Updated Fleet style guide (#8634)

* Updated Fleet style guide

Updated style guide and added it to a subpage.

* Fixed a couple of blockquote formatting issues

* removed h4 example

* Implementing Mike's revisions.md

Co-authored-by: Mike Thomas <mthomas@fleetdm.com>
Co-authored-by: Mike Thomas <78363703+mike-j-thomas@users.noreply.github.com>
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@ -270,11 +270,7 @@ At this time, double-check that information within Salesforce and Typeform is ac
#### In this section
- [Publishing Fleet content](#publishing-fleet-content)
- [Writing about Fleet](#writing-about-fleet)
- [Writing about osquery](#writing-about-osquery)
- [Open source vs. open core](#open-source-vs-open-core)
- [Fleet style guide](#fleet-style-guide)
- [Writing documentation](#writing-documentation)
- [Content style guide](#content-style-guide)
### Publishing Fleet content
@ -315,211 +311,9 @@ Detail the minimum time needed for new or updated content to be live (published)
| YouTube | **Queued** see _(TODO: Publishing on YouTube as Fleet.)_ | **Absorb** for revisions to the description. **Pair** or **absorb** for video content (pair if possible otherwise, silently fix ASAP by deleting the post. Consider that the video may also have been promoted on social media see Social media (Twitter, FB, LinkedIn) above. | three business days |
| Decks | **Instant**. Sales typically creates decks. The Brand team shouldn't be a blocker. | **Feedback** | three business days |
### Writing about Fleet
### Content style guide
When talking about Fleet the company, we stylize our name as either "Fleet" or "Fleet Device Management." For Fleet the product, we say either “Fleet” or “Fleet for osquery.” Employees are “Fleeties.”
### Writing about osquery
Osquery should always be written in lowercase unless used to start a sentence or heading. For example:
- Open source software, built on osquery.
- Osquery and Fleet provide structured, convenient access to information about your devices.
### Open source vs. open core
For simplicity, Fleet is always described as "open source" in all writing and verbal communication. In specific situations, such as discussing the distinction between various kinds of open source, it can be appropriate to mention "open core" to clarify your meaning. When in doubt, go with "open source."
### Fleet style guide
#### Our voice
- **Clear.** Focus on what matters most. Details can clear things up, but too many are confusing. Use simple words and sentences, especially in technical conversations.
- **Thoughtful.** Try your best to understand the topic and your audience. Choose words carefully. Outdated terms may offend modern readers.
- **Friendly.** Make people feel welcome. Let them know theyre talking to another human who cares. Relate to their struggles and offer solutions.
- **Inspiring.** Empower users with practical advice. Show them what success looks like. Manage risk, not fear. Help people feel confident about handling security threats.
#### Our approach
Every piece of content we write should embody our values. To make sure we succeed, we apply a design thinking approach to our writing by following these steps:
- **Empathize.** Who is the reader? Why will they read it? What do they hope to get from it?
- **Define.** What is the subject? What action do you want from the reader?
- **Ideate and collaborate.** Create an outline of what you plan to write. Interview team members or friends of Fleet to help you.
- **Prototype.** Write a draft and see how it goes. Your first pass wont be perfect. And thats okay. If it isnt working, try it again.
- **Test.** Revise, edit, proofread, repeat. Revise, edit, proofread, repeat. Revise, edit... You get the idea.
#### What would Mr. Rogers say?
We should be clear, simple, friendly, and inspiring, like [Mr. Rogers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rogers), who deeply understood these communication skills.
Here are some steps you can take to communicate like Mister Rogers:
- State the idea you want to express as clearly as possible.
- Rephrase the idea in a positive manner.
- Rephrase the idea, directing your reader to authorities they trust.
- Rephrase the idea to eliminate anything that may not apply to your reader.
- Add a motivational idea that gives your reader a reason to follow your advice.
- Rephrase the new statement, repeating the first step.
