Style

AP style governs “fast” content (newspapers, online articles). Chicago style governs “slow” content (books, some periodicals); this clarifies how the reality of media dictates style. Examples:

• Serial Comma. The serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma or Harvard comma) is the comma used immediately before a coordinating conjunction (and, or, nor) preceding the final item in a list of three or more items. For example, a list of three countries could be punctuated as either “Portugal, Spain, and France” (with the serial comma) or as “Portugal, Spain and France” (without the serial comma). In American and British English, the serial comma is standard usage in non-journalistic writing that follows the Chicago Manual of Style. Journalists, however, follow the AP Stylebook, which advises against it. In many languages (e.g., Danish, Dutch, French, German,  Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Spanish) the serial comma is not the norm and goes against punctuation rules. 
• Semi Colon. The semi colon is recommended to aid the intended tone or rhythm of the writing (e.g., “He hit the ball, dropped the bat, and ran to first base. The semi colon is recommended in place of the serial comma to avoid ambiguity in the case of complex or lengthy phrases (e.g., There were citizens from Bangor, Maine; Hartford, Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; and Newport, Rhode Island.)
• Spacing. Only one space after each sentence. Two spaces after a colon.

Hyperlinks

If relative to the site, omit the target attribute in the link; but if linking to an external site, always open the link in a new window or tab. A quick way to do this is by adding the target=”_blank” attribute.

Example of a relative link:

<a href=”internal/page”>Internal page</a>

Example of external link:

<a href=”http://google.com” target=”_blank”>External page</a>

Bullets

Capitalize the first word in bullets; punctuation at the end of each phrase is optional and generally not used. Short phrases and sentences should end with appropriate punctuation. 

Any questions about formatting usage should be submitted to xTuple Marketing Team.