--- title: Grammar and mechanics description: >- Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and formatting guidelines for the content in your app. source_url: html: 'https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/design/content/grammar-and-mechanics' md: 'https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/design/content/grammar-and-mechanics.md' --- # Grammar and mechanics Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and formatting guidelines for the content in your app. These guidelines are for American English, which Shopify uses as a base before translating to other languages. Dates, numbers, and measurements are often formatted automatically according to a merchant’s local preferences, and they might be formatted differently in other languages. *** ## Addresses Lay out address forms in the following order: First name Last name Address Apartment, suite, etc. (optional) City Country Province Postal code “Optional” in `Apartment, suite, etc. (optional)` means that the field is optional for customers to complete. Always include it in the form. **Do** Use locale-specific alternatives for province and postal code. For example, the United States uses State and ZIP code. **Don’t** * Add extra fields. * Change the placeholder text. ### Country, province, and state names Use a nation’s proper name when you refer to it as a noun. **Do** Your store must be located in the United States. **Don’t** Your store must be located in the US. When you use a country as an adjective, such as when you refer to currency, use the abbreviated form without punctuation. **Do** Pinterest requires your store to use US currency. **Don’t** U.S. currency Watch out for the following: * Don’t use colloquial forms of a nation or state name, such as “America” instead of “the United States.” * Search online to check whether a nation commonly uses “the” before its name, such as “the Philippines” or “the Falkland Islands.” *** ## Capitalization Use sentence case, where you capitalize the first word only, for headings, subheadings, buttons, card titles, and email subject lines. **Do** Create purchase order **Don’t** Create Purchase Order Capitalize proper or trademarked nouns, such as the names of products, brands, countries, and people. Capitalize product names unique to Shopify, and job titles when they come before or after a person’s name. **Do** * Shopify Payments * Jane Smith, Content Strategist **Don’t** * shopify balance * Jane Smith, content strategist Use lowercase for features or product terms that aren’t unique to Shopify, job titles without an associated name, and the first letter following a slash. **Do** * blogs, navigation, admin, page * The content strategist designed this * ZIP/postal code **Don’t** * Blogs, Navigation, Admin, Page * The Content Strategist designed this * ZIP/Postal code *** ## Contractions Use contractions. They’re short and conversational. **Do** Can’t, it’s, you’re, doesn’t **Don’t** Can not, it is, you are, does not *** ## Bold When in doubt, don’t bold. Use bold sparingly and only where strong emphasis is required. Don’t use bold to create a heading, and don’t bold proper nouns, merchant input, or checkbox titles. **Do** After your first sale, PayPal will email you at **** with instructions. **Don’t** Are you sure you want to delete **Sunset T-shirt**? *** ## Headings Headings and subheadings are titles and subtitles that refer to sections of the interface. They should be informative, descriptive, concise, and scannable. Highlight the most important concept or piece of information, and help merchants understand what they’ll find in the section below. Use simple, clear language, keep headings to a single sentence, and avoid punctuation such as periods, commas, or semicolons. **Do** * Online store dashboard * Custom reports * Sell your products in person **Don’t** * This is your online store dashboard * Custom Reports * Sell your products in person! ### Conversational headings Whether to use articles, such as “the,” “a,” and “an,” depends on the type of message. For more conversational areas of your app, such as home cards, sell pages, and empty states, use articles. Articles make the language more approachable and help merchants understand new or complex concepts. **Do** Secure your account with two-step authentication **Don’t** Two-step authentication *** ## Links Avoid links where you can. Links add clutter and make your app feel less like software and more like an old-fashioned webpage. Merchants are already in the habit of visiting the help center when they have questions, so building links into the interface is rarely necessary. If you have to point merchants to added information, then follow these guidelines: * Never use “click