- Rephrase the idea a final time, relating it to an important moment in your readers life.
Consider this example tweet.
*Distributed workforces arent going anywhere anytime soon. Its past time to start engaging meaningfully with your workforce and getting them to work with your security team instead of around them.*
What would Mister Rogers say? The tweet could look something like this...
*Distributed workforces are here to stay. So, its a great time to help employees work with your security experts (and not around them). Because stronger teams get to celebrate more victories.*
By Mister Rogersing our writing, we can encourage our readers to succeed by emphasizing optimism. You might not be able to apply all of these steps every time. Thats fine. Think of these as guidelines to help you simplify complex topics.
### Writing documentation
You dont have to be a “writer” to write documentation. Nobody knows Fleet better than the people who are building our product. That puts developers in the perfect position to show users what Fleet can do.
This guide will help you write docs that help users achieve their goals with Fleet.
#### Remember the reader
People come from different backgrounds. New users may not know terms that are common knowledge for seasoned developers. Since Fleet has users all over the world, English may not be their first language. Your writing must be easy for any user to understand.
- **Think of every user.** Define technical terms in the doc or include a link.
- **Strive for simplicity.** Avoid complex sentences and long paragraphs.
- **Be approachable.** Write like youre meeting a new member of your team.
#### Answer the question
Its what were all about at Fleet. People read docs in order to accomplish their goals. Those goals can vary from learning about Fleet for the first time to looking for troubleshooting tips. Make sure your doc meets the specific need of the user at that moment.
- **Understand the question.** Be clear about the topic youre discussing.
- **Narrow your focus.** Avoid explanations that distract from the main topic.
- **No more, no less.** Use just enough information to give an accurate answer.
#### Follow a framework
Starting with a blank page can be scary. Thats why it helps to have a framework for your writing. Follow these four steps to write your docs: introduction, explanation, reference, and troubleshooting.
**Introduction**
Give an overview of the topic. You dont need to mention everything at the beginning. Briefly establish the question youre addressing. People want to get to the answer A.S.A.P.
**Explanation**
Youve let users know why theyre reading your doc. Its time to make sure they understand the topic. This will be most of your documentation. Dont shy away from details.
**Reference**
Support your explanation with relevant references. This shows users how to put your explanation into practice. Such material will keep users coming back.
**Troubleshooting**
Nothing is perfect. Your readers understand this. Users will appreciate it if you identify common problems — and provide solutions — before they encounter these issues later.
#### Document every change
Any change to Fleets code should be documented, from adding patches to building features. This allows users and Fleeties to stay up to date with improvements to our product.
You dont need to wait until a change has been made to write a new doc. Starting with documentation can help you discover ways to make Fleet even better.
Writing about how to use a new feature puts you in the shoes of the user. If something seems complicated, you have the opportunity to improve it — before commiting a line of code.
#### Headings and subheadings
Headings help readers quickly scan content to find what they need. Organize page content using clear headings specific to the topic they describe.
Keep headings brief, organized, and in a logical order:
- H1: Page title
- H2: Main headings
- H3: Subheadings
- H4: Sub-subheadings
Try to stay within three or four heading levels. Complicated documents may use more, but pages with a simpler structure are easier to read.
#### Sentence case
Fleet uses sentence case capitalization for all headings across Fleet EE, fleetdm.com, our documentation, and our social media channels. In sentence case, we write titles as if they were sentences. For example:
*Ask questions about your servers, containers, and laptops running Linux, Windows, and macOS*
As we use sentence case, only the first word of a heading and subheading is capitalized. However, if a word would normally be capitalized in the sentence (e.g., a [proper noun](https://www.grammarly.com/blog/proper-nouns/?&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=11862361094&utm_targetid=dsa-1233402314764&gclid=Cj0KCQjwg7KJBhDyARIsAHrAXaFwpnEyL9qrS4z1PEAgFwh3RXmQ24zmwmowAyOQbHngsI8W_F730aAaArrwEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds)) it should remain capitalized in the heading.
