Questions tagged [grammar]
the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language
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Is it Ok to use a contraction in a UI (such as a tooltip)?
Is it Ok to use a contraction in a UI?
e.g., tooltip for a checkbox: "If unchecked, items won't be changed"
The userbase for this is native english speakers, above average in computer skill....
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To hyphenate or not to hyphenate: Grammatically correct or aesthetically pleasing text?
Marketing is asking us (Development) to change some UI text to be grammatically incorrect. Specifically, they're basically asking to remove hyphens from compound adjectives (e.g., 'thirty-foot ...
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"Button Style" vs. "Button Styles"
I'm working on an app where the user can change how a button looks (size, color, etc.) and I don't know if I should name that tab/section "Button Style" or "Button Styles".
There ...
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1
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Less vs. Fewer for validation message?
Should an inputs validation message read as A or B for each of the following?
A Nick Name must be 10 characters or less.
B Nick Name must be 10 characters or fewer.
A Number must be 10 digits or ...
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Should I add period after yes/no answer in survey?
Have you ever make a survey question with answers like
Yes, with coke
Yes, with beer
No
With this kind of choices within a form, should you add a period after the answer? Or just leave ...
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2
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Should I capitalize button text when quoting it?
If I'm quoting a button that's capitalized, should I also capitalize it in a sentence? For example, if the button is "Next," should it be:
Click "Next" to move on.
OR
Click "next" to move on.
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Error/ success messages: File not downloaded or File was not downloaded. The download was stopped or interrupted by another file download
Error/ success messages in web apps.
Material design writing style, recommends to be simple and direct.
Here's an example they give:
The advice is easy to follow in one-sentence messages. But what ...
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Which is the proper grammatical structure of page titles? [closed]
We have a pages that are labeled inconsistently and I suggested that we use more affirmative syntax.
"Manage Audiences" is a page title which reads poorly and doesn't sound right. "Audiences," is ...
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2
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Should labels in forms follow the same grammar rules as titles
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/capitalization/rules-for-capitalization-in-titles.html
At the company I work at, we follow certain rules for capitalization in titles.
But currently, we're having a ...
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Text in UI readability vs. grammar – separate long words using hyphens
We are working on a web application (running as intranet site not as public website) for monitoring the state of a set of machines. The application must support several languages, of which one is ...
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Labels - "list of ingredients" or "ingredients list"
Just wondering if there is rule around screen labels. I'm working on a project at the moment, and we've got sections of forms with very inconsistent labeling. One section might be labeled "List of ...
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Synonym for “Read” (past tense)
Say you have a list of books. Some of the items in the list are marked “Read”. Are these articles marked so that you should read them later like a reading list? or do they note that you have already ...
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'OK' or 'Ok' on UI?
I always thought that first variant (both letters written uppercase) is appropriate (maybe because I'm a Windows user), but recently I see more usages of second one (only first letter written ...
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Append truncated text with "Read more" or "Show more" (or other?)
Let's say I've got a block of text on a page that I want to truncate to save 'real estate' on the page. I'll crop the copy (not mid word if I can help it) and add an ellipsis (...) and a hyperlink.
...
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1
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Looking for something definitive on the structuring of language in 'propositions' or 'calls to action'
I'm currently doing some IA work on a website, and I'm putting together, along with a 'lexicon' of sorts, a series of rules for the application of words for our content editors. Currently, we have ...
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How to write correctly the term "User experience"?
I'm filling an user experience portfolio for my business and there is bagarre how to write "user experience" correctly.
The terms now inserted are much fragmented like:
User eXperience
user ...
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Should text in button be capitalized in English? [duplicate]
As far as I know, in English titles each word should be capitalized.
Should each word of the text in buttons be capitalized if it is a title (e.g. "Add Job Offer"), or should the button text be ...
4
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1
answer
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Can you start your button CTA with "A" or "The?"
The site that I am working on, a design guideline is already set that we don't use radio buttons as a selection tool, but always use buttons for such a choice.
