STYLE-GUIDE.md

Axelar Developer Documentation Style Guide

Thank you for contributing to the Axelar documentation! We aim to provide clear, consistent information on how to build for the interchain future. Please refer to this guide when working on the docs. It will be updated regularly as Axelar grows and new standards come into place.

This style guide is inspired by the Google developer documentation style guide.

Table of contents

• Voice and tone
• Document structure
• Content format
• Wording

Voice and tone

• Be friendly, respectful, and not overly pedantic, like you're pair-programming with a friend.
• Refer to Google's word list when unsure how to phrase something.

When addressing the reader

• Address the reader directly by using the second-person "you."
• Do not use the word "I." When speaking on Axelar's behalf (as a member of the Axelar team), use "we."
• Avoid using “we” to refer to Axelar as a project. Refer to Axelar by name or as “the project,” “the community,” “the ecosystem,” etc.

Recommended	Not recommended
Hardhat and Foundry are local development platforms. Use Remix if you prefer an online editor.	Hardhat and Foundry are local development platforms. I'd use Remix if I preferred an online editor.
We recommend using MetaMask for this tutorial.	I recommend using MetaMask for this tutorial.
We're launching a bunch of cool new Interchain features this month.	Axelar will have a bunch of cool new Interchain features this month.

When referring to a third party user or developer

• Use the singular "they" when referring to a third party user or developer.

Recommended	Not recommended
A user can check their transactions on Axelarscan.	A user can check his or her transactions on Axelarscan.

Accessibility

• Use "earlier", "preceding", or "following" to refer to the position of a code snippet or UI element in a document rather than "above," "below," or "left-hand side."

Recommended	Not recommended
Start up the Hardhat command-line interface by typing the following command.	Start up the Hardhat command-line interface by typing the command below.
Copy the address from the preceding section.	Copy the address from the section above.

Document structure

• Avoid a wall of text whenever possible.
• Break a long section up into subsections with the appropriate headings.
• Add screenshots when a UI is not likely to change.

Code comments

• Comment in the code directly whenever possible.
• Add bullet points directly above or below the code snippet if it makes the code more clear.

Recommended

sendToMany will need to do the following:

• Get the address of a token from its symbol
• Send funds to another address
• Approve the gateway to spend funds
• Encode the recipient addresses on the destination chain to ensure that they are bytes, since GMP messages must be of this type

function sendToMany(
  string memory _destChain,
  string memory _destContractAddr,
  address[] calldata _destinationAddrs,
  string memory _symbol,
  uint256 _amount
) external payable {
    // Check that funds have been sent. If no
    // funds have been sent, revert the transaction.
    require(msg.value > 0, "Gas payment required");

    // Use the gateway contract to obtain the address
    // of the ERC-20 token you will be sending from
    // chain A to chain B.
    address tokenAddress = gateway.tokenAddresses(_symbol);

    // Transfer the ERC-20 token from the sender's
    // wallet to this contract.
    IERC20(tokenAddress).transferFrom(msg.sender, address(this), _amount);

    // Grant approval to the gateway contract to
    // transfer funds on this contract's behalf.
    IERC20(tokenAddress).approve(address(gateway), _amount);

    // Encode and send a GMP message along with the
    // token. _destinationAddrs is a list that contains
    // the addresses of the ERC-2O token's final
    // recipients once the transaction has arrived
    // at the destination chain.
    bytes memory recipientAddressesEncoded = abi.encode(_destinationAddrs);

    // Output: a list of addresses in bytes
}

Not recommended

sendToMany will need to get the address of a token from its symbol, send funds to another address, approve the gateway to spend funds, and encode the recipient addresses on the destination chain to ensure that they are bytes, since GMP messages must be of this type. It will have a list of bytes as output.

function sendToMany(
string memory \_destChain,
string memory \_destContractAddr,
address[] calldata \_destinationAddrs,
string memory \_symbol,
uint256 \_amount
) external payable {

    require(msg.value > 0, "Gas payment required");

    address tokenAddress = gateway.tokenAddresses(_symbol);

    IERC20(tokenAddress).transferFrom(msg.sender, address(this), _amount);

    IERC20(tokenAddress).approve(address(gateway), _amount);

    bytes memory recipientAddressesEncoded = abi.encode(_destinationAddrs);

}

Section headings

• Don't skip heading types. A subheading under a title should be an H1, the nested subheading under that one an H2, and so forth.

Document titles

• For H1 headings (headings with one "#" sign in front), use title case for all words longer than 3 characters.

Recommended	Not recommended
Everything you Always Wanted to Know About Headings, but Were Afraid to Ask	Everything you always wanted to know about headings, but were afraid to ask

• For H2 headings and below (headings with two or more "#" signs in front), write in sentence case rather than capitalizing every letter of a new word.

Recommended	Not recommended
Set up your development environment	Set Up Your Development Environment

• Always use numerical numbers in all headings.

