conventionstyle

Conventionstyle is a term used to describe a style paradigm that prioritizes conformity to established conventions, templates, and norms within a given community or field. It emphasizes readability, interoperability, and predictability, rather than personal experimentation or deviation from the norm.

Although not a formal term in major style guides, conventionstyle is discussed in debates about editorial practices, programming standards, and design languages. It refers to the extent to which practitioners follow documented guidelines instead of creating ad hoc solutions.

Core features include a defined style guide, consistent terminology, tone, and formatting, the use of templates or boilerplate, automated checks, and explicit documentation of decisions. It fosters quick understanding across contributors and reduces cognitive load for readers or users. It can be tailored to specific domains, like academic writing, software development, or journalism.

Examples of conventionstyle appear across domains. In academic writing, adherence to APA or MLA aligns with conventionstyle. In software development, the PEP 8 style guide exemplifies conventionstyle in code. In journalism and publishing, house styles ensure consistent capitalization, hyphenation, and citation formats.

Advantages of conventionstyle include clarity, efficiency, accessibility, and easier collaboration. Criticisms center on a potential stifling of creativity, rigidity, the risk of perpetuating outdated norms, and dependence on the quality and inclusivity of the governing guidelines.

See also: style guide, editorial standards, design system, coding standard, house style.