Grammar and mechanics

Capitalization

• Cars.com is always capitalized, and always with “.com”.
• Use title case for global navigation, and sentence case for all other UI copy, including headings (h1), sub-headings (h2), and button copy. Sentence case conveys a friendlier, more conversational tone than all caps or title case.
• Editorial content is an exception. With editorial content. use title case for article names and list items. Use sentence case for section separators in the body copy of an article.
• Use title case for phrases or content that are treated as proper nouns, i.e. Cars Privacy Statement (proper noun), Certified Pre-Owned, and Multicar Comparison.

Punctuation

• Use “&” vs. “and” in labels. It’s space-economical and easier to parse.
• Add periods to the end of complete bulleted sentences. For bulleted lists that are not comprised of complete sentences, do not include a period.
• Use commas in numbers greater than 3 digits, such as 2,500
• Use the Oxford comma; i.e. include a comma after the last item in a list of three or more items, before “and” or “or.” It helps break up information, assisting with understandability and making content easier to parse.

• However, in interface copy, there’s likely more digestible ways to share whatever information you’re utilizing the commas for. Consider whether a bulleted list or some other formatting mechanism might be more helpful.

• Use exclamation points sparingly, never using more than one exclamation point in a message (nothing should get us that excited). Too many can come across as overly excitable, and lessen our credibility.
• If you put a question mark at the end of a sentence, make sure we’re really asking a question and the answer is easy—either as a button or input, or in the form of a link to “learn more.” Like exclamation points, they should be used sparingly, otherwise our whole product becomes one big Q&A.
• An em-dash (—, —) denotes a break in a sentence or sets off parenthetical statements.

• An en-dash (–, –) indicates spans or differentiation, where it may be considered to replace “and” or “to.”

• A hyphen (-) joins words and separates syllables of a single word.

• A minus symbol (−, −) should be used when expressing math operations.

Headings and subheadings

• Headings provide users with the MOST important information that will draw attention, spur action, or otherwise solve the user problem. Subheading content should never be repetitive, and should only be used to provide additional necessary context. Otherwise, it’s just clutter.

Spelling and formatting

• Use contractions (“didn’t”, “can’t”). They’re more natural and conversational.

Personal pronouns

• Avoid gender identifiers like “he”, “she”, “her”, or “him” when writing about cars.
• In microcopy conversations, Cars.com is “we”; the user is “you” or “your.”

Date

Spell out the month’s full name whenever possible. For example, “October” vs. “Oct.” If there are significant space constraints, use standard 3-letter abbreviations, i.e. Oct. Don’t ever write dates numerically, like 07-02-14.

Also, don’t use ordinal indicators, which are words representing position or rank in a sequential order (e.g. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th).

Time

• Use the 12-hour clock, followed by am or pm (no punctuation.)
• Do not include a space after the last number.

• If indicating a time zone is necessary, use the time zone’s abbreviation and write it after am or pm

• To show a time range, use an en dash and include the am/pm after both times.

• If indicating both the date and time, separate them with the word “at”, rather than with a comma.

Numbers

• Use 3-digit grouping, separated by a comma, for numbers greater than 999.

• For percentages, leading zeroes should be included for all values less than 0, and limit decimals to 2 places. Always include the percentage symbol.

Dropdown labels and values

If the user is required to make a choice in a dropdown to move on in a flow or choose a call-to-action, use “Choose a [make/model/etc]” as the default language for the value.

The label reflects whatever that section is about, so “Make”, “Model”, etc.

Sign in vs. log in

We use “sign in” vs. “log in.” Log-in is too technical. Sign in is more natural and less jargon-y. This means we also use “signed in” vs. “logged in” and “sign out” vs. “log out.”

Abbreviations

Leave out the period in abbreviations when the word can stand on its own.

• Use “Min price” and “Max price” as labels in dropdown menus.
• Abbreviations such as estimated (Est.) and and average (Avg.) should still use the period.
• In conversation and paragraph text, spell out “miles” and “months.” When used within data points, abbreviate to “mi.” and “mo.”
• For more abbreviations, see the Vocabulary page.

Places

State abbreviations

When providing addresses on the site, use abbreviations for states. Spelling out state names can be cumbersome from a character standpoint, and abbreviations (postal standard) are widely understood.