Abbreviations and acronyms

If there’s a chance your reader won’t recognize an abbreviation or acronym, spell it out the first time you mention it.Then use the short version for all other references. If the abbreviation isn’t clearly related to the full version, specify in parentheses.

Related content

Active vs. passive voice

At Maze, we use the active voice. It’s more direct, clear, and stronger than the passive voice. What’s the difference between the active and the passive voice?

When writing for Content at Maze, we like to address our readers directly using ‘you’ in the second-person narrative.

Example:

If you’ve ever been asked, “How satisfied were you with [product]?” then you’ve experienced a leading question. This question assumes that you had a satisfactory experience (“how satisfied”) and primes you to think positively about it, which can end up influencing your reply.” 

Extract taken from How to identify and avoid leading questions in UX research.

Further reading

Capitalization

• For headlines, we use sentence case. For example, ‘How to identify and avoid leading questions in UX research.’
• The only exceptions where we use Title Case for headlines, is if it’s:
• A meta title.
• A Guide or a Playbook title (H1s).
• A headline for paid ads.
  In these cases, the example provided would become ‘How to Identify and Avoid Leading Questions in UX Research.’
• When writing specifically for content, use sentence case for our Table of Contents, like this:
• Don’t capitalize chapter titles in guides (see this one in A Beginner’s Guide to Usability Testing as an example).
• Capitalize after colons in a bulleted list or headlines but do not capitalize after colons in body copy.

• Capitalize the start of bullet points.
• see, not doing it looks wrong.
• When writing about Maze as a company, always capitalize the M.
• When writing about creating a single maze within the product, keep it lowercase. This also applies to the plural ‘mazes’—we should never write ‘Mazes’.
• We capitalize branded terms, like The Optimal Podcast or Disco Conf.
• We capitalize Maze features and products, like Reach and Clips.
• We capitalize our pricing plans: Free, Professional, Organization.
• We capitalize our departments (but not the word ‘team’): Product, Support, Marketing. Example: “If you have an issue with your account, our Support team will be happy to help you.”
• But we don’t capitalize these terms if they appear as a noun in general. Example: “If you’re looking for support, you’ve come to the right place.”
• When writing out an email address or website URL, use all lowercase. Example: ariane@maze.design.

Contractions

We write in an informal way. We're fine with making ‘grammar mistakes’ if they sound more human. But don't overdo it.

By writing as we speak, we sound more human. This is particularly important when speaking with people in a Customer Support context, as we want to be relatable and friendly. Just be careful with is and are after using a contraction.

Connectors

Try to use connectors sparingly and only if they serve a purpose. This is particularly important in writing for content at Maze.

Related content

How do I correctly use ‘so’ as a connector? 

If ‘so’ is to indicate a logical progression, it does not need a comma. You can also think back to the classic rule of using a comma where you may likely take a breath.

Emojis

Emojis are great fun and can bring more personality into our copy, as well as break down bigger concepts in a more playful way. But there are a few considerations that should be taken when using them:

Skin-tone emojis 

Any emojis that depict humans or human features with skin tone should always be used in the neutral form (in other words, Simpsons yellow). This does not change no matter who is using them, or who they are directed at.

Spacing 

No 👏 content 👏 like 👏 this 👏 please 👏.

Many screen-readers have a difficult time processing symbols amid words. To a person with a screen-reader, this sentence would be translated to: ’No clap content clap like clap this clap please clap’

Not great, right? Use emojis sparingly. While social media posts can get away with more emojis than a product update message in-app, we should generally stick to only using three at once.

Placement

Just as the above example shows the disruption emojis can cause in spaces, poor placement choices can also wreak havoc on screen-readers. So:

• Don’t use emojis to replace full words

• No emojis in the middle of sentences

• Don’t use repeated emojis or too many emojis per message

You can find more details about how emojis can be used in the writing for social media guide.

Formatting for content

• Use proper formatting for your article and sections in it. H1 is the headline, and the main section titles are H2. If a section is part of another section—a sub-section—then use H3, H4, H5, etc., to indicate hierarchy.
• Write an anchor text that adds value, ideally an SEO keyword. Avoid general anchor text such as "this article" when it can be substituted with a keyword. Also, avoid long anchor text.
• Not not use full stops at the end of headings
• When writing copy for page subtitles, ‘tip’ blocks and CTAs, follow the rule of using punctuation as normal if there’s two or more sentences. Otherwise, do not use punctuation and do not end with a full stop.
• Put emojis before text in a ‘tip’ block heading
• Ensure meta information is formatted within Word counts and character limits and the meta title is formatted as “Title Content Goes Here | Maze”
• See Writing for content and Dato best practices for additional info