Use hacker to refer to a user who intentionally accesses a system with the intent to cause harm to the system or to use it in an unauthorized manner. Do not use hack to refer to improvising a solution to a programming problem. Do not use hacker to refer to an amateur programmer. If the intent of unauthorized access is unknown or is not malicious, use unauthorized user. See also security.
Hyphenate as an adjective. Use instead of half an inch or one-half inch. When space is limited or the measurement needs to be specific, use 0.5 in.
Do not use abbreviations or acronyms that form English words unless you have no other choice. Doing so may lead to mistranslation in machine-translated content. For example, if you were to abbreviate half inch as 0.5 in, in likely would be mistranslated. In a machine translation from English to French, the in abbreviation will most likely be translated as the preposition dans, which of course does not mean “inch” in French.
Do not use handheld PC. Use handheld computer to refer to a portable computer that accesses, captures, and updates information in real time, such as the computers often used in line-of-business applications. Do not use handheld as a noun. See also portable computer.
In programming, a handle is a pointer to a pointer or a token temporarily assigned to a device or object to identify and provide access to the device. In the latter case, insert a space between the word handle and the sequential number. For example, say “handle 0,” “handle 1,” “handle 2.”
In the user interface of various programs, a handle is an element used to move or size an object. Use move handle or sizing handle. Do not use size handle, grab handle, little box, or similar phrases.
One word, both as an adjective and as a noun. Handshake refers to the connection or signal established between two pieces of hardware, such as a computer and a printer, or communications software, such as the signal to transmit data between two modems. In content for a general audience, briefly define the term on first mention.
Microsoft style
Communicating systems must use the same flow-control (or handshake) method. To determine whether the systems use the same handshake method…
Do not use in content for a general audience. Use stop responding instead. In content for a technical audience, you can use hang by itself or to clarify the meaning of stop responding if necessary, but stop responding by itself is preferred.
Microsoft style
If the program stops responding, or “hangs,” you may have to restart your computer.
Not Microsoft style
If the program hangs, you may have to restart your computer.
Two words. Use as a noun to mean text or images (or both) printed on paper. Do not use as an adjective unless you have no other choice. See also soft copy.
Microsoft style
How to scan hard copies of documents or artwork and save them as electronic files or images.
How to scan hard-copy documents or artwork and save them as electronic files or images.
Refer to the disk itself as the hard disk. Be clear whether you are talking about the disk itself or the drive, which should be referred to as the hard disk drive, not the hard drive, internal drive, fixed disk drive, or hard disk system. Do not hyphenate hard disk. See also disk, drive.
Use in content for a technical audience to describe a routine or program that uses embedded constants in place of more general user input. Do not use in content for a general audience unless you have no other choice.
Use the phrase “ deaf or hard-of-hearing” to refer to people who have hearing disabilities. If space is limited, use deaf. Do not use hearing-impaired. See also Chapter 4, deaf or hard-of-hearing
One word. Describes a functionality that is built into a system’s electronic circuitry rather than enabled through software. Do not use this technical term in content for a general audience unless you have no other choice.
Do not use. For more information about gender-neutral pronouns, see Bias-free communication (Chapter 1).
In content about word-processing and publishing, use instead of running head when discussing page layout. However, running head is all right to use if needed for clarification or as a keyword or index entry.
Do not use header as a synonym for heading.
In technical content, header is all right to use as a short form of the term file header, as in “.rtf header” or “PostScript header.” Do not use header as a synonym for header file, which refers to the file at the beginning of a program that contains definitions of data types and variables used by the program’s functions.
Use instead of a head or a header to refer to a topic heading or chapter heading. See also Titles and headings (Chapter 7).
Do not use. Use the phrase deaf or hard-of-hearing instead. If space is limited, use deaf. See also Chapter 4.
In general, do not use online Help. Just use Help by itself. However, online Help, definition Help, context-sensitive Help, and online Help files are all right to use when necessary to describe the Help system itself or to explain how to develop a Help system.
Do not abbreviate as hex. Use h or 0x when abbreviating a number, as in “Interrupt 21h” or “addresses greater than 0xFFFE.” Do not insert a space between the number and h, and use uppercase for alphabetical characters displayed in hexadecimal numbers.
Do not use or higher or or later to refer to multiple versions of software. List each applicable version instead. It is all right to use or earlier to refer to all versions of a product that precede a particular release if the statement is accurate for all preceding releases. (For example, do not use “Windows 7 or earlier” unless the statement is accurate for Windows 1.0.) See also earlier; greater, better; version identifers.
Microsoft style
Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP
Not Microsoft style
Windows XP and later
Windows XP and higher
It is all right to use higher to refer to display resolution. Do not use higher to refer to processor speed; use faster instead.
Microsoft style
1920 × 1200 pixels or higher resolution
a processer speed of 2.5 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
Do not use quality by itself as an adjective. Always use high-quality.
Microsoft style
Use AutoFormat to create high-quality publications easily.
Not Microsoft style
Use AutoFormat to create quality publications easily.
Use only as an adjective. Note hyphen. Do not abbreviate as hi-res.
Refers to a high-quality screen display (generally 640 x 480 pixels or higher resolution) or print output (300 dots per inch or higher resolution).
In general, do not use highlight unless you are specifically referring to the highlighter feature in some products that users can apply to emphasize selections. Use select instead.
Microsoft style
Drag the pointer to select the text you want to format.
