Are there special rules, or best practices for capitalization and eLearning? I know this sounds like elementary school, but this topic came up in a recent project discussion. Here's my take on when to use capitalization and e-learning: the first letter of a title or new section, when it's a proper noun, buttons used with interactions, and the first letter of a topic name in the middle of a paragraph and bolded text.
It was suggested to me to use all lower case in each of the instances mentioned above.
I think it 100% depends on your own style guide. I think being consistent is more important than being "right" - though you can certainly follow MLA or APA style guides as well (just determine that within your organization).
I agree with Rachel. The number one thing is to be consistent. I know a lot of people in the US use the Asssociated Press Stylebook as a basic guide, and I reference it all the time. I've then created my own supplements to it of terms and usage that is more specific to my company's line of business.
One thing I do notice about capitalization is that it's frequently overused. Sponsors and SMEs often have a tendency to want to capitalize words that really shouldn't be. I see this especially around job titles. For example, " The Portfolio Manager met with the Trader," as opposed to "The portfolio manager met with the trader." (The second example is the proper usage.) If you aren't careful you can end up with too much capitalization.
There is something called "Title Case" that I generally use for titles and headings. Title case is basically capitalizing the nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and main verbs, but not articles, conjunctions and prepositions. For example: "The Patriots Won the Superbowl on a Cool and Cloudy Day." I would avoid capitalizing every word: "The Patriots Won The Superbowl On A Cool..."
Just came across this from the Apple Style Guide regarding Title Case so thought I'd throw it out there:
When using title-style capitalization, don’t capitalize:
Articles (a, an, the), unless an article is the first word or follows a colon
Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, and so)
The word to in infinitives (How to Start Your Computer)
The word as, regardless of the part of speech
Words that always begin with a lowercase letter, such as iPod and iTunes
Prepositions of four letters or fewer (at, by, for, from, in, into, of, off, on, onto, out, over, to, up, and with), except when the word is part of a verb phrase or is used as another part of speech (such as an adverb, adjective, noun, or verb)
Starting Up the Computer
Logging In to the Server
Getting Started with Your MacBook Pro
When using title-style capitalization, capitalize:
The first and last word, regardless of the part of speech
The second word in a hyphenated compound (except for Built-in and Plug-in)
What about capitalizing the whole title? Is that wrong? I personally prefer all capital letters in a title. A colleague of mine disagreed and felt that the title should not be capitalized. Is there a rule on this? I just feel that capitalized titles capture the attention of the user more than a non capitalized title.
What about capitalizing the whole title? Is that wrong? I personally prefer all capital letters in a title. A colleague of mine disagreed and felt that the title should not be capitalized. Is there a rule on this? I just feel that capitalized titles capture the attention of the user more than a non capitalized title.
This is more an etiquette rule: it is considered shouting when things are typed in all caps. However, I use all caps for titles in slides when the style, look and feel of the content seem appropriate for it, and for as long as it's not overpowering.
Using all caps for attention grabbing might not be a best practice, mostly because people get used to them very fast, thus losing the intended effect. It's like trying to scare a person saying the same thing over and over; it might work the first or second time, but not after a few times.
Here's a good article on letter casing in user interfaces.
7 Replies
I think it 100% depends on your own style guide. I think being consistent is more important than being "right" - though you can certainly follow MLA or APA style guides as well (just determine that within your organization).
I agree with Rachel. The number one thing is to be consistent. I know a lot of people in the US use the Asssociated Press Stylebook as a basic guide, and I reference it all the time. I've then created my own supplements to it of terms and usage that is more specific to my company's line of business.
One thing I do notice about capitalization is that it's frequently overused. Sponsors and SMEs often have a tendency to want to capitalize words that really shouldn't be. I see this especially around job titles. For example, " The Portfolio Manager met with the Trader," as opposed to "The portfolio manager met with the trader." (The second example is the proper usage.) If you aren't careful you can end up with too much capitalization.
There is something called "Title Case" that I generally use for titles and headings. Title case is basically capitalizing the nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and main verbs, but not articles, conjunctions and prepositions. For example: "The Patriots Won the Superbowl on a Cool and Cloudy Day." I would avoid capitalizing every word: "The Patriots Won The Superbowl On A Cool..."
Anyway, my slightly more than 2-cents' worth.
Just came across this from the Apple Style Guide regarding Title Case so thought I'd throw it out there:
When using title-style capitalization, don’t capitalize:
When using title-style capitalization, capitalize:
I too struggle with capitalization rule. I use this online tool to help me.
What about capitalizing the whole title? Is that wrong? I personally prefer all capital letters in a title. A colleague of mine disagreed and felt that the title should not be capitalized. Is there a rule on this? I just feel that capitalized titles capture the attention of the user more than a non capitalized title.
This is more an etiquette rule: it is considered shouting when things are typed in all caps. However, I use all caps for titles in slides when the style, look and feel of the content seem appropriate for it, and for as long as it's not overpowering.
Using all caps for attention grabbing might not be a best practice, mostly because people get used to them very fast, thus losing the intended effect. It's like trying to scare a person saying the same thing over and over; it might work the first or second time, but not after a few times.
Here's a good article on letter casing in user interfaces.
Another thing to keep in mind is accessibility. Harvard has a good guide about readability here: https://accessibility.huit.harvard.edu/design-readability#:~:text=Avoid%20using%20all%20caps.,identify%20words%20by%20their%20shape.
"Avoid using all caps.
Readability is reduced with all caps because all words have a uniform rectangular shape, meaning readers can't identify words by their shape."