Every Style Guide

Quick-and-dirty Every style guide

Always use the following style guide, go though the items one by one and suggest edits.

• Title case for headlines, sentence case for everything else.
• Refer to companies as singular ("it" instead of "they" or "them") and teams or people within companies as plural ("they").
• Don't overuse "actually," "very," or "just" (they can almost always be deleted).
• When linking to another source, hyperlink between 2-4 words.
• You can generally cut adverbs.
• Watch out for passive voice—use active whenever possible.
• Spell out numbers one through nine. Spell out a number if it is the first word of a sentence, unless it's a year. Use numerals for numbers 10 and greater.
• You may use italics for emphasis, but never bold or underline.
• Image credits in captions are italicized, like this: Source: X/Name (if Twitter), Source: Website name.
• Don't capitalize job titles.
• Colons determine capitalization rules. When a colon introduces an independent clause, the first word of that clause should be capitalized. When a colon introduces a dependent clause, the first word of the clause should not be capitalized.
• Use an Oxford comma for serialization (x, y, and z).
• Use a comma to separate independent clauses but not dependent clauses.
• Do not use a space after an ellipsis.
• Use an em dash (—) to set off a parenthetical statement. Do not put spaces around an em dash. Generally, don't use em dashes more than twice in a paragraph.
• Use hyphens in compound adjectives, with the exception of adverbs (i.e., words ending in "ly"). Example: fine-tuned vs. finely tuned.
• Italicize titles of books, newspapers, periodicals, movies, TV shows, and video games. Do not italicize "the" before New York Times or "magazine" after New York.
• Identify people by their full names on first mention, last name thereafter. In newsletter and social media communications, use first names rather than last names.
• Percentages always use numerals, and spell out percent: 7 percent.
• Numbers over three digits take a comma: 1,000.
• Punctuation goes outside of a parentheses unless the text in parentheses is a full sentence, or there's a question or exclamation within the parenthetical.
• Place periods and commas inside quotation marks.
• Quotes within quotations should be placed in single quotation marks (' ').
• If the text preceding a quote introduces the quote, include a comma before the quote. If the text before the quote leads directly into the quote, don't include a comma. Capitalize the first letter in the quote when it's a full sentence or when following "said," "says," or other introductory language.
• Rather than "above" or "below," use terms like "earlier," "later," "previously," etc.
• Rather than "over" or "under," use "more" or "less"/"fewer" when referring to numbers or quantities.
• Try to avoid slashes (like and/or), and use hyphens instead when needed.
• Avoid starting sentences with "This," and be specific with what you're referring to.
• Avoid starting sentences with "We have" or "We get," and instead, say directly what is happening.
• Avoid cliches or jargon.
• Write out "times" when referring to more powerful software: "two times faster." You can write "10x" in reference to the common trope.
• Use a dollar sign instead of writing out "dollars": $1 billion.
• Identify most people by company and/or job title: Stripe's Patrick McKenzie. (Exception: Mark Zuckerberg)

Our grammar and mechanics

Every generally follows Merriam-Webster and the AP Stylebook.

Abbreviations and acronyms

First Usage Rule

If there's a chance a reader won't recognize an abbreviation or acronym, then spell it out the first time. When you write out an entity's full name the first time, include an abbreviation in brackets if you plan to use it again: United States Air Force (USAAF). If the abbreviation is more common than the long form, then just use the short form (CMS, DVD, FTP).

Common Abbreviations

Abbreviate words, phrases, and titles that are almost always abbreviated in English: a.m., p.m., et al., i.e. and e.g. (both of which are followed by a comma), vs., etc.

Established Acronyms

Abbreviate firmly established shortened forms, acronyms, and similar abbreviations: AI, TV, UK, UN

Punctuation in Abbreviations

Set most abbreviations without points, though there are some exceptions: U.S.A., U.S., L.A., N.Y.C., D.C.

Plural Abbreviations

When forming plurals of abbreviations, add an s to those without points, an apostrophe and s to those with points: LLMs, TVs, Ph.D.'s, M.B.A.'s

Specific Abbreviations

Specific abbreviations: LGBTQIA+

Geography

Spell out cities and states in full. Include the state when referring to non-major cities or for specificity. Offset the state with commas: They were born in Paris, Texas, and moved to San Francisco in 1995.

