter by letter not word by word file format widget filename Wi Fi file server window For detailed information about letter by letter alphabetizing see The Chicago Manual of Style For information about alphabetizing a glossary or index see Chapter 5 How to Write a Glossary or Chapter 6 How to Develop an Index alphanumeric One word alternate Don t use when you mean alternative As an alternative to fsck you can use Disk Utility to check the disk for errors alternating current See AC AltiVec Don t us
186. n the Universal Access pane of System Preferences mousepad One word mouse scaling n mouse scaling adj Note hyphenation of adjective mouse up event Note hyphenation MP3 Short for MPEG Audio Layer 3 an audio compression technology The plural is MP3s Don t use MP3 to refer to audio files in general some files use AAC or other formats MPEG Acronym for Moving Picture Experts Group a working group of the International Standards Organization ISO Note capitalization The acronym is pronounced em peg It s not necessary to spell out on first occurrence MPEG usually refers to the family of digital video compression standards that the group developed There are three major versions MPEG 1 MPEG 2 and MPEG 4 MPEG 4 is based on the QuickTime file format and defines standards for video and audio streaming There is no MPEG 3 Note that MP3 is short for MPEG Audio Layer 3 not MPEG 3 MPEG Audio Layer 3 See MP3 MS DOS Note hyphenation and capitalization multi prefix Close up in words beginning with either a consonant or a vowel except multiplayer multiprocessor multitasking multithreading multiuser multi item multicore No hyphen Use to refer to processors that have more than one core multiple scan adj No hyphen multiplication sign Not multiplication symbol multiprocessing multiprocessor No hyphen A multiprocessor computer has multiple processors not multiprocessors Chapter 1 Style and Usage
187. ndard international conventions These are the rules e Write in simple structures e Don t use idiomatic or colloquial expressions e Avoid shortcuts symbols and abbreviations that could easily be spelled out e Express data using the standard international conventions outlined in this appendix You should vary from these standards only when there is a truly compelling advantage in using a proprietary or customary style Currency Currency amounts are expressed with the appropriate International Organization for Standardization ISO currency code e International Authority International Organization for Standardization ISO e Standard ISO 4217 1990 e Rationale Currency codes are specific to a currency and cannot be confused or misinterpreted by the reader Currency symbols such as the dollar sign are not unique and are easily misread e Usage Write the amount followed by a space and the currency code in capitals The computer is priced at 1199 USD The computer costs 1980 EUR 221 222 Currency Code Canadian dollar CAD euro EUR pound sterling GBP yen JPY U S dollar USD Dates and Times Dates are expressed as year month day and are separated by a hyphen Times are expressed on a 24 hour clock e International Authority International Organization for Standardization ISO e Standard ISO 8601 1988 e Rationale Date and time formats are represented with the largest units given first From left to right
188. nent video Note lowercase composite video Note lowercase comprise A whole comprises parts Parts constitute a whole Don t use is comprised of Your video editing system comprises a Mac Pro computer Final Cut Pro software a digital camcorder and an external NTSC monitor Four iMac and two MacBook computers constitute the class s computing resources Chapter 1 Style and Usage computer Use when you describe a computer without any peripherals Use system to refer to a computer its peripheral devices and software Don t use machine computer voice See code font connect Use to refer to the act of hooking devices together don t use attach or hook up You connect USB devices to a computer and you can connect computers to an Ethernet network Don t use connect when you mean plug in See also plug in v plug into v connector Use to refer only to an item that can be plugged into a receptacle such as a slot port or socket Use the following terminology edge connector the connector on the edge of a peripheral card fits into a slot minicircular connector an 8 pin connector Don t use mini DIN plug a connector with prongs or pins e Descriptions In user documentation describe connectors by their shape and size by the icon that appears on the connector or in another way appropriate to the context The user should be able to identify the connector easily even if she or he doesn t know the terminology e Pin
189. ng a chapter with a level one head start with an introductory paragraph or two before your first text head Similarly avoid placing a level two head immediately after a level one head and so on When you have limited space and when text serves primarily to separate one head from the next but isn t necessary to the reader it s OK to place a head immediately following the previous level of head e At least two heads of the same level If you use a particular level of head at all in a given chapter or section use at least two Strictly speaking a chapter or section can t be subdivided into only one part e Parallelism Keep the wording of parallel heads within a section parallel e Use the same verb forms gerunds imperatives and so on from head to head e Comparable terms should all be either singular or plural not a mix e If you use complete sentences for some heads use them for all comparable heads e Capitalization Use title style capitalization for most text heads Check with your editor for your department s guidelines e Punctuation Avoid colons in heads wherever possible If a colon in a head is required capitalize the first word after the colon Avoid ellipsis points in heads e Humor Keep heads simple and descriptive Avoid cute flippant or gimmicky heads Humor can be an effective means of enhancing the reader s experience but it generally works best in examples rather than in titles or heads Chapter 1 Style and
190. ng of digits for example 2 Numbers larger than 65 536 2 6 are good candidates for showing in exponential form If there are numbers larger and smaller than 65 536 in the same discussion show the smaller numbers both ways x must be between 1024 2 and 222 See also fractions number sign Use to describe this character Don t use pound sign or number symbol Avoid using the number sign to specify an item in a numbered series You can frequently omit number or the number sign from a sentence and still make the meaning clear See document 58677 for more information Use part 661 2262 to repair the computer numeric adj Not numerical except when you refer specifically to numerical order Exception to American Heritage See also numerics n adj numeric keypad Can be shortened to keypad Don t use numerical keypad or numeric keyboard numerics n adj As a noun numerics takes a singular verb Use numerics not numeric as an adjective in relation to the science of numerics numerics capabilities numerics environment NVIDIA Note spelling and capitalization O offline One word offsite One word OK Not okay onboard One word Short for on the board refers to components attached to a circuit board or logic board Use built in as in built in graphics card or internal unless you need to make clear that a component is attached to a board Chapter 1 Style and Usage once Don t use when you mean aft
191. ng with mega megabit megabyte megahertz megapixel megawatt megawide megabit See Mbit n adj megabits per second See Mbit s megabyte See MB n adj megabytes per second See MB s megahertz See MHz n adj Chapter 1 Style and Usage 115 116 memory Don t refer to the hard disk as memory it s hard disk space disk space or storage space Related terms include physical memory and virtual memory Types of memory include the following Double Data Rate synchronous dynamic random access memory DDR SDRAM dynamic random access memory dynamic RAM or DRAM flash memory random access memory RAM read only memory ROM static random access memory SRAM synchronous dynamic random access memory SDRAM video random access memory VRAM See also flash memory memory address memory location OK to use just address or location for brevity Don t use commas in addresses even in numbers of five digits or more menu bar Two words The bar at the top of the Mac screen The menu bar contains menus related to the Finder or the current application on the left File menu Edit menu and status menus on the right also called menu bar icons menu bar status icons or menu bar items not menu items menu extras or menu bar extras menu names Note capitalization Edit menu File menu and so on menus Anything that can be chosen in a menu is a menu item some menu items are also menu commands or simply commands Use menu
192. ns and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Some Apple groups use Gbps instead GB s Standard international abbreviation for gigabytes per second See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Some Apple groups use GB sec instead gender stereotypes See fair language generation Refers to products released at a particular time or sharing a common design or features Hyphenate compound adjectives that include the word generation It s OK to use a numeral such as 1st 2nd or 5th if space is limited but avoid variations that shorten generation such as fifth gen and 5G the first generation the next generation previous generation Mac mini next generation architecture second generation processor See also iPod Chapter 1 Style and Usage 79 80 GHz n adj Abbreviation for gigahertz See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations e Noun In the noun form use a space between the numeral and the abbreviation at a rate of 3 0 GHz e Adjective Don t hyphenate the adjective form a 3 0 GHz processor GIF Acronym for Graphics Interchange Format a bitmapped graphics file format that includes data compression Note capitalization Pronounced with a hard g See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms See also file formats gigabit See Gbit n adj Gigabit Ethernet 1000Base T Note capit
193. ns not buttons that the user taps home theater n adj Note spelling your home theater a home theater system host name Two words Note the treatment of these similar terms device name filename pathname user name volume name hot link n Don t use as a verb Don t use to refer to hypertext links in webpages use hypertext link or just link Chapter 1 Style and Usage 85 86 hot pluggable Avoid in user documentation hotspot hot spot Use one word to refer to a place where users can connect to a public wireless network Use two words to refer to the VoiceOver feature or to refer to an area of a graphics object or a section of text that can be clicked to activate a function You can use Mac OS X to connect to the Internet from public hotspots You can use VoiceOver hot spots to mark up to ten items that you want to return to later A hot spot in a virtual museum scene could link to another room in the museum or the hot spot could allow you to manipulate one of the objects in the museum hot swap v Note hyphenation On first use enclose in quotation marks and define In user documentation avoid the adjective form hot swappable HTML Abbreviation for Hypertext Markup Language See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Use lowercase when the abbreviation is part of a URL A file can be in HTML or an HTML file but it is not in HTML format because HTML is not a forma
194. ntents Most documents of ten pages or more should have a table of contents which always begins on a new right hand page e What to include The table of contents should include part chapter and chapter equivalent titles and may include level one level two and level three heads If absolutely necessary level four heads can be included but remember that a document long enough to need level four heads also has an index Capitalization wording and punctuation The wording capitalization punctuation and spelling of all heads and titles must be exactly the same in the table of contents as in the text Chapter 1 Style and Usage tables Use tables for information that is easier to scan in columnar form than in running text Also use tables for information matrixes which provide an effective way to present quick reference instructions or descriptions e Capitalization Use sentence style capitalization for all parts of a table including the column headings e Headings Make column headings short and descriptive e In text references Provide in text references to all tables In general place the reference in the paragraph immediately preceding the table In user documentation you can use below to refer to a table that immediately follows the paragraph In text references can stand alone as a complete sentence with or without parentheses or can occur within a sentence with or without parentheses Use a consistent style thro
195. number in parentheses the Page Setup dialog Figure 3 13 appears A phrase set off by commas the Page Setup dialog shown in Figure 3 13 appears The figure number as the subject of a sentence Figure 3 1 shows You can use more than one style in a project but don t use different styles for what is essentially the same purpose For example don t use both the first and second styles or both the third and fourth styles within a project figures Line art photographs and screenshots are all considered figures You should use figures when their presence will enhance the reader s understanding or will illustrate a procedure or point that is not evident from the text alone Consider your audience when you plan an art program figure text Use figure text also known as labels for any text that accompanies a figure usually line art but is not connected to the figure by a leader line Text connected by a leader line is a callout Labels are embedded in the figure Keep labels brief Capitalization is sentence style See also callouts Chapter 1 Style and Usage 71 72 file Refers to any entity stored on a disk regardless of whether the user can open edit or print it Compare document file formats Abbreviations should be in all caps filename extensions should be in lowercase In most cases you don t need to spell out on first occurrence The following table shows abbreviations extensions and names for some common file form
