Camunda Writing Style Guide

Avoid

Example/Use

Bold when referring to button names or items to select.

Bold to refer to another section within the same document. If you are referencing another document entirely, link to it.

Click “Create New Diagram.”

Navigate to the “Decisions” section.

Click Create New Diagram under the Diagrams tab.

Use the Save & Deploy option in the Deployment menu.

Navigate to the Decisions section.

i like camunda.

I like Camunda.

I have two hundred dollars.

I have three hundred euros.

€300

$22,600

€22.6 million

Avoid expressing a month as a number to avoid common confusion around US/EU conventions. If there is no way around it, use the US-English “/” as separators for all content (such as marketing materials) with the exception of technical documentation (guides, manuals, etc.)

In technical documentation, use “-” as separators as it mirrors most timestamps in various programming languages. Also note that it may be best to remove the day of the week as it may not be as relevant as the day and month.

10 December, 2018

December 10, 2018

Avoid repeating the same month twice in the same date range.

If you are using numerical values, enter as follows:

Year, month, date.

Camunda Community Summit April 27 – April 28

Camunda Community Summit April 27-28

He/she

A group of people/a person: They

A business: It

A user: The user, they

Always think of “into” as a single preposition (within or outside of something.)

Typically, “into” refers to physically going inside.

Think of “in to” as two independent prepositions that happen to end up next to one another, and typically aren’t physically entering or exiting something.

Oftentimes, you can tell if you should use “in to” because you could place a comma after “in,” and the sentence would still make sense.

Type your name in to the text box to sign up for Camunda.

“Check which folder the file is into ensure you are in the correct location.”

Type your name into the text box to sign up for Camunda.

“Check which folder the file is in to ensure you are in the correct location.”

Avoid overuse, using for button names.

Click Create New Diagram.

See the Bolding section in this style guide above.

Click Create New Diagram under the Diagrams tab.

“You must ensure your environment is configured correctly before moving forward through the steps below.”

Write whole numbers one through nine in full.

Write whole numbers 10 and upwards as numerals.

Large numbers may be written as numerals with definition (million, billion).

Currency does not follow the same rules. See details in the sub-section titled Currency above this table.

In this example, we will create 1 diagram and eleven processes to help 1,000,000 customers.

In this example, we will create one diagram and 11 processes to help 1 million customers.

10 percent

10%

After you execute `npm start` you can run it.

In the example above, what exactly are we running?

After you execute `npm start` you can run the program.

In the revised example above, we removed the unclear pronoun.

Avoid using two spaces after a period:

“Message correlation is a powerful feature in Camunda.  It allows you to target a running workflow with a state update from an external system asynchronously.”

“Message correlation is a powerful feature in Camunda. It allows you to target a running workflow with a state update from an external system asynchronously.”

Default to American spelling and US English.

See details in the sub-section titled Spelling below this table.

Analyse

Colour

Capitalise

Humour

Bernd Rücker

Analyze

Color

Capitalize

Humor

Bernd Ruecker

Use the 12-hour clock, preferably UTC, followed by a.m. and p.m. Always use the corresponding time zone when necessary.

See this useful list of standard abbreviations for time zones.

Be mindful to reflect time zones when writing about events that occur across multiple borders.

Standardizing on timezones, we typically communicate in or default to CET/CEST, EST/EDT, and PST/PDT.

CET or CEST is used depending on daylight savings time, CEST indicating Central European Summer Time.

EST/EDT and PST/ PDT are used depending on daylight savings time, EDT/PDT indicating daylight savings.

Avoid using hyphens to display time periods. Instead, use an en dash.

To type an en dash on your Mac, type Option+Minus (-). To type an en dash on Windows, hold down Alt and type 0150 on the numeric keyboard; the en dash will appear upon releasing the Alt key.

1 p.m. CET

10 a.m. PST

6:30–10 a.m. EDT

I, me, my.

The computer is turned on by pressing the power button.

You, your.

Press the power button to turn on the computer.

1960’s

1960s

Avoid

Use

There are three key uses for apostrophes: contractions, plurals, and possessives.

Do not use apostrophes for time periods.

If the noun ends in an ‘s’, place the apostrophe after the ‘s’.

1980’s

Let us run the command below.

We work to assist the businesses’s microservices.

Let us = Let’s

Do not = Don’t

It is = It’s

1980s

Let’s run the command below.

We work to assist the businesses’ microservices.

Camunda uses the Oxford comma, contrary to AP Style. See details in the sub-section titled “Oxford comma” below this table.

Use a comma to separate independent clauses when any of these seven coordinating conjunctions join them: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet.

