General Principles

Voice and tone

Our documentation is simple, short, and to the point. This applies to all texts, from buttons to user guides. You can find more detailed description of these principles in our Russian style guide.

Write in a clear, confident, and helpful way. Address the user directly as “you”. In step-by-step instructions, you can drop “you” to make the steps clearer.

Use gender-neutral language. Replace “he”, “she”, or “he/she” with the singular “they”. You can also refer to the user role, such as developer, manager, customer.

Translation principles

Avoid literal translation

A translation should sound natural in English. To achieve this:

• Don’t translate words directly from your native language. Instead, use common English phrases and sentence structures.
• Use verbs rather than nouns when translating into English, as it’s a language of verbs.
• Verify terms with reliable dictionaries and check their frequency in Google Trends.
• Research competitor websites to see what terminology they use in the target market.
• For brands and product names, use the translation from their official websites.

English text is on average 15–25% shorter than Russian. If your English translation is as long as the original, it may sound unnatural.

Review machine translation

Don’t follow suggestions of machine translation engines blindly. Always edit and rewrite the machine-generated text to make it clearer and more natural.

Use correct UI element names

For UI texts, such as section names, buttons, statuses, use the exact names that appear in the English version of the interface.

Write for a global audience

Remember that most of our readers aren’t native English speakers. Keep the text simple, use short sentences and the most common words.

Prefer American English

Its spelling and vocabulary are easier to read and harder to mistype.

Maintain consistency

In technical texts, clarity is more important than variety. Don’t use unnecessary synonyms and always check terms in our glossaries and translation memories. It’s acceptable to repeat the same word in a sentence if it makes the meaning clearer.