196. o refer to the item as an option or give only the name of the item to save space Select the option Show displays in menu bar Select Left Bottom or Right to position the Dock on your screen Use choose for menu items including those in pop up and shortcut menus Compare deselect highlight trans v unselected adj See also choose click menus Chapter 1 Style and Usage selection rectangle The rectangular outline that appears when you drag across items on the screen to select them Often you can simply say drag to select Drag a selection rectangle around the clips you want to edit into your sequence Drag to select the clips you want to edit into your sequence self Use a hyphen in terms beginning with self self paced self playing self powered self running self service self powered See bus powered self powered self test n adj Note hyphenation Don t use as a verb sentence style capitalization Capitalize only the first letter of the first word proper nouns and proper adjectives Compare capitalization title style See also capitalization sentence style Serial ATA A hard disk drive interface OK to use the acronym SATA precede with a not an if space is limited but spell out whenever possible See also ATA hard disk n adj Parallel ATA server A computer or device or the software on it that is on a network and manages the network s resources Types of servers include the following
197. o see a different part of the map Incorrect Tap and drag to see a different part of the map See also flick n v swipe n v drag and drop v drag and drop adj Note hyphens in the adjective Avoid using drag and drop as a compound verb followed by an object dragging includes dropping the item into place Correct Drag the file to the printer icon Correct Using iPhoto you can create digital photo albums with drag and drop simplicity Correct Just drag and drop to add photos to your documents Incorrect Drag and drop the file onto the printer icon DRAM Acronym for dynamic random access memory Pronounced DEE ram See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms drawer A window that slides out from a parent window when users click a button or choose a command drive A drive holds disks or discs hard disk drive DVD drive Zip disk drive Don t capitalize drive except in a product name such as SuperDrive Use disc disk or hard disk to refer to a disk and its contents Don t use drive when you mean disc or disk Correct You can connect an external hard drive to your computer Incorrect You can connect an external hard disk to your computer See also CD drive Combo drive disk drive n adj DVD drive hard disk n adj hard drive SuperDrive Chapter 1 Style and Usage 61 62 driver Capitalize the word driver in a driver name only if it i
198. o use mount To mount the disk again select it in Disk Utility and click Mount Use this function to mount one or more server volumes Don t use mount as an intransitive verb Correct Mount the volume Incorrect The volume mounts See also unmount v unmounted adj mounted adj In user documentation avoid when referring to a disk or disk image that is available use alternatives such as available on your desktop or in a Finder window Note that users can choose whether to display disk icons on their desktops so be careful when using on your desktop as an alternative for mounted Avoid All mounted disks are listed in the sidebar of the Finder window Preferable All available disks are listed in the sidebar of the Finder window In server documentation or documentation written for more technical users it s OK to use mounted You can t rename a mounted Xsan volume using the Finder See also unmount v unmounted adj Chapter 1 Style and Usage 121 122 mouse Drop references to the mouse as quickly as possible Switch emphasis to the actions on the screen such as clicking dragging selecting or choosing See also choose click drag press select v Avoid using the plural form of mouse If you must use the plural use either mouse devices or mice Apple offers several types of mouse devices mouse down event Note hyphenation Mouse Keys Capitalize when you refer to the feature that can be set i
199. ocuments so that you can work with them You can t read a file or make changes to it until the file is open In the desktop interface opening a document causes a window with the contents of that document to come into view You can then perform further actions in the window when it s active The initial definition of open to make available is one of the meanings given the verb in The American Heritage Dictionary It provides the reader with a conceptual link Chapter 5 How to Write a Glossary Matters of Form These guidelines describe how to format and structure glossary entries Design The appearance of glossary entries depends on the document design See your department s design documentation for specs and sample pages Format of an Entry The term to be defined is usually in boldface Don t capitalize the term unless it is a proper noun such as Finder The definition in plain text starts with a capital letter and ends with a period The first clause of the definition can be a sentence fragment Other parallel phrases in the definition may also be sentence fragments otherwise use complete sentences Alphabetization Alphabetize entries letter by letter not word by word gray grayscale gray space When an entry begins with a numeral or symbol list it at the beginning of the glossary 8 pin minicircular connector 10Base T 56K modem When entries that contain numerals are grouped together order the entries numericall
200. of the overall sentence not in code font unless the punctuation mark is part of what actually appears on the screen or in the code listing Avoid punctuation after something the user should type The user may type the punctuation e Parentheses brackets and quotation marks Parentheses brackets and quotation marks paired punctuation should be in the same style as the body text For example the parentheses around an italicized word should be in plain style not italics Read the manual Pages User Guide The parentheses are not italicized e Plurals When you form the plural of an italicized letter used as a letter a number used as a number or a word used as a word don t use italics for the apostrophe or the s Enter a series of D s The apostrophe and s are in plain text For guidelines on punctuation in lists see lists See also apostrophes commas dash em dash en ellipsis points hyphenation quotation marks push Don t use use press See also press pushpin One word put Don t use when you mean drag Correct Drag the file to the Trash Incorrect Put the file in the Trash PVR Abbreviation for personal video recorder Note lowercase in spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Chapter 1 Style and Usage 143 144 Q quad Hyphenate compound adjectives beginning with quad quad band quad channel quad core quad port quality Don
201. oid capability when you discuss features of software or hardware Reword in terms of what the user can do with the feature Correct With iPhoto you can create slideshows Incorrect iPhoto has the capability to create slideshows capitalization Three styles of capitalization are available sentence style title style and all caps e Sentence style capitalization This line provides an example of sentence style capitalization e Title style capitalization This Line Provides an Example of Title Style Capitalization e All caps THIS LINE PROVIDES AN EXAMPLE OF ALL CAPS Don t use all caps for emphasis See also capitalization sentence style capitalization title style capitalization sentence style Follow these guidelines for sentence style capitalization e What to capitalize When you use sentence style capitalization capitalize the first letter of the first word as well as the first letter of any proper nouns and proper adjectives e Where to use Use sentence style capitalization for callouts and other text in figures table column headings and overview steps Apple Product Documentation e Cross references Capitalization in cross references to section heads should match that in the section heads For example if the section head is sentence style the cross reference to it should be sentence style capitalization title style Use title style capitalization for book titles part titles chapter titles section titles text
202. ol itself use stepper See also stepper Chapter 1 Style and Usage administrator n A person who has administrative authority for networks servers databases or other information technology assets Don t shorten to admin To maintain the distinction between professional administrators and Mac OS X users with administrator accounts avoid using the noun administrator by itself to describe a person who has an administrator account in Mac OS X Instead you can say a user with an administrator account typically the owner or owners of a particular Mac computer Correct To obtain a static IP address for your computer contact your network administrator Correct You must have an administrator account to install software Incorrect You must be an administrator to install software See also administrator adj System Administrator administrator adj Use in Mac OS X to describe the primary account or accounts that can create other accounts set access privileges install software and make systemwide settings Don t use administrator s account or administrator s password Correct Log in with an administrator account to install software Incorrect Log in with an administrator s account to install software An administrator computer is a computer with Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server that you use to manage remote servers See also administrator n standard user System Administrator Advanced Video Coding High Defin
203. on t use DVD R DVD RW or any of the other DVD terms as a noun the term must modify another word such as drive or disc For the plural don t use DVD Rs DVD RWs and so on instead use DVD R discs DVD RW discs and so on or simply DVDs Use disc not disk to refer to DVD media DVD drive Not DVD player in reference to a device that s built into or connected to the computer and reads DVD discs DVD player is OK when you refer to a device connected to a television DVI Abbreviation for Digital Visual Interface not Digital Video Interface Note capitalization of spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations DVR Abbreviation for digital video recorder Note lowercase for the spelled out version Use to refer to a device such as a portable media player or set top box that records digital video to file based media such as a hard disk or optical disc Don t use DVR when you mean camcorder See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations See also camcorder dynamic random access memory See DRAM Chapter 1 Style and Usage 63 64 E e Short for electronic Hyphenate terms using the short form e commerce e learning An exception is email Capitalize in titles as follows The Growth of E Commerce earbuds One word earlier later Use to refer to versions of software don t use lower and higher or newer and older Whenever possible avoid
204. on it becomes highlighted Incorrect When you click the icon it highlights Don t use unhighlighted or dehighlighted for an item that isn t highlighted use not highlighted highlighting n No hyphen Don t use in user documentation When an application displays a selection range it marks the range with highlighting high order bit n Not hi bit or hi bit High bit is an acceptable short form high resolution n high resolution adj Not hi res The short form high res n adj is OK in developer documentation or when space constraints don t allow use of the full phrase as in column heads in tables Hindi Don t use when you refer to the writing system used to represent Hindi and several other Asian languages use Devanagari hi res Don t use use high resolution n or high resolution adj See also high resolution n high resolution adj hit n Don t use to refer to an item found in a search or to the act of connecting to a webpage Correct Many users connect to this website each day Incorrect This website receives many hits per day hit v Don t use to instruct users to press a key use press instead See also press Chapter 1 Style and Usage hold down Use hold down to describe the act of pressing a key on the keyboard the mouse button or a mechanical button until a specified action or result occurs Don t use hold down when you mean press Press means to press and quickly release a key
205. ons and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms co prefix Close up except in a few words beginning with o co op co owner coexist cooperate coprocessor coworker coax Don t use when you mean coaxial Cocoa application An application written and compiled using the Cocoa frameworks Use the term Cocoa only in developer documentation codec Short for coder decoder or compressor decompressor Not CODEC e Telecommunications A codec coder decoder is a device for encoding and decoding signals Modems and digital telephones use codecs to convert information between digital and analog signals e Multimedia A codec compressor decompressor is a method for compressing and decompressing data For example MP3 and H 264 are codecs that reduce the amount of information used to represent audio and video content respectively code file Two words Chapter 1 Style and Usage code font Code font is a fixed width font such as Courier used for code e Uses Use code font for the following e Text the user is to type Developer Publications uses this style Other groups may use single or double quotation marks or italics for short words or phrases the user is to type Consult your department s style guidelines e Code listings e Small pieces of sample code e Computer language elements such as reserved words literals variables and routines e Commands that appear in running text e Punctuation and spa