Avoid using too many commas and initiating a run-on sentence, however. When possible, use short, separate sentences as opposed to several pieces of information in one sentence.

Always use a comma to separate a sentence introduction from the remainder of the sentence content (Therefore, Thus, As a result, So, Henceforth,)

You may omit the Oxford comma in some specific cases, primarily on social media and where copy is exceptionally brief and clear. It should be used consistently in web and long-form content.

Camunda loves its products, GitHub and Google Analytics.

We want to automate a process so let’s start by creating an account with Camunda.

Therefore we needed to wait for the program to load.

Camunda loves its products, GitHub, and Google Analytics.

We want to automate a process, so let’s start by creating an account with Camunda.

Therefore, we needed to wait for the program to load.

—

As you can see, em dashes are slightly longer than en dashes.

On a Mac, execute Shift+Option+Minus (-); on Windows use Ctrl+Alt+Minus (-).

The em dash sets apart additional, descriptive notes, also defined as “parenthetical information,” or information you might put inside parentheses.

In many programs, you will be unable to create an em dash with a single line. In these instances, please use two hyphens (–) with no white space between to create an em dash.

If you find yourself pondering if you’re using this correctly, cover up the sentence you’ve written after the em dash. If the first sentence makes perfect sense without it, you’re onto a winner.

• –

In the true spirit of the city Camunda was founded, Berlin, Germany, Camunda is a diverse, distributed and global organization with “Camundi” around the world.

At Camunda, we have made it our mission to enable organizations to design, automate and improve these processes, no matter where they are and what they entail.

Camunda was founded in 2008, at a time when established industry players were advocating a low-code approach, but we believed in a developer-first approach.

In the true spirit of the city Camunda was founded—that is, Berlin, Germany—Camunda is a diverse, distributed, and global organization with “Camundi” around the world.

At Camunda, we have made it our mission to enable organizations to design, automate and improve these processes—no matter where they are and what they entail.

Camunda was founded in 2008, at a time when established industry players were advocating a low-code approach—but we believed in a developer-first approach.

–

The en dash is shorter than an em dash and is not the same as a hyphen.

To type an en dash on your Mac, type Option+Minus (-). To type an en dash on Windows, hold down Alt and type 0150 on the numeric keyboard; the en dash will appear upon releasing the Alt key.

Use the en dash predominantly for date and time ranges.

–

The scheduled window for the installation is 1-3pm.

The scheduled window for the installation is 1–3pm.

User friendly interface.

Biggest ever release.

User-friendly interface.

Biggest-ever release.

Prefixes are a stumbling block for many native English speakers. There’s no right or wrong way to use them, because it genuinely depends on the dictionary you use, the style guide you follow, or just how confusing we want to make the language.

Prefixes are basically a few letters tagged at the front of a word to create a different meaning.

Ensure you omit the hyphen!

If at any point you feel a word doesn’t look quite right, just send DevRel a quick Slack, because, unfortunately, there are a ton of exceptions.

Un happy

De activate

Re-activate

Un-do

Unhappy

Deactivate

Reactivate

Undo

We only use double quotations to illustrate the words spoken by another individual.

We do not use quotations when referring to buttons or programs, nor sections of a document.

Following AP Style, we use quotation marks for titles of books, articles, etc.

See the Bolding section in the table above.

One of the greatest benefits of this project has been the close cooperation between business and IT. -Michael Voeller, Head of Project and Demand Management

Navigate to the “Decisions” section of this manual.

“One of the greatest benefits of this project has been the close cooperation between business and IT,” said Michael Voeller, Head of Project and Demand Management

Navigate to the Decisions section of this page.

Preferably, we would link the Decisions  section in the example above so the user doesn’t have to go out of their way to find it.

Semicolons are a wondrous use of punctuation when understood!

Semicolons are stronger than a comma, but not as divisive as a period.

Use semicolons to connect two related but independent clauses (the two pieces of information are related to one another, but they can also stand alone.)

Do not capitalize the first word of the second clause following the semicolon unless it is a proper noun or acronym.

Use semicolons to replace conjunctions (and, or, etc.)

We’ve automated several processes for our partners, we love to see them succeed.

We’ve automated several processes for our partners; we love to see them succeed.

Avoid

Use

One of the most important techniques in technical writing is keeping your text short, clear, clean, and concise.

As a result, work to eliminate unnecessary words or phrases to reduce the amount of text the user must read.

To help test how readable and user-friendly your text is, check out these readability metrics you can use.

Check out this additional guide to Hemingway, a great tool to test the readability and user experience of your document.

