openlibhums / openlibhums/janeway

Convention for feature names

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#4,785 0 comments 0 reactions 1 assignee View on GitHub

@joemull is already working on this.

Since May 19, 2025.

new feature
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Python
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9d 1h
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Description

We recently discussed the fact that capitalization of UI elements is not yet consistent in the Janeway UI. Capitalization is just one of several style issues we could usefully tackle, but it stands out because it has a bearing on how end-user docs are written. We would like to adopt useful design practices that would help us make things more consistent. I am so far aware of two general rules of thumb:

  • Use the WYLTIWLT test to choose a name
    • "Would you like to edit metadata?" "I would like to edit metadata" -> Edit metadata
  • Use the word the user would say, avoiding proper-noun names, and effectively using what is known as "sentence case":
    • Edit metadata rather than Edit Metadata

To do:

  • Investigate the prevalence of sentence case and title case in UI element names and page names
  • Come up with examples of what would change and what would stay the same
  • Present these findings to design meeting
  • Document the decision in the new in-progress Janeway dev docs (docs/md/)
  • Update the style guide in the in-progress end-user docs (openlibhums/memory-alpha)

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