> Note the capitalization of “macOS” in the example above. Although this is a proper noun, macOS uses its own style guide from Apple, to which we adhere.
You mightve noticed that there isnt a period at the end of the example heading. Fleet headings and subheadings do not use end punctuation unless the heading is a question. If the heading is a question, end the heading with a question mark.
#### Bullet points
Bullet points are a clean and simple way to list information. But sticking to consistent rules for punctuation and capitalization can be tough. Heres how we do it at Fleet.
##### How to introduce bullet points
**Do** use a colon if you introduce a list with a complete sentence.
**Do not** use a colon if you start a list right after a heading.
##### How to use end punctuation with bullet points
End punctuation refers to punctuation marks that are used to end sentences, such as periods, question marks, and exclamation points.
**Do** use end punctuation if your bullet points are complete sentences:
- Project confidence and be informative.
- Educate users about security threats positively.
- We never use fear as a marketing tactic.
**Do not** use end punctuation if your bullet points are sentence fragments, single words, or short phrases:
- Policies
- Enterprise support
- Self-hosted agent auto-updates
**Do not** mix complete sentences with sentence fragments, single words, or short phrases. Consistency makes lists easier to read.
**Do not** use commas or semicolons to end bullet points.
##### How to capitalize bullet points
**Do** use a capital letter at the beginning of every bullet point. The only exceptions are words that follow specific style guides (e.g., macOS).
#### Commas
When listing three or more things, use commas to separate the words. This is called a serial comma.
**Do:** Fleet is for IT professionals, client platform engineers, and security practitioners.
**Dont:** Fleet is for IT professionals, client platform engineers and security practitioners.
Aside from the serial comma, use commas, as usual, to break up your sentences. If youre unsure whether you need a comma, saying the sentence aloud can give you a clue. If you pause or take a breath, thats when you probably need a comma.
#### Dashes and hyphens
Use a hyphen to link words that function as an adjective to modify a noun or to indicate a range:
- We release Fleet on a three-week cadence.
- Osquery is an open-source agent.
- Monday-Friday
A hyphen is unnecessary when not modifying a noun:
- The Fleet product is released every three weeks.
- Osquery is open source.
#### SQL Statements
When adding SQL statements, all SQL reserved words should be uppercase, and all identifiers (such as tables and columns) should be lowercase. Heres an example:
```sql
SELECT days, hours, total_seconds FROM uptime;
```
#### Grammarly
All of our writers and editors have access to Grammarly, which comes with a handy set of tools, including:
- **Style guide**, which helps us write consistently in the style of Fleet.
- **Brand tones** to keep the tone of our messaging consistent with just the right amount of confidence, optimism, and joy.
- **Snippets** to turn commonly used phrases, sentences, and paragraphs (such as calls to action, thank you messages, etc.) into consistent, reusable snippets to save time.
Our favorite Grammarly feature is the tone detector. It's excellent for keeping messaging on-brand and helps alleviate the doubt that often comes along for the ride during a writing assignment. Take a look at [their video](https://youtu.be/3Ct5Tgg9Imc) that sums it up better than this.
Learn how to communicate as Fleet with guidelines for tone of voice, our approach, grammar and mechanics, and more. [Read the content style guide](./content-style-guide).
### For editors

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@ -0,0 +1,287 @@
# Content style guide
## Tone of voice
- **Clear.** Focus on what matters most. Details can clear things up, but too many are confusing. Use simple words and sentences, especially in technical conversations.
- **Thoughtful.** Try your best to understand the topic and your audience. Choose words carefully. Outdated terms may offend modern readers.
- **Friendly.** Make people feel welcome. Let them know theyre talking to another human who cares. Relate to their struggles and offer solutions.
- **Inspiring.** Empower users with practical advice. Show them what success looks like. Manage risk, not fear. Help people feel confident about handling security threats.
