This guide provides some ground rules to write user-facing texts for 0 A.D.

== Capitalization

Use [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_case#Title_case title case] for:
- Button captions
- Entity names (including generic names of phases, structures or units)
- Key names
- Proper names

Never use full capitalization.

For example:

||=Good                        =||=Bad                         =||
||Click the Citizen Soldier icon||Click the CITIZEN SOLDIER icon||
||Hold Shift and click          ||Hold shift and click          ||


== Cursor vs Mouse

Mind the difference between the cursor (virtual) and the mouse (physical).


== English Orthography

Use US English spelling.

For example:

||=US    =||=UK     =||
||analyze ||analyse  ||
||armor   ||armour   ||
||artifact||artefact ||
||defense ||defence  ||
||finalize||finalise ||
||gray    ||grey     ||
||plow    ||plough   ||
||traveler||traveller||

== Dynastic factions

||='''singular:'''     =||='''plural:'''       =||='''adjective:'''      =||
||''founder of dynasty''||''members of dynasty''||''belonging to dynasty''||
||Achaemenes            ||Achaemenids           ||Achaemenid              ||
||Maurya                ||Mauryas               ||Mauryan                 ||
||Ptolemy               ||Ptolemies             ||Ptolemaic               ||
||Seleucus              ||Seleucids             ||Seleucid                ||

== Terminology

In texts that the user needs to understands, such as menu entries, help
tooltips, and similar, you must be consistent with the vocabulary that you use.

An object should always be referred to using the same word everywhere in the
game, and an action should always be referred to using the same verb.
For example, if there is a unit type called ‘female citizen’, always refer to it
as such, do not also use alternative forms such as ‘females’, ‘women’, and so
on. Even in the same paragraph or sentence, you should use the same term.

Always be precise. E.g., if a technology multiplies the melee attack damage of cavalry by 1.2, the tooltip should be "cavalry +20% melee attack damage", not "melee cavalry +20% attack damage".

Furthermore, there should be a bijection between descriptions and classes. E.g. if a technology affects the Citizen class, write "Citizens"; if it affects the Soldier class, write "Soldiers"; if it affects only units that have both the Citizen and the Soldier class, write "Citizen Soldiers"; however, if it affects the "CitizenSoldier" class instead, then write "Citizen-Soldiers".

For specific words that you should use or avoid in 0 A.D. gameplay texts, see the tables below:

=== Actions

||=Good                          =||=Bad                             =||
||Build (structures)              ||                                  ||
||Collect (treasures)             ||                                  ||
||Construct (ships, siege weapons)||Build, produce, train             ||
||Gather (resources)              ||Collect, get                      ||
||Research (technologies)         ||                                  ||
||Train (human units)             ||Build, construct, recruit, produce||

=== GUI

||=Good=||=Bad   =||
||Icon  ||Portrait||

=== Stats

||=Good=||=Bad        =||
||Health||Hitpoints, HP||

=== Structures

||=Good      =||=Bad                                      =||
||Structure   ||Building                                   ||
||Blacksmith  ||Armoury                                    ||
||Civic Center||Civic Centre, Civil Center, Civil Centre   ||
||Dock        ||Harbour, Pier, Port, Quay, Shipyard, Wharf ||
||Farmstead   ||Farmhouse, Granary, Mill                   ||
||Fortress    ||Castle, Citadel, Fort, Stronghold          ||
||House       ||Dwelling, Home, Shack                      ||
||Storehouse  ||Drop Site, Mining Camp, Storage Pit        ||

=== Units

||=Good                                       =||=Bad                                                         =||
||Cavalry Champion                             ||Champion Cavalry                                              ||
||Cavalry Citizen Soldier                      ||Cavalry Citizen-Soldier, Citizen-Cavalry, Citizen-Cavalry Unit||
||Cavalry Unit                                 ||Cavalry Soldier                                               ||
||Champion                                     ||                                                              ||
||Champion Cavalry Spearman                    ||                                                              ||
||Champion Spearman                            ||                                                              ||
||Citizen (cavalry or infantry, female or male)||Worker                                                        ||
||Citizen Soldier (cavalry or infantry)        ||Citizen-Soldier                                               ||
||Female Citizen                               ||Female, Female Worker, Woman                                  ||
||Infantry Champion                            ||                                                              ||
||Infantry Citizen                             ||                                                              ||
||Infantry Citizen Soldier                     ||Infantry Citizen-Soldier                                      ||
||Infantry Unit                                ||                                                              ||
||Melee Cavalry Unit                           ||Cavalry Melee Soldier                                         ||
||Melee Infantry Unit                          ||                                                              ||
||Ranged Cavalry Unit                          ||Cavalry Ranged Soldier                                        ||
||Ranged Infantry Citizen Soldier              ||                                                              ||
||Ranged Infantry Unit                         ||                                                              ||
||Ranged Unit                                  ||Skirmisher                                                    ||
||Siege Weapon                                 ||                                                              ||

== Unicode

We have a somewhat complete Unicode support, do not limit yourself to ASCII and learn how to use [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_input Unicode input] in your system.

For example:

||=Good=||=Bad=||
||…     ||...  ||

However, [[Atlas_Manual|Atlas]] [https://trac.wildfiregames.com/ticket/4936 does not support Unicode], so English strings of map files (e.g. anything under `binaries/data/mods/public/maps/`) should not contain Unicode characters for the time being. But you should avoid using combinations of ASCII characters to try and reproduce Unicode characters as well. Be creative, try to rephrase the content in question so that Unicode characters are not necessary.