Time Format

Spell out the day and the month, and separate them with a comma: Sunday, January 21

Ampersands

Usage Rule

Avoid using them unless they're part of a proper noun or company name. Write out "and" instead. In the event of a joint byline, the same rule applies: She interned for the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. By Dan Shipper and Evan Armstrong

Bold, italics, underline

Emphasis Guidelines

Italics may be used in rare cases for emphasis, especially if doing so will increase clarity. Bold and underline should not be used for emphasis: Hosting a meeting with all 20 team members seemed like a good idea, but the conversation quickly got out of hand.

Buttons

Button Text

Use the sentence case in CTA buttons: Register for the course

Bylines

Guest Author Biography

Pieces written by guest authors include a biography for the author at the bottom of the piece. If a piece was previously published, cite and link to the original source. Use italics: Leo Polovets is a general partner at Humba Ventures, an early-stage deep tech fund in the Susa Ventures fund family. Before cofounding Susa and Humba, Leo spent 10 years as a software engineer. Previously, he was the second engineering hire at LinkedIn, among other roles. This piece was originally published in his newsletter.

Guest Author Introduction

Pieces written by guest authors also include an introduction from an Every staff member that identifies the author, their background, the subject of the piece, and why we recommend it. The introduction is signed by the staff member who wrote it. Use italics: When I was coming up in tech, the conventional wisdom was that working at or investing in software companies was a great way to make money, while doing so with companies that took on scientific risk or produced hardware components were a wonderful way to lose every cent to your name. This has always struck me as, you know, wrong, which is why this piece by venture capitalist Leo Polovets resonated with me. He takes a data-driven approach to understanding how deep tech companies can produce superior financial returns. If you're on the fence with your career—perhaps facing temptation to do something relatively safe in B2B SaaS—take this piece as a rational encouragement to dream bigger. —Evan

Capitalization

General Rule

Use common sense. When in doubt, don't capitalize. Do not capitalize these words: website, internet, online, email, web3, custom instructions

Job Titles

Do not capitalize job titles, whether on their own or preceding names, unless they're very unusual: He accepted the position of director of business operations. Director of business operations Lucas Crespo manages Every's ad sales. Lucas Crespo, director of business operations, manages Every's ad sales. Chief Happiness Officer

Colons

Colons (:) determine capitalization rules. When a colon introduces: An independent clause, the first word of that clause should be capitalized. A dependent clause, the first word of the clause should not be capitalized.

Civic Titles

Capitalize civic titles only when they precede a name and function as a proper title: Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Lowercase such titles when they appear as a common noun: a senator (common noun), Senator Schumer (title preceding name), Chuck Schumer, senator from New York (common noun), New York senator Schumer (common noun used in apposition), the president, President Biden, former president Obama, the mayor, Mayor Adams, New York mayor Eric Adams

Academia

Capitalize course titles mentioned in text, and don't enclose them in quotation marks: She took Computer Science and Maximize Your Mind With ChatGPT. Lowercase the names of academic disciplines: One job requirement is a master's in computer science.

Geography Names

Lowercase the initial the in place names and in the names of bands, bars, restaurants, hotels, products, and the like: the Netherlands, the Pixies, the Pentagon

Captions

Caption Format

Capitalize the first word of a caption, and end with a period, whether or not the body of the caption is a full sentence.

Identifying Names

When a caption consists of nothing but an identifying name, however, omit the end punctuation. If the identifying caption includes any language beyond just a name, though, use the final punctuation: Dan Shipper. Dan Shipper, Every CEO.

Image Credits

When a caption includes an image credit, the credit should be formatted as DALL-E/Every illustration.

Commas

Serial Comma

Use the serial or Oxford comma before the conjunction in a series: x, y, and z

Independent vs Dependent Clauses

Use a comma to separate independent clauses but not dependent clauses: He helped trouble-shoot an issue, and she wrote code. She signed up for Every and became a subscriber.

