Re: [Usability] HIG Clarification for "Close Without Saving" button

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Tue, 2005-02-01 at 11:41 +0000, Patrick Costello wrote:
> 
> Shaun McCance wrote:
> > On Mon, 2005-01-31 at 22:00 -0400, Steven Garrity wrote:
> > 
> >>I'm working on evaluating (and hopefully improving) the consistency of 
> >>save confirmation dialogs in Gnome [1] and there's a bug in the HIG that 
> >>is holding me up. [2]
> >>
> >>As the comments on the bug explain, the problem is that the "Close" and 
> >>"Close without Saving" buttons both have "C" as their shortcut key. This 
> >>should be relatively simple to resolve.
> >>
> >>A smaller issue (also mentioned in the bug comments): I'm not sure if 
> >>the "w" in "Close without Saving" should be capitalized or not.
> >>
> >>The HIG says [3] that "Command button labels" should use "header" 
> >>capitalization and that means all initial-caps, except for "Prepositions 
> >>of three or fewer letters: at, for, by, in, to". So I think "without" 
> >>should have an upper-case W. Can anyone confirm/deny this?
> > 
> > 
> > The Gnome Documentation Style Guide agrees with this, and so this is
> > probably the best option at this time.  It is worth noting, however,
> > that the Chicago Manual of Style does not agree.  The CMS recommends
> > against capitalizing any prepositions, unless they are the first word.
> > 
> > I think it's high time we followed suit on this one.  Breaking from CMS
> > should only be done when there is very good reason to do so.
> > 
> > I'm CC'ing gnome-doc-list to get the rest of the GDP's opinions.
> > 
> >
> 
> An interesting topic, but not as simple as you might think on first sight.

Oh wow, nice references.  Thanks, Pat.

> Some references about title rules:
> 
> Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition
> -------------------------------------
> 
> - Lowercase all prepositions in titles, BUT:
> 
> - Always uppercase a preposition if it is the first word or the last word.
> 
> See section 7.127.
> 
> The New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage, 1st Edition
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> - Lowercase those prepositions of four or fewer letters.
> 
> See page 216.
> 
> Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, 2nd Edition
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> - Lowercase those prepositions of four or fewer letters, BUT:
> 
> - Uppercase prepositions that are part of a phrasal verb, eg "Backing Up
> Your Disk".
> 
> - Always uppercase the first word and the last word, regardless of part of
> speech: "Text to Look For".
> 
> See page 34.
> 
> Sun Editorial Style Guide
> -------------------------
> 
> - Lowercase those prepositions of fewer than four letters.
> 
> See page 25.
> 
> GNOME Documentation Style Guide
> -------------------------------
> 
> Rules relating to prepositions:
> 
> - Initial uppercase letter of the first word.
> - All lowercase letters for ... prepositions of less than four letters.
> - Initial uppercase letter for prepositions of four letters or longer.
> 
> See Chapter 3, Headings.

I'll add the Apple Publications Style Guide to this:

- Lowercase prepositions of three or fewer letters.
- Uppercase prepositions that are part of a verbal phrase.
- Always capitalize the first and last word.

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/APStyleGuide/AppleStyleGuide2003.pdf

(Apparently only available in PDF)

> My Thoughts
> -----------
> 
> The problem is that longer prepositions such as "without" or "between" are
> often longer than other words in the title, and therefore strike an odd
> note, for example if we apply the CMS guideline:
> 
> "What Can You Do without Your Computer?"
> 
> or
> 
> "Sending Mail between Remote Users"
> 
> Readers, who are usually not consciously aware of the different parts of
> speech, would notice the different casing on the long preposition. The
> casing rule in the above examples draws unnecessary attention to the
> preposition, and so reduces the effectiveness of the title. The effect is
> even more apparent in a UI label, which is what prompted the original
> question, i.e.:
> 
> "Close without Saving"
> 
> So, balancing up the various reference sources, the nature of the problem,
> and taking into consideration our current GDSG and HIG recommendations, I
> think we should do the following:
> 
> - Decide that this is one instance where we want to depart slightly from
> the CMS, i.e. retain the advice to uppercase longer prepositions.
> 
> - Expand the guidelines in the GDSG.
> 
> The additional guidelines in the GDSG that I would suggest are as follows:
> 
> - Uppercase prepositions that are part of a phrasal verb. [As recommended
> by the MS MSTP]
> 
> - Always uppercase the first word and the last word, regardless of part of
> speech. [As recommended by both CMS and MS MSTP]
> 
> Therefore, the label in the original message would be:
> 
> "Close Without Saving".

Yeah, my recommendation was based solely on standard industry behavior,
but I see that CMS isn't really capturing an industry consensus in this
case.  I do agree that "Close without Saving" looks awkward.

Personally, I've never liked seeing "from" capitalized, but it looks as
if only Microsoft agrees with me.

I agree with your first suggestion, and strongly agree with the second.

--
Shaun