Eclipse Foundation Writing Style Guide | The Eclipse Foundation

Last updated November 2023
Follow the rules in this document when writing any Eclipse Foundation marketing content for any medium. This document covers writing style only and is intended to be used in conjunction with the Eclipse Foundation:
The intended audience for this document is anyone writing on behalf of the Eclipse Foundation or representing the brand to an external audience. This includes the following:
Write all content in British English following the spelling in the Oxford English Dictionary. When two spellings are provided, use the first entry.
Please visit the Eclipse logo and Trademark Guidelines section of the Eclipse Foundation website for further details on trademark usage.
Always indicate Eclipse Foundation trademarks on first mention of the trademarked term, either ™ or ®. Subsequent mentions of the trademarked term in the same text do not need to have the trademark indicated.
Do not indicate other vendors’ trademarks in marketing content. It’s too easy to miss trademarks, mark them inconsistently across content types, or mark them incorrectly. Instead, include a general statement at the end of each piece of content, as shown below.
Use the copyright and trademark notation once on all originals and copies of a work. It should be placed somewhere on the document so as to give “reasonable notice of the claim of copyright.”
Use the format: © Eclipse Foundation, 2023.
The copyright year is always the year the content was first published, even if the content is updated in a subsequent year.
Write all Eclipse Foundation content in an authoritative and professional voice that reflects our experience and leadership in open source software but is not stuffy, old-fashioned, or arrogant.
The tone should be direct, informative, and helpful, but never condescending, patronising, or overly casual:
Always refer to the Eclipse Foundation by its full name, never as simply “Eclipse,” as this can cause confusion with the Eclipse IDE, which the developer community often refers to as Eclipse.
Avoid referring to the Eclipse Foundation as “the Foundation” in standalone references. However, if the Eclipse Foundation name is already well-established in the paragraph, it can be referred to as “the Foundation” in subsequent mentions within that paragraph to improve readability.
The Eclipse Foundation offers four levels of membership: Strategic, Contributing, Associate, and Committer. When referring to each membership level individually, the names should be capitalised. When referring to membership in general, the words “member” and “membership” should be lowercase.
The Eclipse Foundation hosts open source software projects and working groups. It also provides marketing, intellectual property, and support services to them. It does not develop open source software itself or manage projects.
To avoid the impression of ownership or control, refrain from using the following phrases:
Instead use variations that more clearly indicate the relationships:
The open source software projects hosted at the Eclipse Foundation provide technologies that anyone can freely use to develop commercial products and solutions. The projects are not products or solutions themselves.
When referring to projects, always use the project’s formal name. The formal name starts with one of the Eclipse Foundation’s brands (e.g., “Eclipse”, “LocationTech”, or “Jakarta”), followed by the project’s distinctive name (e.g., “Eclipse Che”, “LocationTech GeoWave”, or “Jakarta Activation”). After the first use, the more informal nickname of the project can be used. For example, on the first use, the formal name “Eclipse Che” would be used, but “Che” can be used in all occurance thereafter.
The project page displays the formal name, along with other potentially useful information about the project.
There are some exceptions.
The original top level project is named “Eclipse”. When referring to it, we consistently call it the “Eclipse top level project”; though it is generally more likely that the writer should refer to the “Eclipse Platform” or “Eclipse JDT” subprojects. Note that “Eclipse JDT” is often used by the community as a synonym for “Eclipse IDE”.
The MicroProfile specification project is simply named “MicroProfile”. Generally, though, the writer will likely refer to the products of the project, including the “MicroProfile Specification” or “MicroProfile Config” specification.
When referring to the project and code that enables the Open VSX marketplace, use “Eclipse Open VSX.” When writing about the marketplace itself, use “Open VSX Registry.”
There are also some examples of projects with names that violate our naming standards. The EclipseLink project, which predates our application of strict naming guidelines, incorrectly concatenates the Eclipse brand with another word; we refer to this project simply as “EclipseLink” and not “Eclipse EclipseLink”.
Projects like the Eclipse Modeling Framework or Eclipse Communication Framework, for example, are commonly referred to by their acronyms, EMF and ECF. The first occurance of these project names should either use the complete name, or–should there be cause to use just the acronym–the acronym prepended with the brand (e.g., “Eclipse Modeling Framework” or “Eclipse EMF”).
When referring to working groups, include “Eclipse” only when it is an official part of the working group name. Note that several working groups do not include the Eclipse branding.
Capitalise the names of projects, unless the name is purposely lowercase.
Capitalise the phrase “working group” when it is included in the working group name, but not when the concept is referred to in general.
Use the word community to refer to the different groups that are associated with the Eclipse Foundation:
Remember that there are different ways to refer to people associated with the Eclipse Foundation and projects hosted by the foundation.
The organisations and individuals who use the technologies are users.
The organisations and i