Word list — H
Verdict: restricted
Don’t use to describe an unresponsive computer system. Use unresponsive, stop responding, or not responding instead.
- Alternatives: hung
- Replacements: stop responding, not responding
hardcode
Section titled “hardcode”Verdict: style
Use hardcode without a space or hyphen.
- Alternatives: hardcoded
Verdict: avoid
Rewrite to use second person, or they.
- Alternatives: him, his
- Replacements: they, them, their, theirs
hearing impaired
Section titled “hearing impaired”Verdict: style
Use hearing-impaired as a modifier and hearing impaired otherwise.
- Alternatives: hearing-impaired
higher
Section titled “higher”Verdict: restricted
Don’t use spatial terms such as higher to describe the position of a version number. Use later instead.
- Replacements: later
Verdict: restricted
Don’t use to indicate UI or input device interaction. Instead, use a more specific term, such as select, touch, press, type, or click.
- Replacements: select, touch, press, type, click
hold the pointer over
Section titled “hold the pointer over”Verdict: restricted
Only use to describe a hover interaction where pointer input is assured, and the user must wait for a UI response.
holiday
Section titled “holiday”Verdict: avoid
Which holidays are observed varies by reader and region. Name the specific date or period instead of assuming a shared calendar.
- Alternatives: the holidays
home page
Section titled “home page”Verdict: style
Use home page.
- Alternatives: homepage
home screen
Section titled “home screen”Verdict: style
Write lowercase home screen as a common noun. Capitalize it only when it refers to a product or feature name.
hostname
Section titled “hostname”Verdict: style
Use hostname.
- Alternatives: host name
Verdict: restricted
When describing redundancy infrastructure, use a more direct term such as active, ready, live, or synchronized instead.
- Replacements: active, ready, live, synchronized
housekeeping
Section titled “housekeeping”Verdict: avoid
Use maintenance or cleanup instead.
- Alternatives: house keeping, house-keeping
- Replacements: maintenance, cleanup
Verdict: avoid · Form: verb
As a verb hover assumes a mouse and excludes touch and keyboard users. Describe the resulting state or use point to instead.
- Replacements: point to