206. ons folder located at the top level of the hard disk and accessible to all users of a computer Use your Applications folder or a user s Applications folder to refer to the Applications folder located in the user s home folder application specific integrated circuit See ASIC Chapter 1 Style and Usage Aqua user interface Note capitalization Arabic adj Always capitalized when you refer to numerals See also Roman roman adj armband One word arrow In user documentation use pointer in general references Use arrow or arrow pointer when you are comparing different types of pointers and want to describe this type of pointer When you click the Text tool the pointer becomes an beam Click the Selection tool to display the arrow pointer Cursor as in the VoiceOver cursor may be appropriate when you describe other interfaces and in developer documentation See also cursor insertion point pointer arrowhead One word Don t use when you mean the tip of the arrow pointer arrow keys Use lowercase in general references Don t use direction keys Capitalize and use the complete name of each arrow key when you refer to it by name Correct Use the arrow keys to move the insertion point from cell to cell Correct Press the Left Arrow key Correct Use the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to scroll through the document Incorrect Use the Arrow keys to move the insertion point from cell to cell Incorrect Press the Left a
207. opers can use this document as a guide to writing style usage and Apple product terminology Writers and editors should thoroughly review the guide so that they become familiar with the range of issues involved in creating high quality readable and consistent documentation Apple developers and third party developers should follow this guide when labeling user interface elements and writing any text that users see as well as when writing documentation for their users For more detail about the user interface consult the Apple Human Interface Guidelines For details about terms used frequently in Apple marketing materials such as the names of specific products services and sales programs refer to the Apple Marketing Communications Style Guide Note that some terms are treated differently in this guide and the Apple Marketing Communications Style Guide What s in This Guide This 2009 edition of the style guide is a minor revision for Mac OS X version 10 6 with a small number of new or updated entries Chapter 1 Style and Usage on page 7 shows how certain terms are used in Apple publications and gives preferred style capitalization spelling and hyphenation for those terms It also gives general rules of style and usage for Apple publications Names of Apple products and services are in this chapter only if there is more information than the correct spelling and capitalization otherwise those names are in Chapter 3 only Chapt
208. or mechanical button Correct Hold down the C key while you restart the computer You press the C key continuously until the computer starts up Correct Press the key to set an In point You press and quickly release the key Incorrect Hold down the O key to set an Out point You press and quickly release the O key See also click press Hold switch The switch on most iPod models that enables and disables the controls Home button Note capitalization The physical button on iPhone and iPod touch that returns the user to the Home screen Use press to mean pressing the Home button once use double click to mean pressing it twice home folder home directory In Mac OS X a home folder is a folder for a user s personal use Note lowercase Your home folder provides a secure place to keep your documents In developer documentation use home directory See also directory folder pathnames homepage One word note lowercase Use to refer to a webpage that serves as the directory or entry point to a website Don t use to refer to an entire website Correct The Apple homepage has a link to the Apple Online Store where you can purchase Apple products Correct Visit the Apple website for more information about Apple products Incorrect Visit the Apple homepage to purchase products Home screen Note capitalization The main screen on iPhone and iPod touch Users can add multiple Home screens The Home screen contains ico
209. or which there are no entries should be listed after the preceding letter If there are no entries beginning with X the heading would be W X not X Y Chapter 6 How to Develop an Index 219 Style of Entries Follow these guidelines for the style of entries e Capitalization Don t capitalize all entries Capitalize only the entries you capitalize in the text e Code font If a term is in code font because it s a literal computer language word functions constants and so forth it should be in code font in the index If it s in code font in the text to indicate what the user types it should be in regular text font in the index e Italics If a term is in italics in text because it s the name of a metasymbol or the name of a disk it should be in italics in the index Generally the name of a document shouldn t be indexed but if it is it should be in italics If a term is in italics in text for emphasis or because it s a word used as a word it should be in plain style in the index 220 Chapter 6 How to Develop an Index International Style Following international style helps readers with limited English proficiency read what you write By following international style you also help translators human or machine localize your writing by minimizing the burdens of cultural and customary language usage Basic Rules Writing in the international style means that you write simply and that you express yourself using sta
210. or document and disc titles in text designed to be read only onscreen onsite adj adv One word Exception to American Heritage on the go playlist Note hyphens Chapter 1 Style and Usage 127 128 onto on to Use on to when on is part of the verb Correct Lift the printer onto the table Incorrect Lift the printer on to the desk Correct Hang on to the handles See also into in to open Users open icons folders documents and applications See also close OpenGL An industry standard 3D graphics application programming interface opening display Not splash screen opening display startup display and startup screen are all OK open source n adj Note lowercase no hyphen Open Transport Note capitalization OpenType A font technology developed by Microsoft and Adobe operating system n operating system adj Note hyphenation of adjective See also Mac OS optical disc CDs and DVDs are optical discs OK to use optical disc optical media or the type of CD or DVD See also CD DVD optical drive Optical drives read from and write to burn optical discs CDs and DVDs Drives read and write data at up to 6x speed up to 32x speed and so on Don t hyphenate when used as an adjective optical drive bay See also Combo drive SuperDrive Option key Note capitalization Use the following form to indicate a combined Option key and mouse action Option click Option drag Option click is equivalent to press t
211. ore information Avoid You can click the closed disclosure triangle pointing to the right to reveal more information Frequently seen disclosure triangles appear in the Info window gt General gt More Info Y Name amp Extension MyFile rtf M Hide extension gt Open with See also disclosure button disc titles Use title style capitalization and italics for the full title of a disc The word CD or DVD may not be part of the title Follow the usage on the official label The is usually not part of the title Mac OS X Install Disc 1 Disc is part of the title Insert the Aperture 2 Install DVD into your computer s DVD drive DVD and the are not part of the title Use lowercase when you refer to a disc by less than its full title and for discs with generic titles Insert the system software disc into the CD drive Install the software from the installation disc Chapter 1 Style and Usage 55 56 disk Use disk to refer to magnetic storage media such as hard disks and floppy disks For optical storage media such as CDs and DVDs use disc Don t use drive or hard drive a mechanism that holds and accesses a disk when you mean disk Correct You can install a second hard drive in the expansion bay Correct Install the administration software on the server s hard disk Incorrect Install the administration software on the server s hard drive e Disk versus volume In user documentation use disk
212. otocol FTP and Telnet sites The part of the address before the colon called the scheme indicates the protocol that is used for transferring data from the server to the user s computer website http samples examples com FTP site ftp myfiles hobbies org Telnet site telnet games transfer com An Internet address includes a suffix that indicates the domain to which the address belongs Examples of domain suffixes include edu educational organizations com commercial organizations mil military organizations org nonprofit organizations uk fi networks located in the United Kingdom Finland e Font Use plain text for an Internet address In print documents don t underline the address or use quotation marks around it e Line breaks Avoid breaking Internet addresses set them on a separate line if necessary e Punctuation If an Internet address ends a sentence it s OK to use a period e References When you refer to a website or page use a generic name for example the Apple website rather than the specific title for example Welcome to Apple because webpage titles change frequently If a reader can figure out how to get to the specific information needed from the homepage of a whole site refer to that page rather than to a specific page because organization of sites frequently changes See also email addresses HTML HTTP URL Internet Message Access Protocol See IMAP Chapter 1 Style and Us
213. ould be separate main entries For example synchronous communication and synchronous modem should each be main entries communication and modem should not be subentries of synchronous Use the subentry defined only when there are multiple page numbers for an entry if only one page number is given no subentry is necessary 217 218 Wording Wording should be as terse as possible but it s OK to use prepositions and conjunctions such as in of and and to make the relationship between the main entry and subentry clear Ignore these small words when alphabetizing Commands Follow the names of commands routines and options with an identifier in the index entry especially when the same word or words have another meaning For example Print command rather than just Print amax function rather than just MAX PL option rather than just PL Cross References Follow these guidelines for cross references e See also See also references go on a separate line immediately after the main entry Use semicolons to separate items in a list of cross references For example icons 4 See also applications disks documents folders e See Use a see cross reference when there is more than one way to index a topic and a topic has subentries If Universal Serial Bus has subentries USB See Universal Serial Bus If connectors has subentries expansion connectors See connectors If the topic has no subentries put the page number
214. ower Mac See also PowerPC Gallery Capitalize when referring to the MobileMe web application for publishing photos and movies on the Internet and to the website that displays the user s photos and movies friends can view your Gallery Use MobileMe Gallery on first reference Each MobileMe account has one Gallery with multiple albums not multiple Galleries See also MobileMe GarageBand Jam Pack Note capitalization OK to shorten to Jam Pack Chapter 1 Style and Usage GB n adj Abbreviation for gigabyte GB equals 1000 bytes in the context of file size or disk storage capacity or 1024 bytes in the context of computer memory See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations e Noun In the noun form use a space between the numeral and the abbreviation The preposition of is necessary before the unit that the value quantifies 20 GB of memory 320 GB of storage capacity e Adjective Don t hyphenate the adjective form a 1 GB SO DIMM a 320 GB hard drive Gbit n adj Abbreviation for gigabit See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations e Noun In the noun form use a space between the numeral and the abbreviation The preposition of is necessary before the unit that the value quantifies 10 Gbit of memory e Adjective Don t hyphenate the adjective form 10 Gbit memory Gbit s Standard international abbreviation for gigabits per second See abbreviatio
215. pansion board Not daughter board or piggyback board expansion slot Not peripheral slot or accessory slot You can also use s ot without the qualifier expansion Use lowercase even in specific references slot 1 slot 6 ExpressCard An industry standard expansion card technology MacBook Pro computers have an ExpressCard 34 slot Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code See EBCDIC extended desktop n adj A dual display mode in which different elements are placed on each display such as images on one screen and tools on the other external display Use only to refer to displays connected to portable computers or to computers with a built in display For modular computers or unknown configurations use additional display You can also use external monitor See also display n monitor Chapter 1 Style and Usage F F1 F2 F3 Function keys on a keyboard Capitalize the F and use plain not italic style and Arabic numerals No space between letter and numeral face Don t use use font or font family whichever is appropriate failover One word fair language Avoid cultural biases and stereotypes which may offend some users of Apple products Be aware of the variety of people who are potential Apple customers and write consciously to include them e Names In examples include a variety of ethnicities and use both female and male given names Given name examples Anton Avram Gabrielle Jim Luisa Mei Sanjiv Yosh