For example, "Are you a member of this ...
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2
answers
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Sign in page: Using a combination of first person and second person
I've noticed on many sign in pages that it's quite common to use a combinaton of first person and second person, for example Facebook uses 'Keep me logged in' which is first person, as well as 'Forgot ...
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Why do some blogs and sales pages capitalize all words of titles in languages where such a form is not natural?
There is a form of expression that is valid in English, which is to capitalize the first letter of every word, including the link words, on a newspaper article title for example.
Translate the text in ...
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1
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Grammar for describing UI design
Does anyone know of a formal grammar approach to UI design? I currently have wireframes for 100+ pages and I'm now driving out the commonality / identifying reusable components.
I'm interested in the ...
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Does the Oxford Comma increase readability?
There are many puns online where not having the Oxford comma (Serial comma) can be interpreted as something other than intended, such as the infamous Sky News notification:
It’s hilarious, I know, ...
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How to choose between "show" and "display" something?
English is not my native language but "show" and "display" seems very similar to me.
I work on a Web Application and I don't know if it's better to use "show" or "display" in my UI.
I need to use ...
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2
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Period, or no period, when a text message is displayed on screen
When a user interacts with a button on a website, and the buttons gives some confirmation text to let user know that the action has been performed successfully or unsuccessfully, should there be a ...
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How to phrase button labels?
How should I phrase the following button labels:
"Import image" or "Import an image"?
"Create app" or "Create an app"?
"Add description" or "Add a description"?
If you could also supply the grammar ...
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3
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What is the correct way to indicate something can be either singular or plural?
Taking it as a given that the system is not intelligent enough to be able to recognise a single result as apposed to multiple results (don't ask!), what is the correct way to represent the possibility ...
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3
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How do I best describe a "confirm a download" in a dialog box?
We have a feature that offers subscription-based downloads. There are limitations to the counter back-end so to make sure a customer does not get charged by mistake, we have implemented a pop up box ...
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Clarification on letter case in button text
I'm looking for clarification on the use of letter case.
The two examples are:
"Duplicate Search" vs "Duplicate search"
this is in the context of performing a search of users in order to detect if ...
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Can you sacrifice grammar to keep instructions simple, specifically when using a(n)?
Because of the way the form is written, step-by-step in first person, it is necessary to put the a(n) to keep them grammatically correct for the Administrator case. However I feel like it makes the ...
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Which grammatical person should I use when writing to the user?
Say a user is signed in to my website and looking at his dashboard which may have a section for his/her incoming messages.
Should I label that section "My incoming messages", "Your incoming messages" ...
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7
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Text for email address validation!
When validating email address on sign-up/login page which is the right grammar?
"Please insert a valid email address."
OR
"Please enter a valid email address."
OR just
"Invalid email address." ...
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Where should I put the punctuation?
In a few programming tutorials I am writing, I use quotations to indicate what the program should display if the output is short; such as:
The program should output "Hello World"
However, it irks ...
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1
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Is there a difference between "login" and "log in"?
I always thought login is the noun and log in is the verb. For example, "you need to log in using the modal login window". Is this really the case or can they be used interchangeably? Does logout and ...
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What is the impact of spelling mistakes for users?
My team developed a site that has a lot of spelling and grammatical mistakes.
Does this leave a bad impression for first time visiting users?
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What are the best guidelines for grammar and punctuation in alerts and user messages?
I know that button titles shouldn't just be "Okay", "Yes" or "No", but be the name of the specific action the button will perform. What about the message itself?
For example, I display this modal ...
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1
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Contraction (grammar) in User Interface
Is it considered unprofessional to use contractions (doesn't instead of does not) in UI. Should I avoid contractions completely or are some ok and some not?
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Is it correct to sometimes capitalize words mid-sentence in computer user interfaces?
I've noticed that many sites and user interfaces tend to capitalize certain words or sentences like so:
Choose File
Select a File to Upload
Account Settings
How to Format
but in some other cases, ...
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