## Our approach
Every piece of content we write should embody our values. To make sure we succeed, we apply a design thinking approach to our writing by following these steps:
- **Empathize.** Who is the reader? Why will they read it? What do they hope to get from it?
- **Define.** What is the subject? What action do you want from the reader?
- **Ideate and collaborate.** Create an outline of what you plan to write. Interview team members or friends of Fleet to help you.
- **Prototype.** Write a draft and see how it goes. Your first pass wont be perfect. And thats okay. If it isnt working, try it again.
- **Test.** Revise, edit, proofread, repeat. Revise, edit, proofread, repeat. Revise, edit... You get the idea.
### What would Mister Rogers say?
[*Mister Rogers Neighborhood*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Rogers%27_Neighborhood) was one of the longest-running childrens TV series. Thats thanks to [Fred Rogers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rogers) communication skills. He knew kids heard things differently than adults. So, he checked every line to avoid confusion and encourage positivity.
Our audience is a little older. But just like the show, Mister Rogers method is appropriate for all ages. Here are some steps you can take to communicate like Mister Rogers:
- State the idea you want to express as clearly as possible.
- Rephrase the idea in a positive manner.
- Rephrase the idea, directing your reader to authorities they trust.
- Rephrase the idea to eliminate anything that may not apply to your reader.
- Add a motivational idea that gives your reader a reason to follow your advice.
- Rephrase the new statement, repeating the first step.
Consider this example tweet.
- Distributed workforces arent going anywhere anytime soon. Its past time to start engaging meaningfully with your workforce and getting them to work with your security team instead of around them.
What would Mister Rogers say? The tweet could look something like this...
- Distributed workforces are here to stay. So, its a great time to help employees work with your security experts (and not around them). Because stronger teams get to celebrate more victories.
By Mister Rogersing our writing, we can encourage our readers to succeed by emphasizing optimism. You might not be able to apply all of these steps every time. Thats fine. Think of these as guidelines to help you simplify complex topics.
### Writing about Fleet
#### Company, product, and employees
When talking about Fleet the company, we stylize our name as either "Fleet" or "Fleet Device Management."
For Fleet the product, we say either “Fleet” or “Fleet for osquery.”
Employees are “Fleeties.”
#### Capitalizing osquery
Osquery should always be written in lowercase unless used to start a sentence or heading:
- Open-source software, built on osquery.
- Osquery and Fleet provide structured, convenient access to information about your devices.
## Grammar and mechanics
### Headings
Headings help readers quickly scan content to find what they need. Organize page content using clear headings specific to the topic they describe.
#### Context
Headings should guide readers through your writing. While our readers are more tech-savvy than most, we cant expect them to recognize queries by SQL alone.
Avoid using code for headings. Instead, say what the code does and include code examples in the body of your document.
#### Hierarchy
Keep headings brief, organized, and in a logical order:
- H1: Page title
- H2: Main headings
- H3: Subheadings
- H4: Sub-subheadings
Try to stay within three or four heading levels. Detailed documents may use more, but pages with a simpler structure are easier to read.
#### Sentence case
Fleet uses sentence case capitalization for all headings across the Fleet product, fleetdm.com, our documentation, and our marketing material. In sentence case, we write titles as if they were sentences:
- Ask questions about your servers, containers, and laptops running Linux, Windows, and macOS
As we use sentence case, only the first word of a heading and subheading is capitalized. However, if a word would normally be capitalized in the sentence (e.g., a proper noun) it should remain capitalized in the heading.
Note the capitalization of “macOS” in the example above. Although this is a proper noun, macOS uses its own style guide from Apple, to which we adhere.
You mightve noticed that there isnt a period at the end of the example heading. Fleet headings do not use end punctuation unless the heading is a question. If the heading is a question, end the heading with a question mark.
### Contractions
Theyre great! Dont be afraid to use them. Theyll help your writing sound more approachable.