216. pard See also update upload One word Reword if possible but OK to use when you refer to copying files to a server uppercase n adj One word no hyphen When used in conjunction with lowercase as a noun or to modify a noun use uppercase and lowercase both words spelled out in that order upside down adj Note hyphenation uptime One word upward Not upwards URL Abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator which is another term for an Internet address URL is pronounced you are ell and should be preceded by a not an In most user documentation use nternet address or web address not URL See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations See also Internet addresses U S Note periods Exception to the rule that abbreviations don t include periods Use the abbreviation as an adjective only as a noun spell out United States except in trademark notices To include the country name in a U S based Apple address use USA no periods See also America American USB Abbreviation for Universal Serial Bus Avoid as a noun See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Usenet Note capitalization Chapter 1 Style and Usage user If the audience of your document consists of users avoid this term Instead address the reader as you Correct You can burn your own music CDs Incorrect Users can make movies with effects transitions and a soundtrac
217. passive construction might be appropriate to avoid miscuing the reader that is when you describe an action that the user is not supposed to try yet Explanation screen An icon is selected by clicking it User try screen You try it Click the icon pasteboard Don t use in user documentation when you mean Clipboard OK to use in developer documentation that discusses the NSPasteboard class but point out that users view the contents of the pasteboard in the Clipboard PATA See Parallel ATA Chapter 1 Style and Usage pathname One word Note the differing treatments of these similar terms device name filename host name user name volume name pathnames Follow these guidelines to specify the path to a location in the file system Absolute path An absolute path describes the location of an item starting at the top level or root of the user s hard disk In user documentation describe such paths in plain English Open the Preview application located in the Applications folder at the top level of the hard disk Fonts for all users are stored in the Fonts folder in the Library folder at the top level of the hard disk For more technical audiences for example users who are accustomed to the pathname conventions used in operating systems such as Mac OS X and UNIX you can use slashes including a leading slash to indicate an absolute path Fonts for all users are stored in Library Fonts You can also use slashes in user docu
218. ppropriate refer to a script system by its product name which may or may not include the words script system Don t capitalize generic references to types of script systems KanjiTalk is Apple s version of the Japanese script system The Roman Script System is available on all Mac computers scroll Avoid using as a transitive verb Correct Scroll through a document Correct Scroll to view more of the document Incorrect Scroll a document scroll arrows Two words not scroll bar arrows scroll ball Two words scroll bar Two words The whole control is the scroll bar n Mac OS X the control that users drag is the scroller scroller The control you drag in the scroll bar See also scroll bar scroll wheel The mechanism on the original iPod scrubber bar Two words SCSI Acronym for Small Computer System Interface The acronym is pronounced SKUH zee so it is preceded by a not an See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms SD Abbreviation for standard definition n and standard definition adj See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Chapter 1 Style and Usage 151 152 SDK Abbreviation for software development kit Note lowercase for the spelled out version except in proper names the software development kit the iPhone Software Development Kit the iPhone SDK See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out
219. pred adj Chapter 1 Style and Usage 35 36 chapter Capitalize the word chapter in references to specific chapters exception to The Chicago Manual of Style Chapter 5 Expanding Your Computer Chapters 4 and 5 in the next chapter Use title style capitalization for chapter titles For guidelines see capitalization title style character Use in reference to what a key on the computer s keyboard stands for Compare symbol check Don t use when you mean the action of clicking a checkbox to select an option See also checkbox checkbox One word Refers to an onscreen box like the ones shown here Not box or ballot box C Checkbox 1 l Checkbox 2 You click a checkbox to select or deselect an option you can use the complete phrase click to select or just select You don t check or uncheck a checkbox If the item is already selected instructing the user to click deselects the item Correct Select the checkbox labeled Show displays in menu bar Correct Deselect the option Show displays in menu bar Ambiguous Click the checkbox labeled Show displays in menu bar Compare radio button See also select v checkmark One word checkout n adj check out v One word except as a verb checksum One word chip Use integrated circuit or silicon chip with an explanation of the term on first occurrence Don t use chip when you mean microprocessor PowerPC microprocessor not PowerPC chip
220. processor is preferred See also CPU product names Follow the capitalization style on the product s packaging Don t capitalize words like card and driver unless they are part of the product name Don t use quotation marks around product names e The company name Use the company name Apple with the product at its first use in both the preface and main text to establish ownership of the product Thereafter it s OK to drop the name of the company e Possessives In general avoid forming possessives of product names whether or not the names are trademarked For example avoid AirPort Card s features AirPort Card is not trademarked For official Apple product names see Chapter 3 Apple Products on page 199 See also plurals trademarks usage professional Don t shorten to pro program In general use only to refer to a program that doesn t have a graphical user interface Use application to refer to a program that has a graphical user interface The launchd program consolidates all system startup activities into a single program To open an application double click its icon See also application software progress indicator The generic term for an onscreen element that lets users know a process is taking place iPhotoS04 dmg 6 M a m 14 0 of 39 2 MB 181 KB se In developer documentation use asynchronous progress indicator for the spinning gear determinate progress bar for the bar that has a fill that moves
221. r buddy list Two words Use lowercase in general references use initial caps for the interface element the Buddy List window bug Avoid use problem condition issue or situation instead build to order Note lowercase and hyphenation Not built to order Always use as an adjective your build to order computer Don t abbreviate as BTO built in adj built in pred adj built into pred adj In headings don t capitalize in exception to the rule of capitalizing the second word of a hyphenated compound Opening the Built in DVD Drive heading The dialog shows the name of the disc in the built in drive The DVD drive is built in The internal modem is built into the computer built in disk drive You can use either built in disk drive or internal disk drive Chapter 1 Style and Usage built in graphics card Use to describe graphics cards that are installed at the factory Don t use onboard graphics card bullet Use bullet for the character that precedes an item in a list Use also for the symbol in a Window menu that appears next to a document with unsaved changes Zoom Bring All to Front y Listl rtf List2 rtf e List3 rtf See also dot bundle bundled Refers to a collection of products or to products included with a computer It s preferable to use a term such as included or comes with Don t use prebundled In developer documentation a bundle is also a special type of directory that stores the code of app
222. r The object you drag to set a value on a continuum a range of values The whole control is called the slider control slideshow One word slot A long thin socket on the main logic board where peripheral cards are inserted Don t use connector to refer to a slot Use lowercase for slot when it is followed by a number s ot 7 slot 2 Compare connector jack port socket slot loading adj Not s ot load See also tray loading adj Small Computer System Interface See SCSI Chapter 1 Style and Usage 155 156 small outline dual inline memory module See SO DIMM Smart Album Smart Folder Smart Group Smart Mailbox Smart Playlist Note capitalization Smart items are updated automatically based on search criteria the user selects Smart Albums in Aperture Smart Folders in the Finder Smart Groups in Address Book Smart Mailboxes in Mail Smart Playlists in iTunes smart card Note lowercase SMTP Abbreviation for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Note capitalization of spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations SnapBack Note capitalization Use as an adjective don t use as a verb Correct SnapBack button SnapBack page SnapBack technology Incorrect You can SnapBack to a previously visited page Snow Leopard Mac OS X version 10 6 See also Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server Mac OS X Server version 10 6 See also Mac OS X Server so called adj Don t italici
223. r example About Firmware Update 4 1 2 If a Read Me file is included within the installer for an application the actual filename may be Read Me rtf or whatever name for which the installer is designed to look Chapter 1 Style and Usage read only memory See ROM read write adj Note slash as in read write memory real time n real time adj Note hyphenation of adjective Don t use realtime Correct You can edit multicamera footage in real time Correct You can group unrelated clips together for real time montage editing Incorrect Many transitions can play back in real time recommend Avoid using recommend when you can reword in terms of the user or product Correct You can use this product with Mac OS X v10 5 but for the best performance you should upgrade to Mac OS X v10 6 or later Incorrect You can use this product with Mac OS X v10 5 but Mac OS X v10 6 or later is recommended Redundant Array of Independent Disks See RAID reference Don t use as a verb use refer to register Capitalize names of specific registers but don t capitalize the word register Don t capitalize generic register names such as floating point registers and vector registers regular Don t use when you mean standard as in Use standard settings release Don t use when referring to a Mac OS version number See also version Reset The button or switch which may be labeled with the word Reset or with a triangle symbol resizable
224. rb Chapter 1 Style and Usage sign on n adj sign on v Two words no hyphen in verb Note hyphenation in phrases such as single sign on authentication SIMM Acronym for single inline memory module No hyphen in spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms Simple Mail Transfer Protocol See SMTP since because Use since to mean during the period subsequent to the time when Use because to mean for the reason that Correct It has been 5 hours since you checked your email Correct Because you made a backup copy you didn t lose your work Incorrect Since you made a backup copy you didn t lose your work single Hyphenate compound adjectives beginning with single single button single core single layer single precision single processor single inline memory module See SIMM single letters See letters as letters site license site licensing n adj No hyphen size adj Hyphenate compound words ending with size Not sized medium size letter size pocket size size v Don t use use resize or change the size of in reference to a window or an object slash Use slash to describe this character See also backslash sleep An energy saving feature of some computers The computer goes to sleep or the user can put it to sleep the computer is then in sleep or in sleep mode Don t use the computer is sleeping or the computer is asleep slide
225. rd daylight saving time Not daylight savings time DB 9 connector OK in developer documentation In user documentation describe the connector by its size and shape its icon or in another way appropriate to the context because it may have fewer than nine pins In documentation written for new users however you may want to mention the term DB 9 or DB 11 DB 25 or DB 50 or include the term in the glossary because users may see it elsewhere See also connector DDR Abbreviation for Double Data Rate Note capitalization Apple computers have DDR memory See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations See also memory SDRAM deactivate See activate deactivate dealer dealership Don t use use Apple Authorized Reseller See also Apple Authorized Reseller Chapter 1 Style and Usage default n adj Define on first occurrence In user documentation you may want to use preset See also preset n adj degrees OK to either spell out degrees or use the degree symbol but be consistent Hyphenate when the term precedes a noun 160 degree viewing angle The symbol is closed up with the number 160 viewing angle 32 F dehighlight dehighlighted Don t use Use deselect as a verb when appropriate otherwise reword Use not highlighted as the adjective DEL character Not DELETE character or rubout character Refers specifically to ASCII character 7F Delete key Not DEL key deploy OK
