Closed emileighoutlaw closed 7 years ago
My 2 cents: advisory opinion, not Advisory Opinion, unless it is a specific opinion, like Advisory Opinion 2016-50 (but in that case, I think we pretty much always say AO 2016-50).
We prefer Commission to commission.
I feel like we could go either way on alternative dispute resolution program and administrative fine program. Right now we capitalize those in our press releases and other publications.
The best word for what you do with a filing is to say you "file" it. But then you end up saying folks file their filings with us (ugh). That's how we ended up with "submit." I would avoid "deposit" because that has a separate use in our regulations as it applies to the definition of "file."
Woohoo!
I agree with everything you wrote! High fives!
Here's what that means:
To put it another way (so I can remember my thinking in the future): capitalizing things that are proper nouns is helpful for people who are unfamiliar FEC programs and hierarchy. It's the same reason we like Secretary of Senate
— giving that term the weight of capital letter makes clear the significance of the position (as opposed to a secretary who works in the Senate building). Capital C
for Commission
is most easy to understand for novice readers. I also like Alternative Dispute Resolution Program
(it's a formal thing; this makes it look formal) and Administrative Fine Program
(same reason).
Let's see if we can't be super savvy in all our writing and use file
all the time and also avoid ever saying file a filing
(which is 😁)
I would love to have a copy section in the styleguide or on the wiki. I'm a big fan of glossaries, and even though we have one for users, I think it would be good to have one "internally" for consistency.
Still chipping away at our list . . .
Maybe we should go with Statement of Candidacy and Statement of Organization, because these are what they are called when you look at data--so for example, at the bottom of the candidate's landing page you are invited to view the Statement of Candidacy. Also, these are words that might actually mean something to someone. Form 2? Not as much.
I would go with instructions over step-by-step instructions (only because it is shorter).
E-Filing, E-filing, e-Filing, eFiling, electronic filing . . . I think we've been all over the place on this one. What do you think is most clear to folks?
I'd love to consistently call it electronic filing
, which is the most clear because there's no abbreviation. 😁
Sounds great to me!
If a term is mentioned more than once on a page, on first reference, we should spell out terms followed by the abbreviation in parentheses then use the abbreviation in subsequent references. For example, separate segregated fund (SSF) and advisory opinions (AO).
Other observations:
Awesome! Thanks Jeannine.
FEC is definitely no Oxford comma. You didn't find any in the audit, did you? Same with lowercase federal
and lowercase government
right?
I like the idea of using to
in ranges, when used in content. When used in data tables, I think the n dash is easiest to read.
We'll keep the discussion going here, but I'm going to start collecting decisions into a single Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cIWTO4X9kNvjL-Lpq8A6t9NrA3ZtWvSZ5mKS1ic0-Js/edit
Jeannine and I are going to keep chipping away at this, but since it's a long-term goal, I'm moving the issue itself into the backlog.
We have a draft content guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cIWTO4X9kNvjL-Lpq8A6t9NrA3ZtWvSZ5mKS1ic0-Js/edit?pli=1#
It will continue to grow as @jameshupp nurtures it (and FEC will take it over at some point), but I don't think we need to keep this particular issue open.
I'm opening this issue to track some of the language inconsistencies we're trying to think about:
Questions to answer
Form 1
) when or form name (Statement of Organization
) when we talk about filings?submit
,deposit
orfile
filings? (https://github.com/18F/fec-cms/issues/232)political action committee
,party committee
,authorized committee
,nonconnected committee
,separate segregated fund
?Things with distinct meaning
Money coming in:
Money going out:
Filings (all the different types)
Capital or not capital (as it should be used)
Other style things
instructions
, rather thanstep-by-step instructions
electronic filing
, rather thane-filing
orefiling
etc.–
for ranges(Will keep updating)