General guidelines
Think inclusively.
As you write, think about your potential audience, and try to imagine your content from their perspective. Will the words and phrases you use be understood by everyone? Do these words and phrases have any harmful or negative associations?
Keep in mind that words can sometimes carry meanings you don’t intend. Be open to learning about the impact of language, and be respectful of those who may receive words differently from how you intended them.
Research words.
Investigating the history and usage of a word can help you decide whether to use it. For example, some common expressions (like grandfathered in) arose from oppressive or exclusionary contexts. If you’re unsure about a word or expression, be sure to research both how it originated and how it’s understood by people now.
Consider the context.
Even if a common word has one negative use that you should avoid, it may still be acceptable in other contexts. For example, although it’s inappropriate to use mute to refer to a person who is nonspeaking, it’s OK to use it to refer to silencing a device. Take context into account when making wording decisions.
Avoid terms that are violent, oppressive, or ableist.
Don’t describe technology using terms that are inherently violent—like kill or hang. Don’t use the terms master and slave, which describe an oppressive human relationship. Finally, don’t use terms like sanity check, which associates mental health with being functional.
In general, it’s a good idea to avoid describing software or hardware using human or biological attributes; doing so can lead to unintended hurtful implications.
Avoid idioms and colloquial expressions.
Common sayings—like fall through the cracks, on the same page, or backseat driver—can add flavor to writing, but they can also be difficult to understand for people who are learning the language. If your content is localized, using phrases like these can also make it more difficult to translate.
Don’t use color to convey positive or negative qualities.
Avoid assigning good and bad values to colors (for example, blacklist, white hat hacker, or red team hacker) or using colors as metaphors to convey larger concepts. Use colors only to describe actual colors (for example, black text on a white background, the white point of a display).
Err on the side of caution.
If you’re not sure about a term, but you believe it might be questionable based on your research or feedback from others, then choose a different term. The beauty of language is that there’s usually a term that expresses the meaning you want to convey just as well—or even more clearly.