226. rd definition adj See SD Standard Roman character set Note capitalization standard user Use in Mac OS X to describe a user whose account is more restrictive than that of an administrator user Don t use normal user See also administrator adj start Don t use when you mean open as in open an application Chapter 1 Style and Usage startup n adj start up v In user documentation try to avoid using startup as a noun except when repeated occurrences of when you start up become unwieldy Rewrite when possible to use a more specific term or description For AppleCare and developer documentation startup is an acceptable generic term for the period of time it takes the computer to start up Start up the computer After a few seconds you see the startup display While the computer is starting up you can check your voicemail AppleCare During startup you can scan the manual that came with your computer See also boot startup disk Preferred term in user documentation but boot disk is OK in developer documentation Startup Disk A pane in System Preferences startup display startup screen Not splash screen Startup display startup screen and opening display are all OK startup sound Use to refer to the chord heard during a successful startup sequence Don t use boot chime statement Not necessarily the same as line One line may contain several statements and one statement may extend over several lines
227. references but be specific whenever appropriate arrow crosshair l beam See also cursor insertion point k i Arrow Crosshair I beam point of presence See POP POP Acronym for point of presence access point to the Internet or Post Office Protocol When used as an acronym for Post Office Protocol POP must modify a noun as in POP server or POP ID See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms pop up v pop up adj Note hyphenation of adjective pop up menus See menus port Use to refer to a location for passing data in and out of a computer Don t use connector to refer to a port Compare connector jack slot socket portable computer notebook computer laptop computer Portable computer is preferred to refer generically to Apple portable computers but when you refer to a specific model such as a MacBook or a MacBook Pro it s best to use the model name You can also use notebook computer but avoid laptop computer When you use portable computer or notebook computer use both words on first occurrence thereafter it s OK to use portable or notebook alone as a noun Portable Document Format See PDF Chapter 1 Style and Usage possessives Follow these guidelines for possessives e Singular nouns Form the possessive of a singular noun including one that ends in s by adding an apostrophe and an s the computer s power cord the boss s husband e Plura
228. rized adj Apple authorized pred adj OK to use in general references to Apple authorization Apple authorized procedure No hyphen in proper names Apple Authorized Reseller Apple Authorized Reseller Note capitalization Use the full term unless many references are required in that case you can shorten to reseller Apple Authorized Service Provider Note capitalization Use the full term unless many references are required in that case you can shorten to AASP Apple event Two words note capitalization Capitalize the names of Apple events but not the word event Open Application event Quit Application event Open Documents event Print Documents event and so on Apple Filing Protocol See AFP Apple Gift Card Note capitalization OK to use card or gift card after the first reference Apple ID The name that identifies users of services such as MobileMe and the Apple Online Store Apple Inc The company s legal name formerly Apple Computer Inc See also Apple Apple key Don t use The key with the Apple logo is the Command key See also Command key Apple logo Use lowercase for the word logo in text and credit lines Apple Loops Always plural not an Apple Loop An open standard file format for audio loops and sound effects also refers to the audio and effects files Apple Loops Utility Note capitalization and plural Loops Apple Lossless Capitalize as shown when referring to the audio compression format Apple
229. rn on file sharing Click the File Sharing icon file system n file system adj Two words Note hyphenation of adjective File Transfer Protocol See FTP file types A file type name should be in code font and must consist of exactly four characters one of which may be a space inside straight single code font quotation marks for example TEXT APPL BIN Final Cut OK to use Final Cut as an adjective to refer to Final Cut Express Final Cut Pro Final Cut Server and Final Cut Studio collectively Final Cut editors Avoid using Final Cut to refer to a single application or to Final Cut Studio Finder Note capitalization Use the with Finder exception to the rule to not use the with application names firewall One word use lowercase FireWire Note capitalization A high speed industry standard technology IEEE 1394 developed by Apple for connecting peripheral devices to personal computers Products are FireWire equipped not FireWire enabled A FireWire cable is described according to its connector type such as a 4 pin to 6 pin FireWire cable firmware One word first person Don t use rewrite in terms of the reader or the product fixed point adj Note hyphenation fixed width adj Preferred term to describe fonts such as Courier in which each character takes up the same amount of space on the line Synonymous with monospaced flashing Don t use to describe the insertion point use blinking for this pu
230. rnet service provider ISP If the abbreviation or acronym is much more familiar than the spelled out version you can put the abbreviation or acronym first followed by the spelled out version in parentheses or you can explain that the abbreviation is short for the spelled out version and place the spelled out version in italics You can share your personal URL Uniform Resource Locator An Internet address is sometimes called a URL short for Uniform Resource Locator File types Use all caps for abbreviations of file types a JPEG file an AIFF file the MP3 file Filename extensions which indicate the file type should be in lowercase jpg aif mp3 e Pronunciation Provide a pronunciation key for an acronym if you think the pronunciation is not self evident and if you think the reader may not know how to pronounce the term WYSIWYG pronounced WIZ zee wig See also pronunciation e Punctuation Don t use periods except in abbreviations for customary nonmetric units of measure and in the abbreviations U S a m and p m e Plural Don t add an apostrophe before the s when you form the plural of an abbreviation CDs ICs ISPs e Latin Avoid using Latin abbreviations Correct for example and others and so on and that is or equivalent phrases Incorrect e g for example et al and others etc and so on i e that is e Units of measure For detailed usage guidelines for units of measure and for a list
231. ronym GUI graphics n adj Use graphics not graphic as an adjective in reference to the field of graphic art or graphic design You can use advanced graphics software on the Mac graphics card Use for the card that controls display of the computer interface on the primary display Not video card See also GPU Graphics Interchange Format See GIF graphics processing unit See GPU Graphite appearance Note capitalization An appearance available in Mac OS X gray Not grey grayed Don t use use dimmed or highlighted in gray depending on the context grayscale n adj One word greater than sign Note hyphenation Use greater than sign not greater than symbol to describe this symbol gt You can also use right angle bracket if appropriate in the context Compare angle brackets grey Don t use use gray grille Note spelling grille pitch speaker grille grounded outlet Not grounding type outlet grow box Don t use use resize control H H 264 A video compression standard or video codec Also known as MPEG 4 Part 10 and AVC or Advanced Video Coding half Use a hyphen in compound adjectives beginning with half half duplex half height half hour half length handheld adj One word hands free adj Note hyphenation Chapter 1 Style and Usage 81 82 handshake handshaking One word See also XON XOFF hands on adj Note hyphenation hang Don t use as a description of the computer s behavior in re
232. ronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms antenna antennas Not antennae in relation to wireless products anti prefix Close up except before a proper noun or a proper adjective Hyphenate in those cases Exception anti alias anti aliasing n adj anti aliased adj Note hyphenation Don t use anti alias as a verb API Abbreviation for application programming interface not application program interface Note lowercase of spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations apostrophes Use the curly apostrophe Option Shift Right Bracket except in code font Check your department s guidelines for usage with HTML See also plurals possessives quotation marks app Short for application Don t use except in special terms such as App Store and in app purchase use application program or software instead See also application program software Chapter 1 Style and Usage appear Use appear not display to refer to the appearance of items on the screen The Print dialog appears When possible avoid stating that the item appears the user can see the item on the screen or include the item in instructions In the Print dialog choose Layout from the pop up menu appendix Use appendixes for background information and other supplementary material that does not contribute directly to the main subject of the document In user manuals technical
233. rpose flash memory Note lowercase Flash memory card formats include CompactFlash Memory Stick MultiMedia Card MMC Secure Digital SD and SmartMedia flatbed scanner Note that flatbed is one word flat blade screwdriver Note hyphenation flat panel adj Note hyphenation Chapter 1 Style and Usage 73 74 flick n v Refers to the act of quickly brushing the finger across a Multi Touch screen or trackpad to scroll through a list or group of items Flicking is similar to dragging but quicker dragging lets users control how far they scroll in a single motion whereas flicking relies on momentum not precise start and end points Flick up or down to scroll quickly through your contacts Flick from left to right to browse your album cover art You can quickly browse your cover art with a simple flick See also drag swipe n v flip foot Two words no hyphen floating point adj Note hyphenation Fn key Capitalize when you refer to the Fn key on a portable computer On first occurrence you can say the Fn Function key thereafter use the Fn key folder An organizational unit or container used to organize files and other folders into a hierarchical structure known as a file system In developer documentation folders are usually referred to as directories Capitalize folder names according to how they are named and how they appear on the screen Capitalize the word Folder only if it appears in the folder name
234. rrow key Incorrect Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to scroll through the document ASCII Acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange Note capitalization See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms ASIC Acronym for application specific integrated circuit Note hyphen in spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms aspect ratio Use a colon in aspect ratios 4 3 16 9 assembler Don t use assembler when you mean assembly language Chapter 1 Style and Usage 21 22 assembly language n assembly language adj Note hyphenation of adjective Not assembler language Assistant Capitalize and don t use the when the word is part of a full name Use AirPort Setup Assistant to Use lowercase when you use the term by itself or generically Use the assistant to You can use assistants to assure Don t use when you mean ensure Assure means to state positively as to remove doubt Compare ensure insure Asynchronous Common Gateway Interface See ACGI asynchronous progress indicator In developer documentation the progress indicator that looks like a spinning gear In user documentation use progress indicator and describe what it looks like Developer documentation Don t use the asynchronous progress indicator for processes that start out indeterminate but could become determinate
235. s In user documentation avoid identifying connectors by the number of pins 9 pin 11 pin 25 pin or 50 pin as well as the corresponding DB 9 DB 11 and so on The actual number of pins may not be the number in the designation You may however want to mention these terms in a glossary e Other names and descriptors Avoid obscure names such as power input unit in favor of more direct terms such as recessed plug Don t use male or female to describe types of connectors Compare jack port slot socket constitute Parts constitute a whole A whole comprises parts Compare comprise Contacts Capitalize when referring to the contacts application that comes with iPhone and iPod touch and to the MobileMe web application use MobileMe Contacts on first reference Use lowercase to refer to the user s collection of contacts add a contact update your contacts See also MobileMe contextual menu The menu that appears when a user presses the Control key and clicks an item on the screen In user documentation use shortcut menu not contextual menu However you can refer to the menu parenthetically as a contextual menu on first reference for users who may be more familiar with that term A shortcut menu also called a contextual menu appears See also menus Chapter 1 Style and Usage 43 44 contractions It s OK to use contractions in most documentation interface text and informal marketing copy avoid in formal materials such as
