What's new?

March 2026

Content style guide

Bulleted and numbered lists

Added guidance on what to consider when ordering bulleted lists:

Bulleted lists generally don’t need to be in a specific order. But in some cases, you may want to consider ordering the list based on the type of list items.

Grouping like items

Some lists may include sets of similar items. For example, a list of documents may include some documents related to education, some for personal information, and some for financial information. In this case, group each set of similar items together in the list.

Order of importance or level of urgency

In some lists, certain items may be more important or urgent than others. In this case, order the list with the most important or urgent item first. Consider a numbered list if appropriate for the content.

Numerical

In lists of dates, dollar values, percentages, or other numerical values, it may make sense to order the list from either high to low or low to high.

Alphabetical

Use alphabetical order for lists of certain items, like medications or specific locations, that don’t have another natural order. But don’t default to alphabetical order for all lists.

Punctuation and formatting

Added guidance on parentheses:

When to use parentheses

• For short examples within a sentence
• To set off brief additional information (an aside) that helps readers understand the sentence, the context, or a specific word or phrase
• To introduce an acronym or abbreviation
• To add a VA form number after the form title

When not to use parentheses

Consider making the parenthetical a separate sentence in these cases:

• If the parenthetical is a full sentence on its own
• If the parenthetical is long or makes the sentence harder to understand

Plurals

Don’t use “(s),” “(es),” or “(ies)” at the end of a word to show a possible plural. Screen readers don’t announce the parenthetical in a way that people can easily understand. Instead, use the plural version of the word. You can also reword the sentence to use “any” before the plural to mean 1 or multiple.

Payments and debts

Updated the definition for balance:

balance

Use “balance” when you refer to the total amount owed for copay bills or overpayment debt.

Like this: Pay your full balance or request help by the due date on your collection letter or billing statement.

Readability and usability of VA digital content

Added this new page to the style guide. This page explains our approach to ensuring digital content is easy to find, understand, and use. And it explains our approach to readability scores.

Sign in and identity verification

• Added information on ID.me to the first Considerations bullet:

  ID.me provides more flexibility for identity verification for Veterans in certain situations, such as living outside the U.S.

• Updated the identity verification and verify your identity definition to specify that ID.me and Login.gov are accounts. And added information to the note about using “confirm” or “confirmation” when asking someone to check information they provided on a form (like a mailing or email address).

Word list

Updated these entries:

• verify and verification: Specified that ID.me and Login.gov are accounts
• Veterans Service Organization (VSO): Fixed typo

Added these new entries:

balance

Use “balance” when you refer to the total amount owed for copay bills or overpayment debt.

Like this: Pay your full balance or request help by the due date on your collection letter or billing statement.

community care

Lowercase.

confirm or confirmation

Use “confirm” or “confirmation” when asking a person to check the information they provided on a form or application, like an email address or mailing address. Avoid using the terms “verify” or “verification” in this context. We only use the terms “verify” and “verification” to describe the initial, one-time process of verifying your identity with an ID.me or Login.gov account.

discharge status (character of discharge)

The discharge statuses are honorable, general, medical, other than honorable, bad conduct, dishonorable, officer, and entry-level separation. If you’re grouping multiple statuses together, list each status.

• Like this: You may qualify for these benefits if you have an honorable, general, or medical discharge.
• Like this: You may qualify for these benefits if you have an honorable, general, or medical discharge. If you have a different discharge type, you may still qualify for some benefits.
• Like this: If you have an other than honorable or bad conduct discharge, you may still qualify for some benefits.

MOVE! Weight Management Program for Veterans

MOVE! is all capital letters, with an exclamation point at the end. There’s no space between the “E” and the exclamation point. MOVE! isn’t an acronym. After the first mention of the full formal program name, we can use “MOVE!” for all other mentions.

Components

Alert

• Added guidance on slim alert length:

  Keep slim alerts to 100 characters (with spaces) when possible. If you have a slim alert that’s longer than 100 characters, contact the VA.gov content and IA team. The team will work with you to edit the alert or determine if we need to make an exception (up to 150 characters).

• Made edits to the Content considerations to align with the style guide.

IA

VA website organization

This new section explains how and why we organize content on the main VA.gov website and key subdomains.