### Punctuation
#### Ampersands (&)
Only use ampersands if they appear in a brand name, or if youre quoting the title of an article from another source. Otherwise, write out “and.”
#### Commas
When listing three or more things, use commas to separate the words. This is called a serial comma.
**Do:** Fleet is for IT professionals, client platform engineers, and security practitioners.
**Dont:** Fleet is for IT professionals, client platform engineers and security practitioners.
Aside from the serial comma, use commas, as usual, to break up your sentences. If youre unsure whether you need a comma, saying the sentence aloud can give you a clue. If you pause or take a breath, thats when you probably need a comma.
#### Hyphens
**Do** use a hyphen to indicate a range:
- Monday-Friday
**Do** use a hyphen for compound modifiers. This is when 2 or more words function as one adjective. Compound modifiers precede the noun they modify:
- We release Fleet on a three-week cadence.
- Osquery is an open-source agent.
**Dont** use a hyphen when modifying words follow the noun:
- Fleet is released every three weeks.
- Osquery is open source.
#### Colons
Colons introduce one or more elements that add detail to the idea before the colon.
You can use a colon to introduce a list.
- The Fleet product has 4 interfaces: Fleet UI, REST API, fleetctl CLI, and Fleet Desktop.
You can also use a colon to introduce a phrase.
- Introducing Sandbox: the fastest way to play with Fleet.
Only capitalize the first word following a colon if its a proper noun (as in the example above).
#### Exclamation points
Theyre fun! But too many can undermine your credibility!!!1! Please use them sparingly. Take context into consideration. And only use one at a time.
### Abbreviations and acronyms
If theres a chance your reader wont recognize an abbreviation or acronym, spell it out the first time you mention it and specify the abbreviation in parentheses. Then use the short version for all other references.
- A command-line interface (CLI) is a text-based user interface (UI) used to run programs, manage computer files, and interact with the computer.
- The Fleet CLI is called fleetctl.
If the abbreviation or acronym is well known, like API or HTML, use it instead (and dont worry about spelling it out).
### Numbers
Spell out a number when it begins a sentence. Otherwise, use the numeral.
Sometimes numerals seem out of place. If an expression typically spells out the number, leave it as is:
- First impression
- Third-party integration
- All-in-one platform
Numbers over 3 digits get commas:
- 999
- 1,000
- 150,000
#### Times
Use numerals and am or pm without a space in between:
- 7am
- 7:30pm
Use a hyphen between times to indicate a time period:
- 7am10:30pm
We have users and Fleeties all over the world. Specify time zones when scheduling events or meetings.
Abbreviate time zones within the continental United States as follows:
- Eastern time: ET
- Central time: CT
- Mountain time: MT
- Pacific time: PT
Spell out international time zones:
- Central European Time
- Japan Standard Time
### Emphasis
#### Bold ####
Use bold text to emphasize words or phrases. Just dont overdo it. Too much bold text may make it hard to see whats really important.
#### Italics ####
Use italics when referencing UI elements (e.g., buttons and navigation labels):
- On the settings page, go to *Organization Settings* and select *Fleet Desktop*.
### Lists
Lists help readers scan content for essential information. They should be as concise and symmetrical as possible.
If you find your list running long, or if each item contains several sentences, you may want to reconsider whether a list is the best approach.
Use a numbered list if it follows a specific order or includes a set number of items. Otherwise, use bullet points.
#### How to introduce a list
**Do** use a colon if you introduce a list with a complete sentence.
**Dont** use a colon if you start a list right after a heading.
#### How to use end punctuation with list items
End punctuation refers to punctuation marks that are used to end sentences, such as periods, question marks, and exclamation points.
**Do** use end punctuation if your list items are complete sentences:
- Project confidence and be informative.
- Educate users about security threats positively.
- We never use fear as a marketing tactic.
