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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    Re: RFC: StyleGuide for Labels? (fwd)
From:       Peter Putzer <pputzer () edu ! uni-klu ! ac ! at>
Date:       2000-07-05 8:55:56
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Since no-one on kde-look replied to Tom, I'd like the developers to have
a look at his reasoning (which coincides with mine :)


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 04 Jul 2000 09:53:00 -0400
From: Tom Hoferek <tomh@corel.com>
Reply-To: kde-look@kde.org
To: kde-look@kde.org
Subject: Re: RFC: StyleGuide for Labels? (fwd)
Resent-Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 15:53:32 +0200
Resent-From: kde-look@master.kde.org

I agree that we need a standard. There are companies that have published
standards for label capitalization even if they don't always follow them.
Interesting that there seem to be as many people claiming that they've heard that
one style of capitalization is easier to read than the other. I'll add my voice
to those that believe sentence style capitalization is easier to read. Of course
this applies to sentences, which are usually found in paragraphs, printed on
pages. Labels are a different animal. The readability argument alone is not what
should be the deciding factor. Information hierarchy plays a role here.

I've been through this debate before when writing corporate GUI standards. What I
have found to work in the past is to define a hierarchy. Some labels are more
like titles or headings, while others simply identify an option or control, etc.
I suggest that we identify two levels of label hierarchy and treat the higher
level with book title capitalization and the lower level sentence style
capitalization. How about breaking it down like the following excerpt taken from
a corporate GUI style guide I authored? It would probably apply equally as well
here. I think Peter suggested something like this (without going into the
details).

Use either book title capitalization or sentence style capitalization as
indicated in the lists below.

Example of Book Title Capitalization

Example of sentence style capitalization

Book title capitalization:
- window and dialog box titles
- group box / group line labels
- button labels
- tab labels
- listview column headers
- menu titles / menu items
- listbox items
- tree list items*
- other heading/title text

Sentence style capitalization:
- edit box labels
- list box labels
- combo box labels
- spin box labels
- check box labels
- option button labels
- spin box labels
- slider labels
- pop-up hint text
- other non heading/title text

*Tree list items that are representative of items found elsewhere in the system,
like folders for example, should utilize the capitalization of the represented
items.

Regards,

Tom

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