[haiku-development] Re: Checking consistency of used strings
- From: "Humdinger" <humdingerb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: haiku-development@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:36:53 +0100
-- pete.goodeve@xxxxxxxxxxxx, on Tue, 1 Dec 2009 23:40:26 -0800:
> I think the only "wrongness" is that capitalization has become
> customary.
> I don't see it helping comprehension at all. (And as I said earlier,
> I
> don't even notice when the custom is not followed!) Have you ever
> had
> a complaint from a user that they couldn't understand a menu item
> because of its capitalization? (:-))
No. I don't think the issue is comprehension. If capitalization
influences recognition, a user may never consciously realize it, but
wonder, why with some apps/OS they never find the option they're
looking for or are more easily frustrated.
> To me it is counterproductive to be anal about things like this.
> I can understand the need for coding standards, and things like
> icon guidelines, where a consistent look is desirable, but rules
> like "First and Third words should be Capitalized; middle ones
> should not" are arbitrary and pointless. And they lead to bad
> usage, like the examples I quoted before.
The analogy with the coding guidelines is a good one. I think it's the
very same thing. Arbitrary to some extend, but if everyone abides by
the rules, consistency ensues. "First and Third words should be
Capitalized; middle ones should not" was never proposed, so taking that
to ridicule the need for simple rules won't help.
I'd much rather try to mold the previously stated rules to something
sensible. For convenience:
1 - First and last word: always cap.
2 - 2 words: always cap.
3 - 3+ words in menus/labels/buttons: 1st, last and nouns/names and
emphasizes cap.
All other ("closed class") lowercase.
4 - Normal English sentence style for radio/checkbox/dialog if it's a
complete sentence.
"Menu-style" 2/3 word catchwords still abide rule 1-3.
4/5+ words should be formulated as sentence.
These are all open to debate. However, as I said before, since Apple is
using them, there might be something to it, even if it's not obvious to
the layman (which we all are to various degrees when it comes to
professional user interaction research).
> > It's all so subjective, that I'm afraid we won't find consensus...
>
> Pretty much... I looked up Fowler to see what it had to say on the
> subject, The verdict: "Let it be repeated: the employment of capitals
> is a matter not of rules but of taste". And Wikipedia has the same
> opinion.
Still, we should try to find a few minimal rules everyone can live
with. Else we end up with every app having its own convention. Or
several. There a few examples where capitalization is mixed even within
a menu... (Pe: Search menu).
I really don't want to be all rectal on this, but consistency is close
to my heart. And if I look over all the strings in the system, I don't
want to work on patches for a week that won't get committed, because
somebody vetos the style.
> [And for the record I *am* a native English speaker! (:-) Something
> of an English background to boot...]
Even better. Work us something out. Make it lyrical. :)
Regards,
Humdinger
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