236. s See also video input video input output video output n adj HDV A format for recording and playback of high definition video on standard DV cassette tapes using a form of MPEG 2 compression Don t use HDV to refer in general to high definition video Related terms include the following HDV format HDV standard HDV video HDV camera HDV camcorder headings See text heads headphone adj Terms include headphone jack and headphone port heads up display See HUD Chapter 1 Style and Usage heat sink Two words help Use lowercase unless you re referring to the complete name of an application s help such as Mail Help or iTunes Help You can search the help system for specific topics For more information look in iPhoto Help help book The collection of HTML files that provides onscreen help for a particular product Don t use in user documentation use the product s specific name for example Keynote Help Help button Note capitalization A button that opens Help Viewer The standard Help button has a question mark graphic help tags Note lowercase Use to refer to the instructional text that appears when the pointer hovers over an interface element in Mac OS X Use tooltips only if that is the term used in the interface hexadecimal In user documentation don t use hex as a shorthand form In developer documentation hex is OK but spell out hexadecimal on first occurrence Use a preceding Ox to designate a hexadeci
237. s You press a key on a keyboard or tap a key on a Multi Touch screen you type a character word or phrase In general don t use articles and the word key in references to keys Ease the user into this construction by using the and key the first time you mention a keystroke First occurrence Press the Control key Thereafter Press Control e Modifier keys Capitalize the names of modifier keys Command key Shift key Option key Control key Esc key Chapter 1 Style and Usage 99 Punctuation keys and nonalphanumeric keys When a punctuation key or nonalphanumeric key is used in a combination keystroke or as a modifier for the word key capitalize the key name However use lowercase for punctuation marks and nonalphanumeric symbols in other contexts Shift Option Hyphen press the Hyphen key type a hyphen Placing the punctuation mark or symbol in parentheses after the spelled out key name is optional but be consistent within a document Command Shift Tilde Keyboard shortcuts using combination keystrokes In combination keystrokes use hyphens to signify that the user should hold down the first key or keys while pressing the last key Don t use a hyphen if each key should be pressed and released separately Be sure to explain this convention on first use Shift Control N Esc N Capitalize but don t italicize or use code font for letters used as key names Command C Command X Use this order if there is more
238. s in both places don t use a see cross reference Universal Serial Bus USB 26 111 USB Universal Serial Bus 26 111 You can put the full entry in both places even when there are subentries but you must set a consistent cutoff point for using cross references instead of the full entry when the entry is more than five lines for example If an index entry is a term not used in the document always use a see cross reference to refer to the term that is in the document whether or not the entry has subentries booting See starting up Chapter 6 How to Develop an Index Order of Entries Follow these guidelines for the order of entries e Alphabetizing Alphabetize letter by letter not word by word Ignore word spaces and all punctuation marks and symbols except commas and parentheses gray grayscale gray space For detailed information about letter by letter alphabetizing see The Chicago Manual of Style Numerals When an entry begins with a numeral list it in a numerical section at the beginning of the index 8 pin minicircular connector 10Base T 56K modem Entries in this section can also appear subsequently alphabetized as if they were spelled out Telnet 10Base T terminal When entries that contain numerals are grouped together in an alphabetical section of the index order the entries numerically within the group MP3 MP4 Headings Separate entries with alphabetic headings A B and so on A letter f
239. s part of the name for example Sound Driver or Disk Driver When you use the term driver generically as in print driver don t capitalize In user documentation avoid using driver use software instead printer software DRM Abbreviation for digital rights management Note lowercase in spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations DRM free adj Note hyphenation drop box Two words note lowercase drop down menu Don t use use menu drop zone Two words DTR Abbreviation for data terminal ready signal See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations dual Hyphenate compound adjectives beginning with dual dual band dual channel dual link dual core adj Note hyphen Refers to a processor with two execution cores or to a computer with a dual core processor Processors have dual cores not a dual core Terms include dual core processing dual core performance and so on See also 8 core adj dual processor adj Intel Core Intel Xeon dual display adj Note hyphen Refers to the connection of two displays to a computer or to an external display connected to a portable or all in one computer Computers can have two displays or dual displays not a dual display See also extended desktop n adj video mirroring n adj dual inline memory module See DIMM dual layer adj Don t use Use double layer in reference to the Super
240. s to represent what the user actually types depending on your department s style guidelines Type PR 4 Type 01221419 in the Current Timecode field Use regular text font to describe generically what the user types Type a new timecode value in the Current Timecode field Don t use type in when you mean type Compare enter press Type 1 font Note capitalization A font that conforms to the ISO 9541 standard Type A connector Note capitalization A type of USB connector On first mention describe what it looks like rectangular type ahead n adj Refers to the queuing of a user s keystrokes until an application is ready to process them Type B connector Note capitalization A type of USB connector On first mention describe what it looks like square typeface Use to refer to a distinct design for a particular character set Each typeface has its own name such as Times or Garamond Fonts of the same typeface regardless of font style or point size or whether they are outline or bitmap fonts form a single font family Compare font font family type family Don t use use font family type size Don t use use size or font size type style Don t use use style or font style U UDF Abbreviation for Universal Disk Format Note capitalization of spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations UFS Abbreviation for UNIX File System a file format available in D
241. se lowercase but capitalize and use the complete name when you refer to one or more arrow keys by name See also arrow keys right hand Avoid except in reference to right hand recto pages use just right whenever possible rightmost No hyphen right side Not right hand side ringtone One word road map Two words Chapter 1 Style and Usage ROM Acronym for read only memory See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms Roman roman adj Capitalize when you refer to numerals and in the term Standard Roman character set use lowercase when you refer to font style See also Arabic adj ROM disk Two words Note capitalization root The top level folder in a file system In pathnames the root of the file system is designated by a leading slash Avoid using root as a synonym for System Administrator See also pathnames System Administrator root user See System Administrator Rosetta Technology that translates PowerPC based Mac OS X applications for use on Intel based Mac computers Say with Rosetta or using Rosetta not in Rosetta or under Rosetta rotate v Refers to the act of placing the thumb and index finger slightly apart on a Multi Touch screen or trackpad and twisting them clockwise or counterclockwise Rotate to change the photo s orientation router Don t use interchangeably with bridge A bridge joins two networks to form an expanded network not an internet
242. second GB s standard speed of data transmission GB sec some Apple groups gigahertz GHz frequency gilbert Gb magnetomotive force gram g mass weight grams per cubic centimeter g cm density henry H inductance hertz cycles per second Hz frequency horsepower HP power hour h time inch in length joule kilogram meter J energy joules per second See watt kelvin K thermodynamic temperature kilobit 1000 bits kbit computer memory kilobits per second kbit s standard speed of data transmission kbps some Apple groups kilobyte 1024 bytes KB computer memory kilobytes per second KB s standard speed of data transmission kilogram KB sec some Apple groups kg mass weight Chapter 2 Units of Measure Unit Unit symbol or abbreviation Quantity kilogram meter See joule kilogram meters per second squared See newton kilograms per cubic meter kg m3 density kilohertz kHz frequency kilohm kQ Option Z electric resistance kilometer km length distance kilometers per hour km h velocity kilowatt kilovolt ampere kW power kilowatt hour kWh energy usually electric power consumption lines per inch Ipi resolution liter l volume liters per second I s change in volume over time lumen Im flux of light lux Ix illumination megabit Mbit computer memory megabits per second Mbit s standard speed of data transmission Mbps some Apple
243. sponse to a system error use a phrase such as not responding Correct If the computer does not respond to input from the keyboard or mouse a system error may have occurred Incorrect If the computer hangs a system error has probably occurred See also freeze hard copy Avoid use a term such as printout print version or printed document hardcover One word hard disk n adj Use hard disk to refer to a disk and its contents or to the icon you see on the desktop or in a Finder window Use hard disk drive or hard drive to refer to the mechanism that holds and accesses the disk Don t use hard drive when you mean hard disk Correct Install the administration software on the server s hard disk Incorrect Install the administration software on the server s hard drive Correct You can install a second hard disk drive in the expansion bay hard drive Use hard drive or hard disk drive to refer to the mechanism that holds and accesses a hard disk HD n adj Abbreviation for high definition n and high definition adj See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations HD disk Don t use Use high density disk Note hyphenation of spelled out version HDMI Abbreviation for High Definition Multimedia Interface Terms include HDMI port HDMI input HDMI output HDMI cable HDMI to HDMI cable and HDMI to DVI cable See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviation
244. st cases close up prefixes such as multi non post and pre with the following word Exceptions Compounds that contain proper nouns non Apple Compounds with double i s or double a s anti inflammatory meta analysis e Compounds that are homographs or could be misread re cover Compounds with double prefixes sub subentry e Compounds that contain a compound term non self sustaining See The Chicago Manual of Style for more examples preinstalled preloaded Avoid Say installed loaded included or other wording when possible prepositions Although placing prepositions at the ends of sentences can add an informal flavor to documentation avoid using this construction too frequently Instead rewrite the sentence or use the more grammatically correct preposition which Avoid Specify the application you want to connect with Instead Specify the application with which you want to connect Or Specify the application you want to use to connect Chapter 1 Style and Usage 139 140 preset n adj May be used as an adjective to describe a default setting iPhoto provides several book designs with preset fonts and page layouts In some applications preset may be used as a noun to describe a group of related default settings You can choose a preset in the iTunes equalizer to optimize the sound for a specific kind of music See also default n adj press Use to describe the act of pressing and quickly rel
245. t If you know HTML you can create webpages You can find the file at this address http www books com classics html See also Internet addresses URL HTTP Abbreviation for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Use lowercase when the abbreviation is part of a URL See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations See also HTML Internet addresses URL HUD Acronym for heads up display a window for making adjustments and selecting options in Aperture and other applications Precede HUD with a not an Avoid unless it appears in the user interface See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms humor Humor can enhance documentation by adding to a reader s enjoyment and by helping to lighten the tone Humor usually works best in examples where it is less likely to distract the reader Be careful that your humor is in good taste one reader s joke can be another reader s insult and keep in mind that humor may not translate well in localized text See also fair language hypertext link See link n Hypertext Markup Language See HTML Chapter 1 Style and Usage Hypertext Transfer Protocol See HTTP hyphenation In general hyphenate two words that precede and modify a noun as a unit Follow this rule especially when Confusion might result if the hyphen were omitted as in parameter list pointer or read only memory The second word is a participle past or pr
246. t not when they follow the verb as a compound predicate adjective This guide distinguishes the differences as follows e An entry followed by adj in parentheses gives the form to be used when the adjective immediately precedes the noun it modifies An entry followed by pred adj in parentheses gives the form to be used when the adjective is a predicate adjective For example black and white adj black and white pred adj e If a hyphenated compound has no pred adj entry hyphenate the compound wherever it appears in a sentence The guide uses italics to call attention to the term being discussed If a term or element should be italicized in text for example the title of a book the entry states that the element should be in italics If an entry doesn t explicitly call for italics the term or element usually should not be italicized in text Preface About This Guide Style and Usage This chapter provides guidelines on writing style and usage in Apple publications and in the user interface The intent of these guidelines is to help maintain a consistent voice in Apple publications and in the user interface If you don t find what you re looking for in these pages consult your editor 1 Click Use to refer to a method of purchasing products online from Apple Because 1 Click is an Amazon trademark you must use the style and capitalization shown when discussing online purchasing You can purchase items from the iTunes