Camunda is powered by Zeebe, a new class of BPMN workflow engine that delivers true horizontal scalability and enables high-performance use cases that were once beyond the realm of workflow automation.

Camunda is architected for the cloud from the ground up. It is ideal for cloud application use cases such as microservices-based applications and integrates seamlessly with best-in-class cloud components.

Camunda is powered by Zeebe, a new class of BPMN workflow engine that delivers horizontal scalability and high-performance use cases for workflow automation.

Ideal for microservice-based applications, Camunda easily integrates with industry-leading cloud components.

A user-friendly experience is a clean, concise one with as few words as possible.

A user-friendly experience separates these chunks of information into separate sections for easy reading and organization.

Avoid large, lengthy paragraphs. Instead, try to keep your paragraphs to a maximum of four or five sentences, and then begin a new paragraph introducing more information.

Message correlation is a powerful feature in Camunda. It allows you to target a running workflow with a state update from an external system asynchronously. This tutorial uses the Node.js client, but it serves to illustrate message correlation concepts that are applicable to all language clients. We will use Simple Monitor to inspect the running workflow state. Simple Monitor is a community-supported tool, and is not designed to be used in production – however, it is useful during development.

Message correlation is a powerful feature in Camunda. It allows you to target a running workflow with a state update from an external system asynchronously.

This tutorial uses the Node.js client, but it serves to illustrate message correlation concepts that are applicable to all language clients.

We will use Simple Monitor to inspect the running workflow state. Simple Monitor is a community-supported tool, and is not designed to be used in production – however, it is useful during development.

At Camunda, we have made it our mission to provide developers with the best experience because our platform and tools are easy to get started and use in your environment right away, with full public access to all our docs, open APIs to integrate with just about anything, and a vibrant community of 100,000 developers.

At Camunda, we have made it our mission to provide developers with the best experience. Our platform and tools are easy to get started and use in your environment right away. We offer full public access to all our docs and open APIs. We strive to integrate with just about anything, and a vibrant community of 100,000 developers.

Avoid overuse of the term “that.” More often than not, the term is repetitive or unnecessary.

To practice, double-check your sentences by typing Ctrl+F and searching the term “that.” Read your sentences without the term to see if the sentences still make sense. If they do, chances are you can remove the term.

Typically, you can remove “that” before most nouns, though you may want to keep “that” before an adjective.

To confirm that the first gateway works correctly, complete the steps below:

To confirm the first gateway works correctly, complete the steps below:

Sentence case spelling in titles and headers.

For sentence case spelling, only capitalize the first word and any proper nouns.

Ensure titles and headers are descriptive enough so Camunda doesn’t have a large surplus of mere “Overview” pages.

In Markdown, do not include a colon in your headers.

How To Open A File

Camunda overview

#### Readiness probe as YAML config:

How to open a file

What is Camunda?

#### Readiness probe as YAML config

“Whether X produces the expected value or not” can seem repetitive.

In most cases, it is appropriate to remove the “or not” at the end of the sentence to avoid repetition and unnecessary text.

In a picturesque world, we should lean on “If X produces the expected value,” eliminating the need to use the “whether or not” terminology.

This specifies whether host language resources like classes and their methods are accessible or not.

This specifies if host language resources like classes and their methods are accessible.

Avoid

Use

Currently within Docusaurus, we have the opportunity to utilize admonitions to separate important notes in our documents.

Currently with styling/color standards, we only utilize the note admonition, though you can always add a “Caution” or “Danger” note title.

Please utilize this admonition appropriately according to Docusaurus’ guidance. This will add a significant boost to our UX!

Note: This is the `bpmnProcessId`; you’ll need to create a new instance.

:::note

This is the `bpmnProcessId`; you’ll need to create a new instance.

:::

Use bulleted lists for a list of three or more items.

You may use complete sentences in bulleted lists (followed by a period,) or you may avoid using periods in your bulleted lists if the items are fragmented or short (apples, bananas, grapes, for example.)

Always capitalize the first word of the item in the bullet.

Do not use bullets for a series of steps or instructions. Instead, use numerical lists. See Numerical lists/steps in the table below.

Avoid using commas and semicolons in bulleted lists, as this can cause confusion between listed items.

Do not lowercase the first word following each bullet. Ensure capitalization.

Camunda can be used for several purposes, including:

• To automate a process
• To avoid bottlenecks in business
• To create an organized framework

Click Next.

Use the arrow icon > to list out a series of buttons the user needs to press.

See Menu bar traversal for details in the table below.

Italics and quotes.

Click “Next” and then select “Open” and press “Enter” at the bottom of the page.

Verb + Button Name

Can use screenshot or icon in instructions.

