DIF Style Guide

Brand Guidelines	Style Guide	Working Group Lifecycle	Work Item Lifecycle	Github Donation	Spec Tooling Guides	Code of Conduct

Universal Style Guidance

High level guidance for all writing about DIF, whether in member submissions or otherwise:

Never forget the prime directive of Nemethi: “DIF should never side with any tech over another unless it's siding with SSI over a non-SSI alternative.”
Universal statements about technological breakthroughs, best practices, or other blanket pronouncements are to be avoided, particularly in reference to participation in DIF
- scoping claims to a specific set of use cases or market contexts is strongly advised
- Attributing any judgment or opinion to a specific individual or organization is always better than leaving it ambiguous whether that individual speaks on behalf of DIF
Always speak positively and respectfully of the organizations in the first or second tiers of DIF’s organization tracker
- Always link to the homepage or website of these organizations at least once per article
- Avoid contrasting DIF’s approach to that of other open-source foundations working in the decentralized identity space-- complementary or win-win framings are strongly encouraged to discourage the appearance of antagonism or competition
For other high-level guidance, see the Brand Guidelines

Authorship

Original posts should be signed by the DIF generic account unless there is a compelling reason to sign a post individually. Examples include:
- First-hand experience or expertise pertinent to the subject
- Short-term guest editor, contributor, “resident”, etc
Member contributions should be signed by the contributing organization’s comms account or a member of that organization, preferably with the organization’s name in their bio.

Business Interests

Collaborations are best framed as some mixture of community endeavor and consortium of organizations pursuing long-term investments in products or services.
Stay positive and professional when referring to the products and services of competitors or prior art, whether in our outside of the decentralized identity sphere; use the concept of obsolescence sparingly and respectfully
Taboos: in addition to obvious guardrails around patents and IPR topics, it is generally preferable not to mention mergers and acquisitions, litigation, etc.

Style

Paragraphing: topical/journalistic paragraphing, 8-10 verbs per paragraph, preferably with a strong statement in first or second position.
Tone: Professional and skimmable but still personalized tone.
Bold accent phrases to facilitate skimming, average 1.2 per paragraph.
Quotations: Pullout quotes use as sidebars, with Medium pullquote formatting to be used sparingly, once or twice per article; inline quotes are preferred for shorter quotes.
Illustrations are best kept to a minimum: 1 “splash image” (for Medium preview) is plenty, and diagrams should be supplemental to context, not more than one per 5 minutes of reading time. If more than that are necessary, consider publishing a PDF or slide deck instead, or linking to one from the story
Links: Links are best anchored to the descriptive noun (i.e. “In his 2020 article, Juan writes…”) rather than to the name of the source or the word “link” or “here”
- For multiple links, follow the same convention but one link per word (o.e. “In article after article, Juan rants…”)

Section-specific guidance

Education section: tone can be a bit more informal and personal; more frequent links are preferable

Style

Tone should be straightforward and not too frivolous, light, or shilly. Explicit calls to action or boastful claims are to be avoided.
Tag member orgs and liaison/partner orgs rather than individual accounts wherever possible; when in doubt, don't tag or ask first.

Feed ergonomics

Tweets should appear at regular intervals, usually no more than once per day
Tweets announcing blog posts, specs, or the release/ratification of other deliverables should be timed for bi-coastal business hours (i.e., the between 9-3 PT/12-6 ET)

Style:

Tone should be straightforward and avoid the conventions of recreational, marketing, and commercial video. Educational content should be tagged and toned appropriately.
Where possible, use an illustrative screengrab as the preview image so that people will pull
Verbose descriptions naming all speakers and members orgs are essential.
- Where appropriate, include a with "table of contents" breakdown where multiple speakers share one clip or chapter marks,

Settings and Ergonomics

Always ensure that user subtitles can be uploaded by activist communities-- the appropriate settings are hard to find in the youtube studio interface.
tags should always include DIF and reflect the conventions used on DIF Medium (see above)