Varibill Documentation Standards and Style Guide

Introduction

This document defines the official documentation standards and style guidelines for Varibill’s customer-facing documentation.

These guidelines serve as the single source of truth for how all external documentation is written, structured, styled, and presented across Varibill’s customer support and documentation platforms, including:

1. The Freshdesk Knowledge Base and Solution Pages
2. Online support and help articles
3. Customer-facing product guides and how-to documentation, content, and media
4. Downloadable documentation

The goal of this guide is to ensure all Varibill customer documentation is:

1. Consistent in structure, style, and visual presentation
2. Clear, accessible, and easy to navigate
3. Professional and aligned with the Varibill brand
4. Scalable and maintainable as the product evolves

Where possible, these standards are enforced directly in the Freshdesk Knowledge Base through Varibill portal theming, layout rules, navigation structure, and reusable templates.

All new customer-facing documentation and all significant updates to existing documentation in the Freshdesk Solutions portal must adhere to this guide.

Scope & Audience

Applies to:

1. Solution Pages
2. Help articles
3. Guides and onboarding documentation
4. Downloadable PDFs

Document Types

How-to Guides

Step-by-step procedural documentation guiding users through a specific task.

Concept / Overview Articles

High-level explanations describing system behaviour, architecture, or workflows.

FAQ Articles

Short, focused answers to common user questions.

Troubleshooting Guides

Problem-solution structured documentation for resolving known issues.

Release Notes / Announcements

Structured updates outlining new features, improvements, fixes, and performance enhancements.

Writing Style & Language

Voice and Tone

1. Professional and neutral
2. Instructional and solution-focused
3. Direct and conversational:
   • When providing instructions, use “you” and “your”.
   • When describing processes or case studies, use “users”, “the user”, or “customer”.
4. Terminology:
   • When referring to Varibill customers, always use “customer” and avoid “client”.
   • Use “the client” or “the Varibill Client” when referring to the Varibill Client application.

UI Label Formatting

Always reference UI elements exactly as displayed in the application.

Example: Select Billing Documents from the navigation menu.

Terminology Rules

• Always use US English.
• Microsoft writing standards will apply based on Varibill’s product offering, integrations, and scope of growth.
• Maintain consistent terminology across all documentation.
• Avoid internal development terminology in public-facing documentation.

Do’s & Don’ts

• Do use descriptive link text.
• Do structure long content using headings.
• Do use ordered lists as the preferred listing method for sequential content, except when listing grouped information.
• Don’t use “Click here” phrasing. Prefer describing the action and using bold for UI labels.
  • Example: Click the Sign out button to exit the Source Collector Editor page.

Content Structure Rules

Heading Hierarchy

1. H1: Article title
2. H2: Primary major article sections
   1. H2 font sizing will always be set to 24px bold.
   2. H2 headings will populate the primary right-side in-article table of contents.
3. H3: Subsections
   1. H3 font sizing will always be set to 18px.
   2. H3 headings will populate the secondary right-side in-article table of contents.
4. H4: Third-level subsections
   1. H4 font sizing will always be set to 16px bold italic.
   2. H4 headings will not populate the right-side in-article table of contents.

Paragraph Length

Limit paragraphs to 3-5 lines for readability.

Page Flow

Content should move logically from:

1. Overview / Introduction
2. Actions / Steps
3. Resolution / Closing

Lists, Steps & Procedures

Ordered vs Unordered Lists

• Use numbered lists for sequential steps.
• Use bullet lists for grouped information.

Step Numbering Rules

Each numbered step must contain one primary action.

Nested Lists

Do not nest more than three levels.

One Action Per Step

Avoid combining multiple actions into a single step.

Visual Design & Formatting Standards

Spacing & Alignment

• Maintain consistent vertical spacing.
• Avoid excessive empty lines.
• Left-align all content, including images, video, and screenshots.

Varibill Sample Image

Components & Callouts

Notes

Warnings

Tips and Tricks

Code Blocks

<script nonce="{{portal.nonce}}">
document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function () {
  const searchInput = document.querySelector('input[type="search"]');
  if (searchInput) {
    searchInput.placeholder = "Search documentation...";
  }
});
</script>