here” or “here” as link text. * For added information that’s essential for most merchants to know, use an info icon for short, stand-alone information, an embedded link within the flow of an existing sentence, or a “learn more” link for longer, multi-faceted information. * If you have to include “learn more” links, then avoid having more than one per screen. * Keep punctuation outside the link, unless the link is a stand-alone sentence. Question marks are an exception. **Do** * Set up your store with a [step-by-step guide](#links) * Show up where shoppers scroll, search, and shop with [multichannel integration](#links). * Track customer behavior on your online store to improve your marketing. [Learn more](#links) * [Log in](#links) * [Forgot password?](#links) **Don’t** * Want to learn more about how to set up your online store? [Click here.](#links) * Show up where shoppers scroll, search, and shop with multichannel integration. [Learn more.](#links) * Facebook Pixel tracks customer behavior on your online store. This data improves your marketing abilities, including retargeting ads. [Learn more about Facebook Pixel](#links) * [Log in.](#links) * [Forgot password](#links)? *** ## Lists ### Bulleted lists Use a bulleted list when items are related but sequence or priority doesn’t matter. Introduce the list with a full sentence and a colon, and capitalize the first word of each bullet. **Do** Using Shopify Payments in your store provides the following benefits: * Avoids the hassle of setting up a third-party payment gateway * Tracks your payout schedule from the Shopify admin * Minimizes lost sales from chargebacks **Don’t** Use Shopify payments to * avoid the hassle of setting up a gateway, * track pending payout schedule, * minimize lost sales from chargebacks. And eliminate PCI fees If at least one bullet needs a period because it has two sentences, then punctuate every bullet. Avoid lists that mix single words and full sentences. **Do** You can add a custom domain to your store in the following ways: * Buying the domain directly through your Shopify store. * Buying the domain through a third-party provider and then pointing it to your Shopify store. * Transferring the domain from another Shopify store to your Shopify store. You must be the account owner of the other Shopify store. **Don’t** You can add a custom domain to your store in the following ways: * Buying the domain from Shopify * Transferring. This can take up to 48 hours. * Buying the domain from a third party, and then pointing the domain to your Shopify store ### Numbered lists Use a numbered list when sequence or priority does matter. Introduce the list with a full sentence and a colon, and capitalize the first word of each item. **Do** When checking out from your online store, the customer goes through the following steps: 1. Adds the products that they want to purchase to their cart 2. Goes to the cart page and proceeds to the checkout 3. Enters their shipping details **Don’t** When checking out from your online store, the customer: 1. adds the products that they want to purchase to their cart. This could be one or many products. 2. goes to the cart page and proceeds to the checkout 3. enters their shipping details ### Actions in a menu Menu lists give merchants a set of actions when space is limited. The order of actions is often based on logic, such as the most popular actions first. Actions in a menu follow a `{verb} + {noun}` pattern. If there’s enough context, then only a verb might be required. **Do** * Rename * Edit * Duplicate **Don’t** * editing options * File name changes * Duplicate this order so that you can make edits, updates, or changes ### Nouns in a menu Menu lists give merchants a set of nouns when space is limited. The order of nouns is often based on logic, such as the most recent orders first. Nouns in a menu should be concise, but still give merchants enough information to find and accurately select the item that they want. **Do** Select filter * Today * Yesterday * This week * This month **Don’t** * Filter visibility * Filter product type * Filter product vendor * Filter tagged with ### Capitalization in lists List items always start with a capital letter. Capitalization and punctuation rules apply to both bulleted and numbered lists. **Do** Company name * Hidden * Optional * Required **Don’t** Company name * hidden * optional * required ### Punctuation in lists * Introduce bulleted lists with a colon or a heading. * Don’t use commas at the end of list items, in either bulleted or numbered lists. * If any list item contains two or more sentences, then punctuate all list items. * If all list items are one sentence or fragments, then don’t punctuate them. This doesn’t apply to