Writer’s style guide

The following guide is an overview of the standards that DOYOUYOGA editors impose on pieces they edit. Your style is your own— don’t feel any obligation to follow these guidelines. But we do believe they might help you create great content for millions.

Spelling

Follow spelling as specified by  Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Use the first spelling shown. We recommend you use Random House Dictionary for foreign words.

Numbers up to 101 are best spelled out (for example, ninety-six), just like large round numbers (for example, two thousand). Do not spell out numbers in post titles.

Percentages should be using numerals and spell out “percent” (for example, 20 percent).

Titles

We use “title case” for headings and subheadings. That means:

  • Capitalize all words except coordinate conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), prepositions, and articles.
  • The first and last word of a title is always capitalized, no matter their parts of speech.
  • Capitalize all words following an internal punctuation mark (for example, “DOYOUYOGA — The Final Version”)

Titles of books, newspapers, periodicals, movies, TV shows are italicized.

Use quotation marks for titles of short works (poems, songs, TV episodes, book chapters).

Punctuation

Close quotation marks should:

  • Follow periods and commas (“x.” and “x,”)
  • Precede colons and semicolons (“x”: and “x”;)
  • Precede question marks and exclamation marks, unless those marks are part of the quoted material

Em dashes are formed by typing two hyphens ( — becomes — ).

When a colon introduces:

  • An independent clause (a clause that could stand apart as its own sentence), the first word of that clause should be capitalized
  • A dependent clause (which could not stand apart as its own sentence), the first word of the clause should not be capitalized

Use the serial comma before the conjunction in a series ( x, y, and z).

Acronyms do not require periods (with exceptions; see a dictionary if unsure), whereas abbreviations do.

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