nsmb.com Online Style Sheet

***RECENT UPDATES ARE NOTED WITH A RED 'N'***

UPDATES

N 07/02/05 - Capitalization - Only capitalize proper nouns (e.g. the Shore, Norco, B.C. Place) or words at the beginning of a sentence. Words in the middle of a sentence shouldn't be capitalized (e.g. "Vancouver is world-famous on the Freeride scene" is INCORRECT).

N 07/02/05 - Apostrophe-'S' combo - use an apostrophe-'s' to show ownership / possession of something (e.g. "Cam's bikes are dirty"), NOT when you want to pluralize something ("there are lots of bikes in the bed of that pick-up"). The exception is the contraction of "it is", which becomes it's, as in "it's a nice day today."

General Rules

All content on the nsmb site will use Canadian spellings
Companies are referred to as 'it(s)' rather than 'they/their'

Front Page Style

First letter of small text links on front page articles/teasers should be capitalized

Dates

Date format for months and years is May 2002 (without a comma), but changes to May 22, 2002 (with comma) when day is added
Do not use 'th' or 'rd' when writing dates. Write as March 15, not March 15th
Do not use hyphens for ranges of dates. Write as March 15 to 20, not March 15-20
Years are abbreviated as '03, not 03

Time

Times are written out with periods after letters; either 1 p.m. or 1:00 p.m. is correct

Link formatting

Links to other sites should open in new windows (target="_blank")
Site names should be spelled out in links with appropriate capitals; also, do not use 'www' in links - links should appear like this: RaceFace.com or Norco Performance Bikes

Currencies

Canadian dollar amounts are written as C$100 or CDN$100
American dollar amounts are written as US$100

Number usage

Spell out numbers one through nine, use numerals for 10 and higher

Rotor size and fork travel

Disc brake rotor size should be expressed numerically, NOT spelled out, i.e. either 8" or 203mm
Fork travel should be expressed numerically, NOT spelled out, i.e. either 6" or 150mm

Specific Rules

A • Allen, not allen, bolts (hex bolts is an alternative) • a.m. - with periods after each letter; morning • Apostrophes - apostrophes are used to signify possession, not plural items. • ASAP - as soon as possible (capitalized)	B • B.C. - with periods after each letter N •bashguard - one word • Brake - the thing that stops your bike. A break is what happens when the bike doesn't stop. • BB - bottom bracket (capitalized)	C • Chainrings - one word • Chainguides - one word
D • DH - downhill bikes/trails/runs • Decades - the 1970s or '70s, NOT the 70's • Derailleur - with a double 'L' • Dirt jump(ing) - two words • Disc (brakes) - with a 'C'; information is stored on a floppy disk (with a 'K') N •Down tube - two words	E • Email - without a hyphen	F • Freeride / freeriders - one word
G • Grip Shift - two words, each capitalized	H • Hardtail - one word	I • ISIS Drive - independent, non-Shimano crank and BB system • It's = it is (contraction); Its = possessive (i.e. Norco uses aluminum to build its frames.)
J	K • km/h - kilometres per hour	L
M • Months - see formatting note above	N • nsmb (all lower case) - North Shore Mountain Biking.com • NSMBA (all caps) - North Shore Mountain Biking Association • Net - short version of the Internet	O • Online - one word, often used in place of Internet (lower case 'o')
P • Periods - no periods in article titles or teasers (they aren't sentences) • p.m. - with periods after each letter; afternoon • Premiere - the first showing of a movie	Q • Quick release - two words	R • Race Face - two words • Rapidfire - one word, Shimano shifters • RockShox - one word
S • Seatpost - one word N •Seat tube - two words • Set-up - the way a bike or components are put together	T • That / which - use "which" where there is a comma and "that" in other cases. Ex. - "Race Face, which makes cranks, is..." or "Race Face is the company that makes cranks..." • They're - contraction of "they are" • Their - possessive N • Top tube - two words	U • U.S. - the United States of America • U.K. - the United Kingdom
V	W • Web site - two words, with Web capitalized • Web (page) - short version of the World Wide Web / Internet	X
Y • You're - contraction, "you are" • Your - possessive • Years - abbreviate years as '03, not 03	Z