247. t system in which text is generally flush right and most characters are written from right to left but some text is written from left to right as well Arabic and Hebrew are the only bidirectional script systems in widespread use Compare mixed directional adj bit n adj Don t use when you mean pixel or dot Hyphenate when used as an adjective or predicate adjective The exported file uses 32 bits per pixel Your AirPort Extreme Base Station provides 40 bit and 128 bit encryption Broadcast video is generally 24 bit with 8 bits of color information per channel bit depth Two words The number of bits used by a digital device Use instead of bit resolution bitmap n v bitmapped adj bitmapping n One word in all forms You can use either bitmap font or bitmapped font but be consistent bit rate Two words bit resolution Don t use use bit depth See also bit depth bit s Abbreviation for bits per second See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations bits per second See bit s black and white adj black and white pred adj Note hyphenation You can change a color picture to a black and white picture With iPhoto you can change a picture to black and white For displays monochrome is usually more appropriate because it encompasses amber and black green and black and so on blank character Don t use use space character See also space character Chapter 1 Style
248. t to refer to the port to which an Apple display is connected See also display port monospaced adj Not monospace Fixed width is the preferred term to describe fonts such as Courier in which each character takes up the same amount of space Chapter 1 Style and Usage most recent Don t use to refer to a specific software version Instead use only the version number or a date in technical support documents or use or later to indicate a range of version numbers It s OK to use most recent if you re generally instructing users to keep their software up to date Correct For the best results make sure you re using the most recent version of Mac OS X Incorrect Mac OS X v10 5 8 is the most recent version of Mac OS X See also latest version motherboard Don t use use main logic board or main board mount v In user documentation avoid when referring to making a disk or disk image available use alternatives such as open make available or connect to or describe what the user must do to make the disk available Avoid To see the contents of a disk image you must mount the disk image Preferable To see the contents of a disk image you must open the disk image by double clicking it Avoid Use the Recent Items command to mount servers you ve recently used Preferable Use the Recent Items command to connect to servers you ve recently used In server documentation or documentation for more technical users it s OK t
249. te is 1024 bytes Apple sold 300 000 iMac computers in the first quarter Apple sold 3 7 million iMac computers in 2 years Languages Language names are represented by a two character code e International Authority International Organization for Standardization ISO e Standard ISO 639 1 e Usage Languages are represented by a two character code in a table column or row that clearly indicates that the code represents a language Code EUERE de German en English es Spanish fr French it Italian ja Japanese nl Dutch mul Multiple languages In some cases you may need to append an extension to the code to represent a particular Apple localization Code Language en na North American English en z International English zh s Simplified Chinese zh t Traditional Chinese Chapter 7 International Style 223 224 Telephone Numbers Telephone numbers begin with the plus sign and are followed by a space the country code city code and number Freephone toll free numbers are expressed in the local style Always give a toll number if one is available e International Authority International Telecommunications Union ITU e Standard ITU T E 123 1988 e Rationale The plus sign represents any number or numbers a caller must dial to get a line like 9 The caller then dials the remaining digits Freephone numbers are usually impossible to dial globally even between Canada and the United States
250. ter s capabilities Type I Type Il and Type Ill refer to the thickness of the cards note spelling and capitalization PCI PCI X Abbreviation for Peripheral Component Interconnect an industry standard expansion bus Related terms include PCI bus PCI slot and PCI card PCI X is a higher speed version of PCI technology See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations PCI Express No hyphen note capitalization An advanced industry standard expansion bus Don t use PCI E PCI E PCle or other variations P code Stands for pseudocode Note capitalization and hyphenation Chapter 1 Style and Usage PDA Abbreviation for personal digital assistant Note lowercase for the spelled out version See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations PDF Abbreviation for Portable Document Format No need to spell out on first occurrence Capitalize when you refer to the file format use lowercase for the filename extension Installation Guide pdf Don t use a file in PDF format use a PDF file percent One word Always preceded by a numeral no matter how small the value 1 percent e Percent symbol It s OK to use the percent symbol instead of the word percent in technical appendixes specification lists and tables or when the word must appear so many times in a text passage that its use becomes cumbersome e Nonspecific quantities When you describe a nonspecific quantity us
251. ter that displays text or graphics If possible be more specific LCD projector or television display port The port on a computer or graphics card used to plug in an Apple display Don t use monitor port display system Refers to a display and the display card sometimes called a graphics card that works with it division sign Not division symbol do Don t use in phrases such as do a clean installation Use perform instead Dock Don t use as a verb Items are in the Dock not on the Dock Correct Click the Mail application icon in the Dock Correct Click a minimized window in the Dock Correct To put a window in the Dock click the minimize button Incorrect You can dock any window Incorrect When an item is docked Incorrect Click the Mail application icon on the Dock Don t assume that an item is in a user s Dock only the Finder and the Trash can t be removed from the Dock On iPhone and iPod touch the Dock refers to the bottom row of application icons on the Home screen dock Lowercase when referring generically to an accessory for iPhone and iPod digital music players Capitalize in product names iPod shuffle Dock Don t use dockable dock adapter Use lowercase in general references dock adapter iPhone dock adapter iPod dock adapter Capitalize in product names iPhone Universal Dock Adapter iPod Universal Dock Adapter dock connector The port on iPhone and iPod digital music players for connecting to a dock
252. than one modifier key Command Shift Option Control When a keyboard shortcut includes a mouse action use lowercase for the mouse action Option click Command Option drag Two word key names When one of the key names in a combination keystroke is two words or a hyphenated word use en dashes where you would ordinarily use hyphens Option Right Bracket Command Option Up Arrow Command Option double click When referring to more than one key use the full name of each key Correct the Right Arrow or Left Arrow key Incorrect the Right or Left Arrow key 100 Chapter 1 Style and Usage e Keys labeled with two characters When a key with two characters is used in a keyboard shortcut identify the key by the lower of the two characters unless the Shift key is part of the shortcut If the Shift key is part of the keyboard shortcut identify the key by the upper of the two characters Correct To close all stacks press Option Semicolon Correct For more information press Command Shift Question Mark Incorrect To close all stacks press Option Colon Incorrect For more information press Command Shift Slash If one of the characters on the key provides a mnemonic for the action of the command you can identify the key by that character To remove keyword presets 1 to 8 press Shift Option 1 to Shift Option 8 When the Shift key and a key with two characters are in a combination keystroke always show the Shift key as part of the k
253. through or by using may be more accurate and more easily understood Queue names shared via LPR or SMB You can use shared printers over the network Printers connected to your network via Ethernet Printers connected to your network using Ethernet Chapter 1 Style and Usage video Note the treatment of these terms beginning with video videocassette videodisc videophone videotape video camera video capture card video conference video editing video game video port Don t use a hyphen in compound adjectives that include video video editing application video cable Don t use to describe a cable connecting a display or monitor to a computer use display cable for Apple displays or monitor cable for non Apple displays OK to use for a cable that connects audio video equipment such as a television or VCR See also display cable monitor cable video camera Two words Use to refer to a camera that captures motion picture images as an electronic video signal and does not have a built in recording device Don t use when you mean camcorder If you forget to focus your video camera during shooting you may not be able to fix the problem in post production Because most video cameras are now digital it usually isn t necessary to include the word digital but you can use digital video camera if the context requires it Digital video cameras use a digital video signal rather than an analog video signal In general references
254. times used M JPEG extends the JPEG standard to video Not the same as MPEG mobile device A pocket size computing device Useful as a way to refer to both iPhone and iPod touch MobileMe Note spelling A subscription service for iPhone iPod touch Mac and PC that provides web applications and services such as email contacts and calendar management photo sharing and online document storage Refer to the MobileMe website as me com not www me com unless you are referring specifically to the web address MobileMe web applications include Mail Contacts Calendar Gallery and iDisk MobileMe also includes Account for managing account settings Precede the names with MobileMe on first use and frequently after that Avoid the term web apps See also Calendar Contacts Gallery iDisk Mail mobile phone Use instead of cell phone or cellular phone Don t use simply as a synonym for iPhone mode Avoid mode in user documentation when you refer to software Correct When you are using the paintbrush Incorrect When you are in paintbrush mode In developer documentation in references to software you enter or leave a mode you don t turn on or turn off a mode Chapter 1 Style and Usage 119 120 model Don t use when you can use computer Correct How you use this feature depends on which model of Mac computer you have Correct The setup guide that came with your computer provides instructions Incorrect The setup guide th
255. tton second from the right in the View control in Finder windows Chapter 1 Style and Usage Combo drive An optical drive that reads CDs and DVDs and reads and writes burns CD R and CD RW discs Not ComboDrive or Combo Drive Use Combo drive DVD ROM CD RW to list the drive s capabilities See also optical drive SuperDrive command Use command or menu command in user documentation don t use menu option The menu contains a list of commands Use the Save command to save any changes to your file Use menu item to refer to items that aren t commands such as names of windows in the Window menu and About This Mac in the Apple menu A command is in a menu not on a menu a Menu contains commands Users choose commands they don t select commands See also choose command names menus Command click v adj Note capitalization and hyphenation The hyphen denotes a combined action Command click is equivalent to press the Command key and click Command key On first use in print user documentation identify the Command key with its symbol Command 3 key Thereafter just use Command key Don t use Apple key It s OK to use the Command key symbol in a list of shortcuts 36 Option Escape 36 Shift Option Delete Command key equivalent Don t use use keyboard shortcut even when all the combinations use the Command key command line n command line adj Note hyphenation of adjective Chapter 1 Style and Usage 41
256. u can assume computer literacy on the part of readers you might not have to define general computer terms such as microprocessor or application However you should probably assume that some readers will not be familiar with Apple terminology Terms such as Apple event Aqua or Quartz should probably be in the glossary if your document uses them 211 212 Content Guidelines A glossary is more than a list of definitions Entries should explain meanings by providing examples and context Make Definitions Explanatory Give an example where appropriate If possible make that example specific to the product about which you re writing Where helpful refer to other glossary terms for further information or contrast Make the Context Clear Is your definition general to all computers specific to Apple products specific to a particular device or system or somewhere in between If a term has two or more meanings that are relevant such as format the noun referring to page appearance and format the verb referring to the action performed on a blank disk provide all definitions Connect Ordinary Usage with Technical Meaning Many ordinary English words have specific meanings with regard to computer products In documentation for first time users it s helpful to show the connection between the ordinary meaning of the word and its new technical meaning For example here s a definition for open open To make available You open files or d
