Editorial: The Engadget style guide reaches a MILESTONE
By Nilay Patel 
posted November 30th 2009 5:09PM
posted November 30th 2009 5:09PM
That's sort of a crazy coincidence -- while we're not so sure word spacing and porn have anything to do with each other, we did just re-do our style guide when we launched our jazzy new redesign, and we actually thought long and hard about how to handle intercapped, all-capped, and otherwise non-standard product names. This is something we deal with a hundred times a day, and we simply weren't going to let Motorola tell us to write MILESTONE over and over again, completely contradicting our own sense of style and taste -- as the Times says, "Writers of the world, fight back!" Well, we can't say no to that, so we thought we'd share our four newly-minted rules for writing out non-standard product names:
- Product and company names that are regular English words shall be treated like proper English nouns, complete with proper capitalization. Example: DROID becomes Droid and nook becomes Nook.
- Product and company names that are not regular English words shall be capitalized first as proper nouns, and then as the company treats them. Example: RAZR stays RAZR, but chumby would become Chumby.
- Intercapped product and company names should generally be treated as the company treats them, unless it's egregious and / or looks weird. Example: iPhone stays iPhone, BlackBerry stays BlackBerry and TiVo stays TiVo, but ASUSTeK becomes Asustek. This rule is subject to many exceptions based on usage and history, and also functions as the "this is stupid" loophole.
- Acronyms should obviously be in all-caps.
We think these rules are flexible to handle most situations, although there are some edge cases and blatant Rule 3 violations out there. Still, it's a start -- unlike the Times, we're pretty sure "iPhone" and "MasterCard" are here to stay, but we feel like our rules are a small step towards making our site clearer and more readable. Either that, or we're just crazy in the head.
Halp. . . these rules hurt my brain.
@ElCapitan .....I think this means that engadget is changing its logo?
@ElCapitan
They've hurt the Engadget staff's brains first. With all of that stupendous and demanding thinking, and with such clever and commendable results, I doubt there's any left.
I think something smells "gothi"y in here...
3. Intercapped product and company names should generally be treated as the company treats them, unless it's egregious and / or looks weird. Example: iPhone stays iPhone, BlackBerry stays BlackBerry and TiVo stays TiVo, but ASUSTeK becomes Asustek. This rule is subject to many exceptions based on usage and history, and also functions as the "this is stupid" loophole.
This borders on self-satirization. In the least, it's irony. I love you Engadget, but it's just irritating that you're implementing a "serious" style guide (serious because you're making your policy public), and then stick this completely, dare I say, unprofessional, rule that discriminates arbitrarily between brands.
In the least, I would think y'all would just make a P.R. move and keep your rules consistent (read: fair). The "engadget are apple fanboys" klaxons will always keep barking, but you're going to miff even the moderates of the crowd.
There's a reason why companies do this kind of thing - It's so that their product or company name stand out from regular words. I say nothing should be changed otherwise it will just be confusing.
@Hydraulics
Perhaps if they spent a few more $$$ on improving their products, and a few less $$$ hiring newly minted marketing droids, there would be less need to have the product name StandOutInACrowd, as the product would speak for itself.
@Spiny Norman
Don't you mean DROIDS ?
@Spiny Norman
I think it may be necessary to do both. You have heard the saying about a great product and a poor sales team. It would be great if a great product was all a took, but that just isn't the case. Ex: the whopper beats the big mac in every blind taste test, the big mac will always outsell the whopper.......Or is it BigMaC?
@Hydraulics
I agree that capitalization is used to make it stand out in standard marketing, but in an article I really don't see how it makes a difference. Engadget could write an article about an iPhone but spell it "iphone" and you'd still know what it was. Likewise, DROID and Droid doesn't make a difference. The only issue you would run into is if you took a product named after a common English word and used zero capitalization in a completely ambiguous statement or paragraph. To put it in perspective, think about having a verbal conversation with someone; you understand what product they're referencing simply by context, not by having them tell you what letters in the product name are actually capitalized.
@Edobe
Ah, but sales != marketing. A good salesman could sell you a hamburger if it was call 'Steaming Sh*t on a Bun'.
However, you may be on to something. Given the prevalence of big-box retailers, and the lack of knowledgeable sales people in these stores, the product companies may have no choice but to lure you with a catchy name, as the non-existent sales person is not going to get the job done.
@Hydraulics In other words, they're doing it to game the system.
There is no reason why a word like DROID or MILESTONE needs to be capitalized except to say "hey! look at meeeee!" It's ridiculous. It's one thing to give deference to a product name, another to realize that we're all speaking freakin' English here. You don't write in all caps. I mean, we on the internet all got over our shouting habits with the death of the Vic-20 (oh, sorry, the VIC-20), and the fall of AOL (Aol?).
Also, what about product names without caps, like the nook? Now *that's* confusing if you actually write it the way they want you to. "Hey, Tom, the other day I bought a nook." What? You bought a little enclosed area somewhere?
I think Engadget inadvertently hit on the cardinal rule of any language, which is the "this is stupid" rule. Certainly English has plenty of dumb things about it, though they're all unintentional side effects of being a mish-mash of various other languages. That doesn't excuse *intentionally* writing dumb things. You don't need to intentionally write MILESTONE in all caps just because somebody tells you to - it's stupid, and it's incorrect.
I applaud Engadget for having some common sense.
good for you?
@saturnblackhole I think it's supposed to be good for us
@(Unverified) See the post I am replying to in Firefox in Windows for a lesson in line height. The lowercase 'g' is cut off in single line posts and it's killing me!