procedural steps, which should end with punctuation. * Never put a comma or semicolon at the end of a bulleted or numbered list item. * Treat each list item as a self-contained piece of information. *** ## Numbers, dates, and currency ### Numbers Use numerals. **Do** * 9 * 100 * You have 5 orders to fulfill. **Don’t** * nine * one hundred * You have five orders to fulfill. Use commas for numbers with four or more digits, and avoid shortening numbers. **Do** 12,000 **Don’t** 12 k Use hyphens when you write phone numbers. Don’t use brackets, spaces, periods, or plus signs. **Do** 1-514-555-1234 **Don’t** * 613.555.1234 * 1-(514)-555-1234 For number ranges, use an en dash without a space on either side. **Do** * 5–10 products * October 15–31 **Don’t** * 5 – 10 products * October 15 – 31 For undefined upward ranges, use “and up” or “or more.” **Do** * $50.00 and up * 100 or more **Don’t** * $50.00+ * \>100 For downward ranges, be specific. **Do** $0.00–$49.99 **Don’t** $50.00 or less ### Dates Use the month’s full name. If there isn’t enough space, then use three-letter abbreviations. Don’t write dates with numerals only. **Do** * December 11, 2024 * Dec 11, 2024 **Don’t** * December 11, ’24 * 12/11/24 Don’t use ordinal indicators, which are words that represent position or rank in a sequential order, such as `1st`, `2nd`, and `3rd`. **Do** January 23–April 1 **Don’t** January 23rd–April 1st ### Time For all translations, the `Intl.DateTimeFormat` JavaScript object localizes the time format automatically. When you must format time manually, then follow these guidelines: * Use the 12-hour clock, followed by `am` or `pm`. * Include a space after the last number, such as `Your package will arrive at 12:35 pm.` * Use the browser time of the logged-in merchant. * To show a time range, use an en dash and include the `am` or `pm` after both times, such as `3:00 pm–4:00 pm`. * If you indicate both the date and time, then separate them with the word “at” instead of a comma. ### Time zones * Include a time zone only if it’s necessary, such as for an event listing. * Use the time zone’s abbreviation following the `am` or `pm`, such as `4:00 pm NZT`. * If your audience is in a single time zone, then don’t include an `S` for Standard or a `D` for Daylight, such as `3:00 pm PT`. * If your audience is in a combination of time zones, then include the `S` or `D` to avoid confusion, such as `3:00 pm PDT`. **Do** Thursday, October 15, 2015 at 2:00 pm EDT **Don’t** 2015-10-15, CDT 2:00P.M. Use consistent timestamp formats by following these examples. **Do** * Less than 1 min: Just now * 1 min to 60 min: 13 minutes ago * Today: 10:30 am * Yesterday: Yesterday at 10:30 am * In the last 7 days: Friday at 10:30 am * 7 days to 1 year: Aug 14 at 10:30 am * More than 1 year: Aug 14, 2016 **Don’t** * Less than 1 min: 10:30am * 1 min to 60 min: 10:30am * Today: Today, 10:30am * Yesterday: Friday, 10:30am * In the last 7 days: Friday, 10:30am * 7 days to 1 year: 10:30am, Oct 15, 2015 * More than 1 year: Last year ### Currency When you include a currency with a price, the currency comes after the amount. To learn more about formatting currency for different markets, refer to [Localize your app](https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/build/localize-your-app). **Do** $10,000 USD **Don’t** USD$10,000 ### Units of measurement Include a space between the number and the unit. **Do** * 3.4 lb * 2 kg * 11.875 × 3.375 × 13.625 cm **Don’t** * 3.4lb * 2kg * 1.875 × 3.375 × 13.625cm Don’t pluralize a unit of measurement. **Do** * 4 lb * 11 ml **Don’t** * 4 lbs * 11 mls For multiple measurements in a row, put the unit of measurement at the end. **Do** 11.875 × 3.375 × 13.625 cm **Don’t** 1.875 cm × 3.375 cm × 13.625 cm For pricing by measurement, don’t add a space before or after the slash. **Do** * $100/m * $5/100 g **Don’t** * $100/ m * $5/ 100g Use decimals instead of fractions. **Do** * 2.375 lb * 11.875 × 3.375 × 13.625 cm **Don’t** * 2-3/8 lb * 11-7/8 × 3-3/8 × 13-5/8 cm ### Unit of measurement abbreviations Use the imperial system for the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar, and the metric system for all other countries. The following table shows the standard abbreviations for commonly used units of measurement. | Measurement | System | Unit | Abbreviation | | - | - | - | - | | Area | Metric | square meters | `m²` | | Area | Imperial | square feet | `sq ft` | | Distance | Metric | kilometers | `km` | | Distance | Imperial | miles | `mi` | | Image resolution | Universal | pixels | `px` | | Image resolution | Universal | megapixels | `MP` | | Image resolution | Universal | pixels per inch | `ppi` | | Image resolution | Universal | dots per inch | `dpi` | | Length | Metric | centimeters | `cm` | | Length | Metric | meters | `m` | | Length | Imperial | inches | `in` | | Length | Imperial | feet | `ft` | | Length | Imperial | yards | `yd` | | Storage size | Universal | kilobytes | `KB` | | Storage size | Universal | gigabytes | `GB` | | Storage size | Universal | terabytes | `TB` | | Volume | Metric | milliliters | `ml` | | Volume | Metric | liters | `L` | | Volume | Imperial | fluid ounces | `fl oz` | | Volume | Imperial | gallons | `gal` | | Weight | Metric | grams | `g` | | Weight | Metric | kilograms | `kg` | | Weight | Imperial | ounces | `oz` | | Weight | Imperial | pounds | `lb` | *** ## Pronouns ### Addressing merchants Always refer to merchants as “you.” Don’t speak for merchants with phrases that use “I” or “my.” **Do** Change your email address in your Profile. **Don’t** Change your email address in My Profile. In some cases, such as getting merchant consent or granting permissions, refer to merchants as “I.” **Do** A checkbox labeled I agree to the terms and conditions **Don’t** A checkbox labeled You agree to the terms and conditions ### Referring to your app On the first reference to your app or company, use its proper name. If you need additional references in the same section, then you can use “we.” This keeps the content concise while staying clear about who’s speaking. Avoid inserting your app’s name into content more than you need to, except when a person is taking action, such as reviewing a request. **Do** Buyable Pins will be available in the coming weeks. **Don’t** We’re making Buyable Pins available in the coming weeks. *** ## Punctuation ### Ampersands Don’t use ampersands. They attract attention to the least important part of the sentence. Spell out the word “and.” **Do** Zones and rates **Don’t** Zones & rates ### Apostrophes Use apostrophes to represent omitted letters or numbers: * Omitted numbers, such as `’40s`. * Omitted letters, such as `don’t`, `can’t`, and `won’t`. * Verb contractions, such as `it’s`, `you’re`, and `we’re`. Use apostrophes to form possessives: * Singular nouns: add `’s`, even if they end in `s`, such as `merchant’s` and `bus’s`. * Plural nouns that don’t end in `s`: add `’s`, such as `women’s` and `men’s`. * Plural nouns that end in `s`: add an apostrophe, such as `boxes’` and `customers’`. Don’t use apostrophes to form possessive pronouns, such as `hers` or `his`. **Do** * Merchant’s store * Women’s clothing * Customers’ credit cards **Don’t** * Merchants store * Womens clothing * Customers credit cards Always use curly apostrophes, not vertical apostrophes. **Do** ’ (option + shift + ]) **Don’t** ' ### Colons Avoid colons in sentences. If you need one, then don’t capitalize the first word after it unless the word is a proper noun. **Do** Your store accepts payments with GoCoin and Shopify Payments. **Don’t** Your store accepts payments with: GoCoin and Shopify Payments. Don’t use colons to introduce radio buttons or checkboxes. **Do** If the customer abandons their checkout, send them an email reminder to complete their order **Don’t** If the customer abandons their checkout, send them an email reminder to complete their order: Introduce bulleted lists with a colon. **Do** Correct the following payment information to continue: **Don’t** Correct the following payment information to continue. ### Commas Use the Oxford comma, also known as the serial comma, in sentences. Include a comma after every list of three or more items, unless you’re using a bulleted or numbered list. **Do** Kit is an app that handles your online advertising, email marketing, and social media. **Don’t** Kit is an app that handles your online advertising, email marketing and social media. Don’t use commas to separate bulleted or numbered list items. **Do** The credit card verification value (CVV) doesn’t match the credit card **Don’t** The credit card verification value (CVV) doesn’t match the credit card, ### Ellipses Use an ellipsis in place of a missing piece of text, most commonly to show the deletion of words from a direct quotation. Avoid ellipses in text. Use an ellipsis for truncation in the center of a title bar. Don’t use ellipses for placeholder copy or to trail off a sentence. **Do** Search files **Don’t** Start typing to search for files… Always use the ellipsis character, not three periods. **Do** … (option + ;) **Don’t** ... ### Truncation Consider the constraints of the space in the interface when you decide to use truncation. Think about what part of the string merchants need most. It’s usually the beginning or the end, which means you might have to truncate the middle of the string. A button with an ellipsis icon, which isn’t the same as text, expands more actions. It’s typically used in cards, or for