Recommended	Not recommended
5 Things to Know About Headings	Five Things to Know About Headings

• Never close a heading with a period. Exclamation points and question marks are OK.

Recommended	Not recommended
How to End a Heading Title.	How to End a Heading Title

Content format

• Use bold, italic, and code font when appropriate.
• Product names should not have any special font formatting.
• Always put parentheses after a method name.

Method names

• Method names should always include parentheses, so that they are not confused with properties.

Recommended	Not recommended
Users can call interchainTransfer() on a token to transfer between blockchains.	Users can call interchainTransfer on a token to transfer between blockchains.

Bold font

• Use bold font for UX elements.

Recommended	Not recommended
In MetaMask, go to the Tokens tab and click Import Tokens.	In MetaMask, go to the “Tokens” tab and click “Import Tokens.”

Italic font

• Use italics when using a new concept or term for the first time. Do not italicize more than once.

Recommended	Not recommended
Axelar's General Message Passing (GMP) enables a developer building on one chain to call any function on any other connected chain.	Axelar's General Message Passing (GMP) enables a developer building on one chain to call any function on any other connected chain.
Axelar's General Message Passing (GMP) enables a developer building on one chain to call any function on any other connected chain. For GMP to work, chains A and B must be EVM or Cosmos with a deployed Axelar Gateway contract.	Axelar's General Message Passing (GMP) enables a developer building on one chain to call any function on any other connected chain. For GMP to work, chains A and B must be EVM or Cosmos with a deployed Axelar Gateway contract.

Underlined font

• Do not underline anything in the documentation.

Code font

• Use code font for text input, strings, and any names found in code, such as properties and methods.

Recommended	Not recommended
If the prepaid gas is insufficient, you might see NOT ENOUGH GAS or other messages, such as Insufficient gas for executing the transaction and intrinsic gas too low.	If the prepaid gas is insufficient, you might see NOT ENOUGH GAS or other messages, such as Insufficient gas for executing the transaction and intrinsic gas too low.
sendToMany() takes many parameters, including _destChain and _destContractAddr.	sendToMany() takes many parameters, including _destChain and _destContractAddr.
Give your test wallet an alias, such as My Sepolia test wallet.	Give your test wallet an alias, such as "My Sepolia test wallet".

Hyperlinks

• Use descriptive hyperlink text rather than the word "here."

Recommended	Not recommended
For more information on General Message Passing, check out Axelar's YouTube channel.	For more information on General Message Passing, check out Axelar's YouTube channel here.

• Use the root-relative path instead of a relative one when linking in docs. This makes links less likely to break if a file is moved into another folder.

Recommended	Not recommended
Create a [custom token](/dev/glossary#custom-token).	Create a [custom token](../../reference/glossary/#custom-token).

Lists

• When writing a list, either use complete sentences for all elements or no elements. Either every element has a period at the end, or none of them do. Do not mix and match.

Recommended

Implement the following to send an interchain transaction with Axelar:

• AxelarExecutable – The contract to handle a message on the destination chain once a transaction has been sent to the Axelar network
• IAxelarGateway – The Axelar Gateway
• IAxelarGasService – The Axelar Gas Service
• IERC20 – The ERC-20 token interface to access ERC-20-related functionality

Not recommended

Implement the following to send an interchain transaction with Axelar:

• AxelarExecutable – This is a contract that handle a message on the destination chain once a transaction has been sent to the Axelar network.
• IAxelarGateway – The Axelar Gateway
• IAxelarGasService – The Axelar Gas Service
• IERC20 – This represents the ERC-20 token interface to access ERC-20-related functionality.

Wording

• General Message Passing: Capitalize, since it is as a product name – “Axelar General Message Passing,” "GMP," or “Axelar GMP” (never "Axelar’s GMP"). If you’re looking for a generic description, use “arbitrary message passing.”
• Interchain: Wherever possible, use “interchain,” instead of “cross-chain,” “blockchain interoperability,” “chain-agnostic” or other synonyms. "Interchain" is only capitalized at the beginning of a sentence.
• Interchain Tokens: title case. Likewise Interchain Token Service, Interchain Token Portal, Canonical Interchain Token.
• Network: “Axelar network,” not “Axelar Network.”
• Proof-of-stake: Only capitalize the first word in titles and at the beginning of sentences. Always hyphenate.
• Web, Web2, Web3: Capitalized everywhere, as in “the decentralized Web,” “the Web,” and any other context referring to the World Wide Web. “Web2” and “Web3” are also capitalized and written as one word.
• Mint/Burn, not mint/burn.
• Lock/Unlock, not lock/unlock.
• Token manager is not a proper noun, unless specifying the TokenManager object (in which case it should be code font).
• Refer to Axelar's Gas Service as Axelar Gas Service, the Gas Service, or the AxelarGasService contract, not as "Gas Services" or "the GasService contract."
• Time format is always in UTC.
• dApp: Lowercase d, uppercase A.
• Mainnet, testnet, devnet: All one word. Capitalized at the beginning of a sentence, else lowercase.