Not Microsoft style
Drag the pointer to highlight the text you want to format.
Refer to selected material as the selection, not the highlight.
Microsoft style
To extend the selection, press F6.
Not Microsoft style
To extend the highlight, press F6.
When it is necessary to be graphically descriptive, you can use highlight as a verb to tell the user to select such things as text in a word-processing document, a range of cells in a spreadsheet, or fields and records in a database list view. Likewise, you can use highlight to describe the appearance of reverse video. When using highlight as a verb in a procedure, include select in your procedure so that users won’t be confused when they use other Microsoft products or services.
Microsoft style
Highlight the paragraph to select it.
Highlight to select the range of cells you want to copy.
Programmers use reverse video to highlight special items on the screen.
Do not use hint as a heading for a type of note. Use tip instead. See also Notes and tips (Chapter 7).
All right to use to refer to the number of times a file from a webpage has been retrieved. Because each file associated with a webpage counts as one hit, a single page view can result in many hits. Use page view or page request to refer to the number of times a page and all its associated files have been downloaded.
Do not use hit to refer to the act of pressing a key on the computer keyboard. Use press instead. See also press.
Do not use. In content for software developers, use root directory instead to refer to the starting point in a hierarchical file structure. In MS-DOS and Windows, the root directory is indicated by a backslash (). In all other content, use top-level folder.
Refers to the main page of any website, as determined by the owner or creator of the site. One website can have many home pages. For example, the Microsoft website, www.microsoft.com, has a home page, but other sites within the Microsoft site have their own home pages.
Home page also refers to the webpage that is first displayed when a user starts a web browser. Do not use start page.
Use lowercase to refer to the home page unless you are referring to the command.
Do not use unless you have no other choice. It’s jargon. A honeypot is a security program designed to lure and distract a network attacker with decoy data.
This term may be difficult to translate and may cause geopolitical or cultural misunderstanding.
In content that specifically addresses network decoy technology, try to write around the reference. If you cannot write around it, then define the term on first mention.
A service, IT solution, or application that is hosted by a service provider and made available to a customer over the Internet.
A third-party service provider that offers scalable infrastructure services to multiple customers.
All right to use cloud hosting provider and web hosting provider if necessary to establish the context or distinguish cloud service providers from web hosts, such as Go Daddy.
Do not use hoster.
Do not use. Hot link is jargon for a connection between programs that enables information in related databases or files to be updated when information in another database or file is changed. Do not use hot link to refer to a hyperlink.
Do not use to refer to a hyperlink.
Use two words in content for a technical audience to refer to the specific pixel on the pointer that defines the exact location to which a user is pointing.
Use one word when referring to a site that offers Internet access over a wireless LAN.
Use one word when referring to programming elements such as the elements of the HotSpot class or when following the wording in the user interface.
One word. Use to describe a single cumulative package composed of one or more files used to address a defect in a product. Hotfixes address a specific customer situation and may not be distributed outside that customer organization. Do not use QFE (quick fix engineering) to describe a hotfix. See also out-of-band release terminology (Chapter 6).
Note preposition. An air gesture that refers to the action of briefly holding a finger or hand in a particular location to select an action or otherwise interact with the user interface.
Microsoft style
Hover over the item that you want until it’s selected.
Microsoft style (novice computer user)
To select an object, hold your finger over it so that your finger hovers over the object until it is selected.
To start the game, hold your hand out so that it hovers over the Start button.
Do not use hover, especially in content for a general audience, to refer to the action of briefly resting the mouse pointer on an interface item to see a definition or description. Use point to, pause on, or a similar word or phrase, instead.
Do not use how-to as a noun. Hyphenate as an adjective. Whether how to is hyphenated or not, do not capitalize to in contexts that require title capitalization.
Microsoft style
how-to book
how-to article
How to Format Your Hard Disk (Title capitalization)
Writing a How-to Article (Title capitalization)
Not Microsoft style
The TechNet website has how-tos for system administrators.
Writing a How-To Article (Title capitalization)
Abbreviation for “Hypertext Markup Language.” Do not spell out. See also HTML tag, element, and attribute formatting (Chapter 6).
Abbreviation for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol,” the Internet protocol that delivers information over the World Wide Web. The protocol appears as the first element in a URL: “http://.” Use lowercase for http:// and the rest of the URL.
Don’t spell out unless you are discussing protocols or URLs, or unless your audience might be unfamiliar with the abbreviation.
You do not have to include “http” in a web address if you are sure that your users will understand the context. However, if you are using another protocol such as FTP in an Internet address, you must use it. See also Protocols (Chapter 6).
Don’t refer to a Hub as such unless absolutely necessary. Instead, in procedures, use the name of the Hub, such as “In Marketplace…” or “In Pictures…,” to refer to the front page of a Hub for a user action. If you do refer to a Hub, capitalize Hub.
Microsoft style for Windows Phone
In Pictures, find a picture and tap to open it.
The Pictures Hub is where you go to see all the pictures on your phone and the latest pictures your friends have posted to Windows Live.
A cloud infrastructure that uses a combination of public, community, and private clouds, with each discrete entity connected to enable data and application portability between them.
A hybrid cloud addresses an organization’s unique application and data storage needs and privacy concerns.
Use for a technical audience that is comfortable with cloud technology. For other audiences, it may be more useful to talk about a hybrid model.
Because the deployment models are not widely understood, define on first mention. See also community cloud, private cloud, public cloud.