257. uch iSight iTunes iWork Jam Pack Keychain Keynote Leopard LiveType Logic Logic Studio Mac MacBook MacBook Air Macintosh Mac OS MagSafe MainStage Numbers Pages Panther Photo Booth PowerBook Power Mac Quartz QuickDraw QuickTime Rosetta Safari Shake Sherlock Snow Leopard Soundtrack Spaces Spotlight SuperDrive Tiger Time Capsule Time Machine TrueType Velocity Engine WaveBurner WebObjects Xcode Xgrid Xsan and Xserve are trademarks of Apple Inc registered in the U S and other countries AirTunes Aperture Apple Remote Desktop Apple Studio Display Cinema Tools Enterprise Objects Finder iWeb Multi Touch NetInfo OpenCL Photocasting QuickTime Broadcaster Shuffle SnapBack and Techno are trademarks of Apple Inc AppleCare Apple Store iDisk iMix iTunes Music Store iTunes Store Mac and ProCare are service marks of Apple Inc registered in the U S and other countries Apple Consultants Network App Store and MobileMe are service marks of Apple Inc 1 Click is a registered trademark of Amazon com Inc in the U S and other countries Adobe and PostScript are trademarks or registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the U S and or other countries The Bluetooth word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG Inc and any use of such marks by Apple is under license This document mentions software developed by the University of California
258. ughout a document The following table shows how the tools work and what they do The application provides several tools see the following table See the table below for details If the table has a number use it in the in text reference Table 3 2 lists the signal and pin assignments for the DVI connector See Table 3 10 for additional result codes e Table notes and footnotes Information that pertains to an entire table is generally set as a table note before any table footnotes The table note begins with the word Note not all caps followed by a colon If it is essential that this information be more prominent than a table note allows it can be added instead after the table title in parentheses with no capitalization or ending punctuation even if it is a complete sentence When specific items in a table require footnotes depending on your department s style either number the items consecutively starting with 1 or use the following symbols in this order asterisk dagger t Option T double dagger Shift Option 7 section Option 6 paragraph 4 Option 7 number When more symbols are needed they are doubled in the same order Chapter 1 Style and Usage 165 166 tap n v Use to describe the action on a trackpad or Multi Touch device that s equivalent to clicking Users can tap with one or more fingers depending on the device and the action the user is performing Don t use tap on Correct
259. uilder e Internet Connect e iPhone OS e iPhoto e iSync e iTunes e iWeb e iWork e Keychain Access e Keynote e LiveFont e LiveType e Logic Express e Logic Pro e Logic Studio e Mac e Mac OS 9 e Mac OS X e Mac OS X Server e Mail e MainStage e Migration Assistant e Mobile Access Server e Motion e Multi Touch e NetBoot e NetInfo e Netlnstall e NetRestore e Numbers e OpenCL Chapter 3 Apple Products e Open Directory e Pages e Photo Booth e Photocasting e Podcast Capture e Podcast Composer e Podcast Producer e Preview e Production Suite e Quartz e Quartz 2D e Quartz Composer e Quartz Compositor e Quartz Extreme e QuickDraw e QuickDraw 3D e Quick Look e QuickTime e QuickTime Player e QuickTime Pro e QuickTime Streaming Server e Remote Disc e Rendezvous e Rosetta e Safari e Server Preferences e Shake e Sherlock e SnapBack e Software Update Server e Soundtrack e Soundtrack Pro e Spaces e Spotlight e Spotlight Server e Stacks e Stickies Chapter 3 Apple Products 207 Sudden Motion Sensor System Preferences System Profiler Terminal TextEdit Time Machine TrueType Velocity Engine VoiceOver WaveBurner Web Clip Weblog Server WebObjects Wiki Server X11 for Mac OS X Xcode Xgrid Xsan Programs and Services 208 AppleCare Apple Developer Connection Apple Online Store Apple Retail Store App Store iTunes Store iTunes U Mobi
260. ut an article You can connect digital devices to the Mac mini Mac mini delivers unprecedented power in a small package Don t use Mac Mini even in title style headings Correct Setting Up Your Mac mini Incorrect Setting Up Your Mac Mini Chapter 1 Style and Usage 111 112 Mac OS Two words Use with an article the Mac OS except when including a version number Mac OS X v10 6 Use Mac compatible to refer to software or hardware that can be used with the Mac OS See also version Mac OS Extended format Note capitalization Mention on first occurrence that this is also called HFS Plus not HFS thereafter use Mac OS Extended format See also HFS Plus Mac OS Extended Journaled format Note capitalization Mention on first occurrence that this is also called HFS Plus Journaled thereafter use Mac OS Extended Journaled format Don t use HFS VJournaled See also HFS Plus Journaled Mac OS Standard format Note capitalization Mention on first occurrence that this is also called HFS thereafter use Mac OS Standard format See also HFS Mac OS X Always use the full name don t shorten to OS X or X Note spacing between each part of the product name e Version number When indicating a version of Mac OS X use either version or v closed up without a period following Mac OS X Mac OS X version 10 6 Mac OS X v10 6 e Version name If a version of the operating system has a name in addition to the version number
261. ut moving projects and media files between editing systems see the Final Cut Pro 6 User Manual Volume IV Part II Project Interchange Compare parts Volume Down key Volume Up key Note capitalization volume license volume licensing Lowercase no hyphen volume name Two words Note the treatment of these similar terms device name filename host name pathname user name VPN Abbreviation for virtual private network or virtual private networking See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations VRAM Acronym for video random access memory Pronounced VEE ram See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms vs Don t use use versus when absolutely necessary but rewrite to avoid the term when possible Chapter 1 Style and Usage 183 184 W wait cursor See spinning wait cursor WAN Acronym for wide area network Note lowercase in the spelled out version no hyphen See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms want An infinitive or a direct object should follow want in conditional statements It s OK to use wish by itself Correct Rename the file if you want to create infinitive a duplicate Correct Make a copy if you want a duplicate direct object Correct Rename the file if you wish Incorrect Rename the file if you want warm start n warm start adj Note hyphenation of
262. uter users See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations Use return character when you write about for example searches for return characters Use Return key for the key you press crash Don t use use quits unexpectedly does not respond or stops responding If you must use this word put it in quotation marks and reassure the reader that the term crash does not imply damage to hardware or software creator types Use code font for creator type names which must consist of exactly four characters one of which may be a space inside straight single code font quotation marks ttxt MPS crosshair One word Refers to this pointer Chapter 1 Style and Usage cross references This section provides general guidelines for cross references that appear in print documents documents that can be both printed and viewed onscreen such as PDF files and content that is delivered only onscreen for example in a web browser Some department guidelines may differ slightly from those listed in this section and departments that use a single source of content to generate both print and onscreen documents may have guidelines that differ depending on how the content is delivered Thus always consult your department s style guidelines if you re in doubt about which style to use e To chapter titles Use title style capitalization Enclose the title but not the word Chapter or the chapter number in quot
263. when you describe hierarchical menus When the user highlights a menu item with a triangular indicator a submenu appears Select All 38A Hi Find Panel 3F Spelling gt Speech gt Find Previous D Use Selection for Find 3E Scroll to Selection 38 To describe choosing an item from a submenu use this style Choose Edit gt Find gt Find Next See also choose menus subtitles document See volume document super prefix Close up words beginning with super supercomputer superfine supermodem Chapter 1 Style and Usage SuperDrive An optical drive that reads and writes burns CDs and DVDs SuperDrive is typically preceded by an article or pronoun To refer to more than one drive use SuperDrive optical drives Types of SuperDrive optical drives include the following SuperDrive DVD R CD RW SuperDrive DVD RW CD RW SuperDrive DVD R DL DVD RW CD RW SuperDrive DVD R DL DVD RW CD RW To refer to the SuperDrive that burns DVD R DL or DVD R DL discs use a term such as SuperDrive with double layer support SuperDrive with double layer DVD burning double layer SuperDrive or double layer burning SuperDrive don t use DL SuperDrive or SuperDrive DL To list the drive s speed use the form 8x speed SuperDrive or 8x SuperDrive See also Combo drive DVD optical drive support Avoid in user documentation when you can use compatible works with or another appropriate word or phrase Preferable To use iDVD you must
264. y within the group PowerBook G4 PowerBook G5 For detailed information about letter by letter alphabetizing see The Chicago Manual of Style Chapter 5 How to Write a Glossary 213 214 Parts of Speech Follow these guidelines for parts of speech e Verbs If the term is a verb start the definition with an infinitive not a gerund Correct To make available Incorrect Making available e Adjectives If the term is an adjective you may have to start the definition with phrases like these Said of Characteristic of Used to describe e Different parts of speech Use n v or adj for noun verb or adjective when you need to distinguish a part of speech Pronunciation When you define an acronym or other term with unusual or unclear pronunciation provide a pronunciation key Use all caps to indicate the stress and hyphens to separate syllables Use quotation marks around the pronunciation key ASCII Acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange pronounced ASK ee EBCDIC Acronym for pronounced EB si dik leading The amount of blank vertical space between lines Pronounced LED ing Cross References If you want to draw attention to related terms in the glossary add cross references at the end of the entry e See means that the definition for a term is given elsewhere e See also means that additional relevant information is given elsewhere e Compare means that a
265. you can use the name following the version number on first occurrence Don t use quotation marks or parentheses around the version name Mac OS X version 10 6 Snow Leopard Mac OS X v10 6 Snow Leopard Thereafter it s OK to use the name without the version number for example Mac OS X Snow Leopard or omit Mac OS X and use just the version name for example Snow Leopard In developer documentation don t use version names such as Snow Leopard use version numbers only Chapter 1 Style and Usage Mac OS X Server Note capitalization Use only to refer to the server software don t use to refer to a computer with Mac OS X Server installed Call the computer the server or the server with Mac OS X Server installed Correct You can give users access to the server Incorrect Create a password to make your Mac OS X Server more secure e Version number When indicating a version of Mac OS X Server use either version or v closed up without a period following Mac OS X Server Mac OS X Server version 10 6 Mac OS X Server v10 6 e Version name If a version of the operating system has a name in addition to the version number you can use the name following the version number on first occurrence Don t use quotation marks or parentheses around the version name Mac OS X Server version 10 6 Snow Leopard Mac OS X Server v10 6 Snow Leopard Thereafter it s OK to use Snow Leopard Server Don t use Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard or M
266. ze or use quotation marks around terms following so called socket Use to refer to a receptacle with holes that receives a plug or other connector Don t use female connector Compare connector jack port slot SO DIMM Acronym for small outline dual inline memory module Note hyphenation of the acronym See abbreviations and acronyms for guidelines about spelling out abbreviations and acronyms soft copy Avoid use a term such as file or electronic document softcover One word software Programs that perform operations on a computer Types of software include application software and system software Use software alone if you don t need to refer to a specific type of software Don t use software program Apple periodically releases updates to your computer s software Visit the Apple Online Store to find more great software for your Mac See also application program system software Chapter 1 Style and Usage software development kit See SDK software license agreement Note lowercase Not software licensing agreement Software Update An application and a pane in System Preferences Not Software Updates Software Update Server Don t precede with the Use lowercase for general references host your own software update server software version numbers See version solid state drive Use solid state drive or drive don t use hard drive hard disk drive solid state hard drive or solid state hard disk drive Avoid abbreviating as

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