Re: Capitalizing product names of product features

Subject: Re: Capitalizing product names of product features
From: Keith Hood <klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: "salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com" <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com>, "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2016 16:46:03 +0000 (UTC)

Capitalize the words only if you're drawing attention to something the user can see on screen. Never capitalize generic references.

If you write something like "Enter a valid address in the Email Address field..." you capitalize the name of the feature. In that case you're pointing at something.

But when you write about something that is not actually part of the UI, like "You must have a valid email address in order to..." you're not pointing out an actual screen landmark. In this case, the email address is a concept, not a feature. References like these should be lower case.


On Tuesday, November 29, 2016 9:38 AM, Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:


How does the item appear in the actual user interface (UI)? That is exactly
how it should be referred to in the text â errors and all.

Take This button example... the instruction should read, Click *[This
button]*.

In another chapter, and referring to another portion of the UI, the button
is labeled This Button

The instruction should now read, Click *[This Button]*.

I also compile a list of such inconsistencies and report them to software
development team.

In your example:

Prose portion (descriptive)

"....blah, blah, email address....blah, blah, email addresses...."

Actual step instructions:

"Enter the primary contact email address in the *Email Address* field."

Note that buttons can be references as you see above, where they're set in
boldface and surrounded by square brackets. UI items such as dialog box
titles and field names are set in boldface.

For more about such conventions, I suggest you refer to the 4th edition of
the *Microsoft Manual of Style*. (There are places on the 'Net from which
you can download a free PDF version.)

Chris Morton



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On Tue, Nov 29, 2016 at 9:42 AM, Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca> wrote:

> Yes. :-)
>
>
> Capitalize if referring to the specific feature or interface name.
>
> Don't capitalize if referring to the general purpose of the feature. As in
> your example.
>
> -Tony
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References:
Capitalizing product names of product features: From: Karen Gwynn
Re: Capitalizing product names of product features: From: Tony Chung
Re: Capitalizing product names of product features: From: Chris Morton

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