I can barely stomach apostrophes and now you're ruining my cap's?
@michaelwub Your cap's what?
@DustinM
He's still having trouble with those apostrophes.
@michaelwub What's wrong with apostrophe's?
@DustinM
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH
@michaelwub
In the new utopia, there will be no apostrophe
@tcc3
Hopefully the New Utopia will be filled with people who can understand apostrophes like most ten year old school children.
@Trial
What's that whooshing sound?
Oh, right: A joke that went over their heads.
WTF? Or should I say, Wtf?
@Spiny Norman Lol
@Spiny Norman Got it wrong, my man -- rule 4! :)
@Nilay Patel He lost the game.
What does the style guide say about punctuation and Yahoo! ?
@skim
And how do you end parenthetical statements with emoticons?
#3 is about the least regular "rule" I've ever seen.
@byanelli
That's known as the iPhone rule (or iPod rule). It's an exception carved out for branding guidelines for Apple products. Whatever Apple calls something Engadget will use the same name.
They threw in BlackBerry as an example just to make it appear like this wasn't really about the iPhone or iPod.
@bjsguess I see you've commented on your enjoyment of WinMo 6.5 in the past, which significantly limits your ability to be taken seriously here.
@byanelli
I will say I was secretly hoping this article would lead to The Inquirer's proper spelling of the iPhone ala Iphone, but alas no go.
@Chris Ziegler
I see that you have removed the ability to uprank/downrank yourself which significantly limits your ability to be taken seriously here
@Chris Ziegler Chris, I'd uprank you here, but, y'know.
@Chris Ziegler
+1
(since I can't uprank you)
@Chris Ziegler
Your funny.
WinMo 6.5 is a sound a dependable mobile OS.
@Creativity '[His] funny' had nothing to do with WinMo as an operating system, but WinMo as a word alone. Read-between-the-lines fail.
@Chris Ziegler
"I see you've commented on your enjoyment of WinMo 6.5 in the past, which significantly limits your ability to be taken seriously here."
What're you, six?
*Waits for ban*
@FallenArms3
Except that WinMo is a contraction of two capitalized words.
Thus WinMo is correct, Winmo would not be.
Even if iPhone were a combination of I and phone, iPhone is still bad English.
The fact that millions of other people use the words "ain't" and "supposably", doesn't make someone who does any less wrong.
@jon
I know a guy who uses "supposably" all the time. I want to ring his neck pretty much constantly.
@Chris Ziegler
Not sure I understand. My opinion is not valid because I like WinMo 6.5 or you can't take me seriously because I did not follow Engadget's style guide recommendations for Windows Mobile?
In any event, my comment was in agreement with byanelli. The third rule seems very odd. Why can an iPhone be called an iPhone but a ASUSTek is now Asustek? Why not use the name provided by the manufacturer? If there is ambiguity on the part of the manufacturer then sure, revert to your new style rules. Otherwise let companies brand their products as they see fit.
I can't even imagine the crap storm that would fly if you did to the iPhone (iphone or Iphone or IPHONE) what you are doing to ASUS. Point 3 is all about your subjective opinion about what "looks" right. Why is ASUSTek any funkier than iPhone? I'll grant you that noobs may not be familiar with ASUS but that hardly seems like a justification for diluting their brand.
@bjsguess
Totez McGoatz. You pretty much eliminate the efficacy of any of the other rules with rule #3 there.
It's right because I said so... fantastic... remind me not to vote for any engadget editors should they ever decide to run for office.
@FallenArms3
............................................________
....................................,.-‘”...................``~.,
.............................,.-”...................................“-.,
.........................,/...............................................”:,
.....................,?......................................................\,
.................../...........................................................,}
................./......................................................,:`^`..}
.............../...................................................,:”........./
..............?.....__.........................................:`.........../
............./__.(.....“~-,_..............................,:`........../
.........../(_....”~,_........“~,_....................,:`........_/
..........{.._$;_......”=,_.......“-,_.......,.-~-,},.~”;/....}
...........((.....*~_.......”=-._......“;,,./`..../”............../
...,,,___.\`~,......“~.,....................`.....}............../
............(....`=-,,.......`........................(......;_,,-”
............/.`~,......`-...............................\....../\
.............\`~.*-,.....................................|,./.....\,__
,,_..........}.>-._\...................................|..............`=~-,
.....`=~-,_\_......`\,.................................\
...................`=~-,,.\,...............................\
................................`:,,...........................`\..............__
.....................................`=-,...................,%`>--==``
........................................_\..........._,-%.......`\
...................................,
@Creativity
Is that Jean-Luc Picard?
@bjsguess
The answer to all of your questions is there in rule #3: "This is stupid".
@Creativity
No, that's Dr. Lazarus.
@collindow
You mean you want to "wring" his neck....
Live by the sword, die by the sword, my man.
Just leave it as it is. I know you say iPhone wont be changed.. but think.. doesnt it look weird when people type Ipod and Iphone .. or ASUSTek being Asustek.. Who cares, really? ASUSTek looks cooler; and I'd wager that ASUS stands for something; thus negating all existence and future pre-contenses leading to the destruction of all Harry Potter as we could possibly know it.
Toodle-oo
@Skate It Dont Spray It ASUS doesn't stand for anything, it's a shortening of the word Pegasus. That's why the spinoff company was called Pegatron. ASUS is all-caps for no reason at all.
Trust me, we thought about this longer than you would think is necessary and / or healthy.