====== Victron Manual of Style (MoS) ======

The Victron Manual of Style (MoS), is a set of evolving and aspirational standards for the writing and design of documents. Victron's MoS is relevant to all documents that we produce, be they in digital, paper or web format.

==== Acronyms ====
Start a document with the full name of the acronym and then the acronym in brackets. Use just the acronym after that. Example: Battery Management System (BMS) and thereafter use just BMS.

==== Language ====
Use British English, as opposed to USA English.
==== Numbers ====

The following example shows the decimal mark and the thousands separator usage for both currency and non-currency numbers.

1,234,567.89

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_mark#Examples_of_use

==== Punctuation ====

A basic guide to punctuation: http://stylematters.margaretashworth.com/punctuation/

==== Product Acronyms ====

Consider
  * Capitalisation,
  * Punctuation, and
  * Omission or inclusion of spaces or hyphenation.

===== List of words that are often written incorrectly =====

  * VE.Direct
  * VE.Bus
  * VE.Can
  * VE.Smart 
  * CAN-bus
  * VictronConnect
  * VEConfigure
  * Color Control GX or CCGX
  * Venus GX or VGX
  * GX device - collective name for CCGX, VGX, Cerbo GX, Ekrano GX and so on.
  * equalisation - UK spelling, not Equalization
  * synchronise or synchronisation - UK spelling, not synchronize or synchronization
  * state of charge - do not capitalise or hyphenate, not State of Charge or state-of-charge
  * midpoint – this is one word, it is not capitalised or hyphenated, not Mid point or mid-point
  * house battery - not domestic battery 
  * starter battery - not start battery
  * PIN code – not pincode or pin code
  * NMEA 2000, or N2K - note the spacing
  * Off-grid - note the grid is lowercase and the word is hyphenated. Use off-grid mid-sentence.
  * Grid-connected - similar to off-grid.
  * BMS-Can - The implementation of CAN-bus that is specific to managed batteries in Victron GX devices
  * MultiPlus-II
  * BatteryLife - feature in the GX device, part of ESS.
  * Node-RED
  * Modbus-TCP   (yes officially its perhaps without a dash, but we include it)
  * Signal K   (yes with that confusing space)
  * run time - as in generator run time. not runtime or run-time
  * Passthrough
  * Victron Recommended Software Integrator Program
  * VRM Online Portal, or VRM Portal - also fine to just be VRM, but when using Online and/or Portal capitalise them
  * VRM Portal ID - unique GX device hexadecimal code used to register on VRM, not site id. 


==== GX Product Classifications ====

  * GX product range - all GX devices (eg CCGX), and their accessories (eg GX GSM).

  * GX device - any member of that family eg Venus GX and Octo GX, but not inclusive of the accessories.

  * GX Card - a circuit board featuring all the GX features that is used in the integrated products, eg EasySolar-II GX and MultiPlus-II GX.

Products that have the GX suffix are a GX device, or contain a GX device. 

Products that have a GX prefix are accessories for a GX device.

Generally, public/external use of the terms 'Venus' & 'Venus device' is now depreciated, and should be replaced with 'GX device' instead. 

Specific internal/technical use of 'Venus OS' to refer to the open source operating system software development that runs on the GX devices is still correct. 
==== Style ====

If in doubt //The Economist// has one of the best style guides I know of: https://shop.economist.com/collections/books/products/the-economist-style-guide-12th-edition also available in EBook


==== Type Faces Used ====

  * Myriad Pro-Bold
  * Myriad Pro
  * Helvetica Neue regular, bold and condensed black
  * Arial regular and bold

==== Units ====
Use the International System of Units. for more info see [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_System_of_Units|Wikipedia]].

There should not be a space between the value and the unit. Example 12V.

When using a symbol as prefix, like m for milli, K for kilo or M for mega, these are written either capitalized or are lowercase. The symbols for mega and above are capitals, while kilo and below are lowercase. Example 12MW, 5kVA and 10mA.

==== Victron Energy departments - names and definitions ====

**Service Department** - Sometimes referred to as "Repairs Department" but the correct name is Service Department. 

**Repair Centre** (previously called Service Partner) - These are external companies (customers) who perform product repairs on behalf of the Victron Energy Service Department.