Formatting

Acronyms & abbreviations

When an acronym appears for the first time, spell it out and include the acronym in parentheses—unless it’s commonly known, like IRS, ZIP code, EIN, PIN. For plurals, use a lowercase s without an apostrophe. Use standard abbreviations; don’t just truncate words.

Addresses

Numbers with addresses

Numbers appear simply in addresses, usually in the street address, post office box, and postal code, postcode, or ZIP code lines. Follow the formats in these examples.

Australia

Brazil

Canada

France

UK

US

Bold

Don’t use bold copy as a substitute for appropriately coded second- and third-level headings (like h2 and h3).

Use only one type treatment at a time (color, bold, indentation). For example, if the copy is already indented or a distinct color, don’t make it bold too.

Use bold content sparingly. It can call attention to something important, but if overused, it can have the opposite effect, making a screen look chaotic, cluttered, and intimidating.

Here are some things you might want to present in bold:

Capitalization

Sentence case rules

Use sentence case, even in headings and titles.

Sentence case is casual and friendly. It helps support the conversational Intuit style and brand personality. Sentence case also makes translation a bit easier.

Don't capitalize feature names

Capitalizing features such as invoices, mileage tracking, and cash flow monitoring can be distracting and confusing for users. This form of sub-branding also dilutes the strength of the licensed, branded products we want to capitalize.

We capitalize the names of branded standalone products, add-on products that require a standalone product to use, and features that are licensed, branded, and unique to QuickBooks.

We don’t capitalize non-branded subfeatures or product-specific features.

Note that sometimes, the branded name of a QuickBooks product may also be used as a verb phrase in some instances (for example, QuickBooks Payroll vs. run payroll, QuickBooks Payments vs. accept payments). If you’re talking about the product, capitalize the name. If you’re talking about a feature or using the word as a generic description, don’t capitalize it.

Use ALL CAPS only when you should

Avoid using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. It’s like screaming, and it may present additional difficulty for users with dyslexia and other reading challenges or vision impairments.

We occasionally display all capital letters in headings on marketing pages, badges (such as NEW or PLUS), navigation labels, and table headers. All of these uses are exceptions. We really don’t need to scream at our customers that often.

Exceptions for marketing

There are capitalization exceptions on some marketing pages. To attract new customers and encourage action, marketers might capitalize the word free (Free or FREE). Research proves that the capitals are effective for conversion, but the promotional tone of the capital letters is out of place in the in-product conversation we’re having with our users.

The case for sentence case

Why do we prefer sentence case for Intuit content?

Some terms we capitalize

Proper nouns

Proper names

Popular names

Derivatives

Titles before names

Product navigation

This is an ongoing discussion we're having across Intuit. While we would dearly love for product navigation to be sentence case, there are challenges around making the change consistently throughout the products. Match the case to the rest of the nav if it would look awkward otherwise.

Some tax terms appear in title case

Italics

Try to avoid italics in copy. If you need to guide the user to a user interface element, use bold instead.

Only use one treatment (color, bold, indentation) to emphasize text. If the ghost text in a form field is a distinct color, italics are unnecessary.

Links

Links guide users to other destinations or files. We use them to link to help content or to download forms or other resources. In some designs, we use links for a call to action (CTA). Learn more about writing CTA links

Should you punctuate a link? Depends on the context. If it’s a CTA or in the product, try to create a separate linked CTA for accessibility, rather than linking it within a sentence ("Have a question? Email us" vs "If you have a question, email us.").

If you need to provide legal details about something, link to it in the footer with language like “For more details, check out the terms of use.”

Don't go wild with links

• Don’t use links in headlines.
• Don’t add links to every possible resource. Present the most helpful ones.
• Don’t put multiple links to the same place on the same page.
• Avoid in-line links for accessibility. If you must use them, make sure they're underlined (see our formatting guidelines for underlines).

Lists

Bulleted lists

Bulleted lists are a useful way to organize content, making it easier to scan. Keep them short (no more than 5 items long) and avoid having more than one bulleted list on a single screen.

Here’s how to structure your bulleted list:

• Introduce the list with a lead-in sentence, fragment, heading, using a question mark if it’s a question. 
• Be consistent with structure. Make all bullets either fragments or complete sentences and start them in the same way (either all verbs or all nouns).
• If your bullets complete a lead-in sentence, or are single words/fragments, don’t start them with a capital letter or end them with punctation. 

Do your bullet points need to appear in a particular order? Consider using a numbered list instead.

Numbered lists

A numbered list shows the order in which actions should occur, when events will take place, or order of importance:

1. Introduce the list with a lead-in sentence, fragment, heading, or question. Use a question mark if it’s a question.
2. Begin each numbered item with an initial capital letter (unless you’re using the list items to complete the sentence).
3. Don’t use and, or, or and/or at the beginning of any list item.
4. Use parallel construction for your list items. If one item starts with a verb, every item should start with a verb.
5. Make sure each step includes only one action or two closely related actions (like go to the menu and select Apps). That helps us keep the steps simple.
6. Write all items in the same voice (usually active) and tense (usually present). Fragments are fine, but if one item is a complete sentence, try to write them all that way. Or turn that odd sentence into a fragment.
7. Use a period at the end of each list item if it’s a complete sentence, and keep punctuation consistent. Don’t use commas or semicolons at the end of list items.

Mathematical symbols and equations

Mathematical symbols (+, -, x, /, ÷, =) and equations are permissible but should not substitute words. For accessibility, explain the equation first. Not all screen readers will read these symbols. Explaining the equation helps all users understand it. 

Names and titles

There are many ways to abbreviate names and courtesy titles. When writing in our voice, follow the spirit of these examples.

Capitalize titles when they appear before a name. Set them in lowercase otherwise.

Tables

Wondering how to format copy for a table? Time to chat with your design partners. They have patterns for these design elements that will help you visualize the copy needs for your project.

The following cell alignments are preferred, but use your best judgment to create a clear, easy-to-scan table.

Note that tables present major accessibility issues. Screen readers have a hard time reading through the content in tables to make it useful.

Text alignment

By default, align paragraphs and text longer than 2 lines to the left. Since our eyes jump fast down left-aligned content, it's easier and quicker to read. Left-aligned text makes things look more polished and aesthetically pleasing. 

When reading center-aligned content, our eyes have to scan both sides of the text. This takes us longer than reading left-aligned text since we have to find where the next line begins. Center alignment is best for headlines and short, scannable lines. Keep content 1–2 lines in length. Any longer and you sacrifice readability for the sake of visual aesthetics. 

Use right alignment in tables, cards, and widgets for numbers and times. Numbers are easy to compare at a glance with the left-aligned info opposite it. Never use justified alignment.

Underlines

Don't underline copy unless it's for links.

Inline links should be underlined (or some other non-color visual distinction) for accessibility. They're surrounded by text and need an underline to be recognizable as an interactive element.

Links that stand alone do not need to be underlined because they have ample white space to be recognizable as interactive.

For more information, review our guidelines for links.

URLs

In digital experiences, a descriptive link is usually a better way to direct users to another page. For more information, see the formatting guidelines for links.

When we do spell out a universal resource locator, use lowercase, even if it refers to a product name.

Leave out the scheme/protocol (http, https) and the www part.