Click Next > Open > Enter

Hit, press

Hit the Next button.

Click, select

Select Next.

Use code blocks when specifically referring to components within code or filenames.

Use code block highlighting, if available. This will not apply to inline code but instead for larger blocks of code.

Do not use code blocks for anything outside of code or filenames, including buttons, titles, etc.

Ensure the `taskID` on your JavaScript page is the same.

Execute the following command:

`npm start`

“`javascript

var = 1;

“`

Avoid bolding or italicizing filenames.

Open `codeStuff.txt`

Ensure your images are appropriate in size and clarity.

All images should include alt text for accessibility purposes.

If using a screenshot to show steps to fill out a UI, include text above or below the screenshot that includes input text.

Crop the user bar and any personal information out of your photo or screenshot. This may include names, passwords, usernames, etc.

Avoid blurry screenshots.

Avoid including any personal information in your images.

Avoid unnecessarily large or bulky images to keep the page clean and concise.

N/A

Link text whenever it refers to a separate section of our documentation or website. No section reference should go unlinked.

Ensure external links are externally linked, meaning when clicked, the link will open in a separate tab and not remove the position the user is in within the documentation in their current tab.

You can do this in Markdown with the following structure:

​​[link](url){:target=”_blank”}

Link any repo links to the anchor link on the repo instead of the master/main/{branch name} link.

Visit our Getting Started Guide for more details.

Visit Get started with Camunda for more details.

In the “File” menu, click “Save as.”

In the File menu, click Save As.

Go to File > New File > BPMN Diagram.

When using an admonition to create a note (See the row titled Admonitions above,) do not place several notes in a row.

Either remove the information in the sequential notes and leave them as paragraphs/independent sentences, or spread the notes out directly alongside the content the note is referring to.

:::note

This is an important note.

:::

:::note

This is another important note.

:::

“According to XYZ, it’s important to note…

Additionally, note that…”

When possible, replace a loaded or long sentence with a series of steps to keep things clear and concise.

See details in the sub-section titled Numerical lists/steps below this table.

Use the Camunda Modeler to open the Payment Retrieval process then click on the Approve Payment Task. Change the activity type to Business Rule Task in the wrench button menu.

1. Use Camunda Modeler to open the Payment Retrieval process.
2. Click the Approve Payment task.
3. Click the wrench icon to change the activity type to Business Rule Task.

In technical writing, give direct, clear instructions. You do not need to ask the user to “please” do something.

Do not use “please” in a numerical or bulleted list.

This may seem rather blunt, but our goal is to create clean, direct instructions and documentation.

Please open the link.

Open the link.

See this documentation example.

See this GitHub example.

Keep visuals in mind as you create a document to avoid large, lengthy paragraphs. Consider the following:

Would this series of information be more visually appealing in a table?

Should I add a brief video, gif, or image to show the user the more complex steps I’ve described?

Avoid several paragraphs of information contained in large bodies of text.

Practice clean, clear, and brief chunks of text. Consider a table or image to display the information you’ve outlined.

Avoid

Use

BPMN, DMN, TTFN – the use of acronyms should be judged by the level of audience knowledge.

For a technical audience, use industry standard acronyms from the start. However, for new concepts or emerging acronyms, write the process in full first, and then follow with the acronym at the next use.

For a non-technical audience, always write an acronym in full the first time you use it in any new piece of content. Afterwards, it can be abbreviated.

Avoid abbreviating the term on its first use if the documentation is for an audience which may be non-technical.

Most often, you should spell out the acronym on first reference and abbreviate thereafter depending on the level of audience knowledge.

Either or both of two stated possibilities.

Determine if it is one or the other, do not use both.

You can further parallelize archiver and(or) and/or importer within one node using the following configuration parameters

You can further parallelize archiver and importer within one node using the following configuration parameters

Uppercase

Lowercase

In long-form copy including news releases, do not capitalize a job title if listed after a name.

Do capitalize a job title if listed before a name.

An exception may be within a list of people, such as on Camunda’s leadership page or a conference speakers list, where capitalizing titles may be appropriate.

Note that for Camunda-specific roles, you should always capitalize. For example: Member, Owner, etc.

Charley Mann, Content Strategist

Charley Mann, content strategist

Avoid “workflow automation” and “workflow instance” where “process automation” and “process instance” is preferred.

We prefer process automation and process instance over workflow automation or workflow instance.

See details in the sub-section titled Process vs. workflow below this table.

Avoid “workflow automation” and “workflow instance” where “process automation” and “process instance” is preferred.

We prefer process automation and process instance over workflow automation or workflow instance.

See details in the sub-section titled Process vs. workflow below this table.