**Dont** use end punctuation if your list items are sentence fragments, single words, or short phrases:
- Policies
- Enterprise support
- Self-hosted agent auto-updates
**Dont** mix complete sentences with sentence fragments, single words, or short phrases. Consistent formatting makes lists easier to read.
**Dont** use commas or semicolons to end bullet points.
#### How to capitalize list items
**Do** use a capital letter at the beginning of every bullet point. The only exceptions are words that follow specific style guides (e.g., macOS).
## Web elements
### SQL statements
When adding SQL statements, all SQL reserved words should be uppercase, and all identifiers (such as tables and columns) should be lowercase. Heres an example:
`SELECT days, hours, total_seconds FROM uptime;`
### Markdown
Markdown is a simple formatting syntax used to write content on the web. In order to publish content like articles, docs, or handbook entries, you must format your content in Markdown. Refer to our [Markdown guide](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/marketing/markdown-guide) for help with formatting headings, lists, tables, and more.
## Grammarly
All of our writers and editors have access to Grammarly, which comes with a handy set of tools, including:
- **Style guide**, which helps us write consistently in the style of Fleet.
- **Brand tones** to keep the tone of our messaging consistent with just the right amount of confidence, optimism, and joy.
- **Snippets** to turn commonly used phrases, sentences, and paragraphs (such as calls to action, thank you messages, etc.) into consistent, reusable snippets to save time.
## Writing documentation
You dont have to be a “writer” to write documentation. Nobody knows Fleet better than the people who are building our product. That puts developers in the perfect position to show users what Fleet can do.
This guide will help you write docs that help users achieve their goals with Fleet.
### Remember the reader
People come from different backgrounds. New users may not know terms that are common knowledge for seasoned developers. Since Fleet has users all over the world, English may not be their first language. Your writing must be easy for any user to understand.
- **Think of every user.** Define technical terms in the doc or include a link.
- **Strive for simplicity.** Avoid complex sentences and long paragraphs.
- **Be approachable.** Write like youre meeting a new member of your team.
### Answer the question
Its what were all about at Fleet. People read docs in order to accomplish their goals. Those goals can vary from learning about Fleet for the first time to looking for troubleshooting tips. Make sure your doc meets the specific need of the user at that moment.
- **Understand the question.** Be clear about the topic youre discussing.
- **Narrow your focus.** Avoid explanations that distract from the main topic.
- **No more, no less.** Use just enough information to give an accurate answer.
### Follow a framework
Starting with a blank page can be scary. Thats why it helps to have a framework for your writing. Follow these four steps to write your docs: introduction, explanation, reference, and troubleshooting.
#### Introduction
Give an overview of the topic. You dont need to mention everything at the beginning. Briefly establish the question youre addressing. People want to get to the answer A.S.A.P.
#### Explanation
Youve let users know why theyre reading your doc. Its time to make sure they understand the topic. This will be most of your documentation. Dont shy away from details.
#### Reference
Support your explanation with relevant references. This shows users how to put your explanation into practice. Such material will keep users coming back.
#### Troubleshooting
Nothing is perfect. Your readers understand this. Users will appreciate it if you identify common problems — and provide solutions — before they encounter these issues later.
### Document every change
Any change to Fleets code should be documented, from adding patches to building features. This allows users and Fleeties to stay up to date with improvements to our product.
You dont need to wait until a change has been made to write a new doc. Starting with documentation can help you discover ways to make Fleet even better.
Writing about how to use a new feature puts you in the shoes of the user. If something seems complicated, you have the opportunity to improve it — before committing a line of code.
<meta name="maintainedBy" value="chris-mcgillicuddy">
<meta name="title" value="Content style guide">

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@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ After your article is published, the Growth team will schedule your post to be p
## Related pages
- [Article formatting guide](./article-formatting-guide)
- [Markdown guide](./markdown-guide)
- Writing style guide (todo)
- [Content style guide](./content-style-guide)
<meta name="maintainedBy" value="chris-mcgillicuddy">
<meta name="title" value="How to submit and publish an article">