Tone, Language, and Words

in Style Guide

Tone

Language

Disability language

People-first language, identity-first language

Use both people-first and identify-first language.

Example:

Accessibility is about ensuring that digital technology is usable by people with disabilities. ... The fundamental goal of accessibility is meeting the needs of disabled people in the real world.

People-first language puts the person before the disability.

Examples:

  • people with disabilities
  • people who are blind
  • people who are hard-of-hearing

Exception: Use “autistic people”, not “people with autism”.

Identity-first language puts the disability before the person.

Examples:

  • disabled people
  • blind people
  • hard-of-hearing people

Disability-specific terms

Use “blind”, not “visually impaired”.

Use “deaf” lowercase. Avoid “hearing-impaired” and “hearing-impairment” for deafness.

“Color blind”:

“Loss”:

Terms to avoid

Avoid terms that can be negative, derogatory, dehumanizing, patronizing; that are euphemisms; that suggest suffering, helplessness, or weakness.

Examples:

  • burn victim
  • confined to a wheelchair, wheelchair bound
  • deaf-mute
  • differently abled, different abilities
  • “the disabled”, “the blind”, etc.
  • handicapped
  • high-functioning, low-functioning
  • special needs, specially abled

Gender-inclusive language

Use gender-neutral language, where possible.

Example:

Use “chair”, not “chairman”.

Avoid assumptions about gender.

Example:

Not all builders are male.

See also:

Pronouns: Gender inclusivity and translation considerations

Use pronouns that are inclusive and easy to translate for W3C’s global audience.

Use a plural noun to avoid (he/she, his/her)

Avoid assuming gender by skipping “he/she” and “his/her”, where possible. Use a plural noun instead.

Example:

Using the noun “developer”:

  • Avoid: A developer should test his code before release.
  • Use: Developers should test their code before release.
Use a noun instead of singular “they”

Singular, “they” can be:

To avoid using singular “they”, use a noun instead.

Example:

  • Avoid: If an author can avoid jargon, they should do so.
  • Use: If an author can avoid jargon, the author should do so.

Exceptions: Use:

Plain language

Plain language uses clear wording, structure and design. It helps readers easily:

Techniques for writing in plain language

Abbreviations

Provide the full term with the abbreviation on first use — see Expanding abbreviations.

Contractions

Avoid negative contractions.

Examples:

  • Avoid: “can’t”, don’t, “won’t”
  • Use: “cannot”, “do not”, “will not”

Use positive contractions.

Examples:

Use: it’s, that’s, you’re, they’ll, we’ve, let’s

Personal pronouns

Use “you” and “your” to address the reader.

Use “we” when speaking for an organisation (like W3C), but only when it’s clear who “we” refers to.

Structure

Break up information into smaller sections to make it easier to read — see Using structural elements.

Verbs

Do not turn actions into nouns. Use verbs instead.

Examples:

Example 1:

  • Avoid: We conducted an analysis of the results.
  • Use: We analyzed the results.

Example 2:

  • Avoid: They carried out an investigation into the issue.
  • Use: They investigated the issue.
Voice

Write in active voice; that is, the subject performs the action.

Avoid passive voice where possible.

Example:

  • Avoid the passive voice: Additional information will be provided here when it's available.
  • Use the active voice: We’ll provide updated information here when it’s available.
Words

Example of unnecessary words:

  • Avoid: Try to write link text so that it clearly describes where the link goes.
  • Use: Write link text that describes where the link goes.

Spelling

Terms

Correct usage of key terms

Accessible

Do not use “accessible” to mean things like “convenient,” “available,” or “easy to use.” Use it to refer specifically to accessibility for people with disabilities or to places that are easy to reach or enter.

Example:

  • Avoid: The gardens are accessible to the public.
  • Use: The gardens are open to the public.

Click (versus select)

Do not say “select” instead of “click” just to make the wording work for people who do not use a mouse.

Use “click” when activating a button or a link, because everyone understands what this means.

Examples:

  • Click the “Submit” button.
  • Click the link.

Use “select” when choosing from options.

Example:

Select from the dropdown menu.

Hand-eye coordination

Use “hand-eye coordination”, not “eye-hand coordination”.

Speech recognition, voice recognition

Speech recognition converts spoken words into text for speech-to-text (STT) transcription, virtual assistants, and other speech user interfaces.

Voice recognition identifies who is speaking by analyzing their unique vocal characteristics, such as voice biometrics to authenticate a user.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

URL is a string of characters that identifies a resource. It provides information on how to locate and access the resource. Use this term when referring to links to webpages.

Example:

https://www.w3.org/WAI/ — this identifies the resource, the WAI homepage, as a webpage at the w3.org domain accessed using the secure HTTP protocol.

URI (Uniform Resource Identifier)

URI is a string of characters that identifies a resource. It does not always describe how to locate the resource. Use this term when referring to a resource identifier.

Example:

mailto:wai@w3.org — this identifies an email resource.

Terms to avoid

W3C terms

Member(s)

Capitalize “Members” in the singular or plural when referring to organizations that are W3C Members.

Examples:

  • The organization joined the World Wide Web Consortium as a Member to work with us.
  • W3C Members are organizations of all sizes and all types.

WCAG terms

WCAG 2

Example of referring to a specific version:

It conforms to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.

WCAG 3
WCAG article and verb

Treat “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2” and “W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3” as titles of standards, not as plural “guidelines”.

When referring to the WCAG title, it’s a proper noun: Do not put the article (“the”) in front of WCAG.

Examples:

  • Follow WCAG.
  • Follow Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Use WCAG with a singular verb.

Examples:

  • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2 is published by W3C.
  • WCAG 3.0 is not expected to become a W3C Recommendation this year.

When WCAG is used as an adjective: Use the article (“the”) in front of WCAG.

Example:

Follow the WCAG standard.

WCAG success criteria

Do not refer to success criteria by number alone. Include the title.

Example:

  • Avoid: This applies to Success Criterion 1.4.5.
  • Use: This applies to Success Criterion 1.4.5 Images of Text.

Do not use a colon between the success criterion number and title.

Example:

  • Avoid: Success Criterion 1.4.5: Images of Text.
  • Use: Success Criterion 1.4.5 Images of Text.

Working Group, Task Force

Capitalize “Working Group” and “Task Force” as proper nouns.

Examples:

  • You can join Working Groups and specific Task Forces.
  • The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group is discussing the issue.

Use lowercase for general “groups”.

Example:

  • Several groups are discussing the issue.
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