Specific words and phrases

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

18F employees, 18F team members, or 18F staffers. Avoid all iterations of 18F-r.
ages, avoid hyphens in ages unless it clarifies the text. For example, a group of 10 18-year-old White House tourists.
agile
a.m.
back end, back-end development
Congress refers to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
congressional is lowercase unless part of a proper name. For example, Congressional Record
DC, not D.C.
DevOps
digital coalition
drop-down when used as an adjective. For example, drop-down menu. drop down when used as a noun. For example, an option from the drop down. Never dropdown.
email, not e-mail
executive branch
federal, unless part of a proper noun. For example, Federal Bureau of Investigation
federal government, not Federal Government or Federal government
fiscal year is lowercase. It’s okay to abbreviate as FY on the second reference.
front end, front-end developer
GitHub
government, unless part of a proper noun. For example, Government Printing Office
homepage
human-centered design, often used interchangeably with user-centered design. We prefer user-centered design to describe 18F's principles and work to emphasize our focus on those those who are using a service/product (rather than those making it or humans in general)
info is an acceptable shortening of information. In formal situations, use the full word.
internet
JavaScript
kanban
login when used as noun, for example, I forgot my login name and password, or when used as an adjective, for example Make sure the login page is 508 complaint. log in when used as a verb, for example, Log in to access your calendar.
open source, open source software
percent is preferred more than the % symbol. For example, 10 percent of respondents.
p.m.
README
Scrum should be used to refer to the set of practices for the agile method. We don't use that term for the daily meetings and instead use daily standup.
single sign-on
sitemap
startup
tech is an acceptable shortening of technology. In formal situations, use the full word.
to do (noun) and to-do (adjective). For example, your to dos or your to-do list.
United States government or U.S. government, not U.S. Government
URLs should be lowercase, even when they appear at the start of a sentence. For example, notalone.gov launched today.
U.S., not US or USA
user-centered design, often used interchangeably with human-centered design. We prefer user-centered design to describe 18F's principles and work to emphasize our focus on those those who are using a service/product (rather than those making it or humans in general)
U.S. Web Design System on first use and Design System on subsequent references
Wi-Fi