Restrictive Elements

Set off nonrestrictive elements with commas; don't set off restrictive elements. The most frequent example is the that/which difference: The piece, which garnered 15,000 readers, is one of Every's most successful. The piece that garnered 15,000 readers is one of Every's most successful.

Too Usage

Include a comma before "too" when used to mean "in addition." Don't use a comma when "too" refers to the subject of the sentence: I ate a bowl of ice cream. I had a cookie, too. You're a cat person? I am too.

Names

Don't include commas before "Jr." or "Sr.": Hank Aaron Jr.

Repetition

Don't include commas before words repeated for emphasis: It's what makes you you.

General Comma Usage

Otherwise, follow common sense with commas. Read the sentence out loud. If you need to take a breath, use a comma.

Dates

Date Formats

Write dates as follows: April 13, 2018, The 19th of April was a nice day, March 2020, Thanksgiving 2023, summer 1999, the years 1980–85

Decades

When referring to a decade, write out the full year numerically at first mention and abbreviate on the second: She was born in the 1980s. The '80s was a wild decade.

Ellipses

Usage

Use ellipses (…) to show that you're omitting words or trailing off before the end of a thought. Don't use an ellipsis for emphasis or drama. Don't use ellipses in titles or headers, nor when you should be using a colon (a list is to follow). There is no space before an ellipsis, and one space after… like this.

Em dashes

Usage and Spacing

Use an em dash ( — ) for a true break or to set off a parenthetical statement. Do not put spaces around them. Try not to use em dashes more than twice in a paragraph. Don't use hyphens in place of an em dash: It's an anxious time to be an independent bookseller—but a recent upswing in sales is cause for optimism.

En dash

Usage

Use them in compound adjectives, compound noun constructions, or when indicating spans or ranges: 5°C–10°C, from 10 a.m.–2 p.m., January 2019–November 2020, Texas–Mexico border, then–VP of engineering

Filenames

File Types

When referring to a file type, use the appropriate acronym in all caps: GIF, PDF

Specific Files

When referring to a specific file, specify the filename followed by a period and the file type, all lowercase: important-graph.jpg

Headlines

Title Case

Use title case for headlines. Use sentence case for subtitles and subheadings. Capitalize important words — everything but articles, conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), and prepositions under four letters — in headings. Capitalize the first word only in subtitles and subheadings.

Prepositions

Capitalize short prepositions that form an integral part of a verb: Growing Up in China

Internal Punctuation

Capitalize all words following an internal punctuation mark: My Company Died — Learn From My Mistakes

First and Last Words

The first and last words of a headline are capitalized, no matter their parts of speech. Don't use punctuation in a title unless it's a question or exclamatory sentence.

Handwritten Letters

Headlines include one handwritten letter: The Secret [F]ather of Modern Computing

Subheadings

In general, start with h2 heading size and go smaller as needed for subheads. Some things to keep in mind: make sure that the hed doesn't run on too long (or onto a second line), or look out of place on the page. If it does, go smaller. For interview questions, use h5 heading size.

Hyphens

Compound Adjectives

Use hyphens in compound adjectives, with the exception of adverbs (words ending in "-ly" or modifying a verb). A compound adjective that contains another compound adjective calls for an en dash: first-time founder, state-of-the-art design, open-source project, Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist, newly released program

Post-Noun Usage

Don't use hyphens when the compound adjective is placed after the noun it modifies or when the adjective is made up of nouns: The team is world class. video game console, The feature is first of its kind. toilet paper roll

Suspended Hyphens

Use a suspended hyphen for multiple hyphenated compounds or words: NewYork- and San Francisco-based company, university-owned and -operated bookstore

Percentages and Amounts

Hyphenation is usually unnecessary when expressing percentage, degree, or dollar amounts in figures: a 50 percent decline, $50 billion investment. But: a 50- to 60-percent decline, a $1-million-a-month burn rate

Fractions

Use hyphens in fractions, no matter their part of speech: three-fourths of the team, a share of one-third, one-third the size, a three-fourths share, one-third slower

Italics

Titles

Italicize titles of books, newspapers, periodicals, movies, TV shows, and video games, with the following rules: If a m