horizontal sets of actions when space is limited. ### En dashes and em dashes Use an en dash with no spaces on either side for a fixed range of numbers. **Do** 2006–2013 **Don’t** 2006 – 2013 Use an em dash only if you can’t make your message clearer by splitting it into two sentences. Use an em dash without a space on either side. **Do** Choose your theme’s colors, typography, and pictures—all in one place. **Don’t** Choose your theme’s design—colors, typography, and pictures—all in one place. Depending on the font or appearance, you might want to include a hair space on either side of the en dash or em dash. The HTML entity code for a hair space is ` ` or ` `. On macOS, the keyboard shortcut is `option` + `-` for an en dash and `shift` + `option` + `-` for an em dash. ### Exclamation marks Avoid exclamation marks. Use them only for genuinely exciting things, and limit yourself to one exclamation mark per page. **Do** You’ve launched your first online store! **Don’t** You’ve updated your product title! ### Hyphens Use hyphens to form compound modifiers, which are two words that combine to modify or describe the noun that follows. **Do** * Start your free, no-risk, 14-day trial. * This is a high-risk order. * This order is high risk. * Add weight-based shipping rates. **Don’t** * Start your free, no risk, 14 day trial. * This is a high risk order. * This order is high-risk. * Add weight based shipping rates. Join prefixes and suffixes with a hyphen only when two vowels sit beside each other. Never use hyphens in the words “ecommerce” and “email.” **Do** * Re-order * Resend **Don’t** * Reorder * Re-send ### Periods Don’t use periods in interface copy. If the text includes two or more sentences, then periods are fine. **Do** Add products to collections so they’re easy to find **Don’t** Add products to collections so they’re easy to find. Use periods in lists when a list item has two or more full sentences, and add them to the whole list. Use periods for the description or helper text below a bulleted or numbered list item. Don’t use periods when a list has only single sentences or fragments, and don’t use them for lists of links. ### Question marks Avoid question marks wherever possible, and reword into affirmative statements where you can. Question marks are fine when you don’t know the result of the question, such as `Did you forget your password?` or `Do you need to add a shipping rate?` Don’t use a question mark when it’s the only option available, such as `Reset password`, or when it’s an on or off option, such as `Show quantity box`. **Do** Forgot? **Don’t** Reset password? ### Quotation marks Use quotation marks to define words, such as `“growth-hacking”`, and to quote text. When it’s helpful to merchants, use quotation marks to indicate input that a merchant provided, such as a product title or file name. Use this indication only when the input appears in running text. **Do** * Are you sure you want to delete “cat shirt”? * “Nike Air Max 90.png” failed to upload **Don’t** * Are you sure you want to delete cat shirt? * Nike Air Max 90.png failed to upload In general, place commas and periods inside quotation marks. When you work with literal strings, such as typed commands or merchant input, place punctuation outside the quotation marks. **Do** * “I see this all the time,” said Mary. * Avoid general words like “all,” “every,” or “most.” * To remove this item, type “DELETE”. **Don’t** * “I don’t understand why”, said Mitch. * We call it a “store”, not a “shop”. * There was an error with the file “cat\_shirt.png.” Always use curly quotes, not vertical quotes. **Do** * ‘ (option + ]) * ’ (option + shift + ]) * “ (option + \[) * ” (option + shift + \[) **Don’t** * ' * ' * " * " ### Semicolons Avoid semicolons if possible. If you really need them, then use semicolons to connect two closely related ideas, as long as both are independent clauses that could stand on their own, or to replace a comma or the word “and” between two closely related ideas. **Do** My friends made me banana pancakes on my birthday; I’ve never been happier. **Don’t** The unicorn was hungry; the grass was brown. *** ## Spelling Use American spelling for all merchant-facing content. When in doubt, check the [Merriam-Webster dictionary](https://www.merriam-webster.com/) for the preferred spelling of a specific term. **Do** * Color * Center * Canceled **Don’t** * Colour * Centre * Cancelled *** ## Next steps * Learn how to apply Shopify’s [voice and tone](https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/design/content/voice-and-tone) in your app. * Review the [content guidelines](https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/design/content) for writing product content in your app. ***