2.3 KiB
Capitalization
UI guidelines for using title and sentence capitalization in various contexts.
Title
The current Windows guidelines use sentence capitalization for actions. Some Microsoft products still title-capitalize actions according to the previous guidelines. macOS also title-capitalizes actions. Since IntelliJ IDEs are cross-platform, we use title capitalization as well.
{style="note"}
Use for:
- Actions in buttons, menus and tooltips
- Headers in tables, popups, message boxes and dialogs
- Headers of UI control groups
Do not use for:
- Actions in links
- Actions in the popup on Alt+Enter: quick-fixes, intention actions, and others
- Headers in notifications
Rules
Always capitalize the first and the last words.
Capitalize the words in-between except:
- articles: a, an, the,
- coordinating conjunctions: and, or, but,
- prepositions of four and fewer letters which are not a part of a phrasal verb: in, with.
In hyphenated phrases, capitalize all nouns, adjectives and adverbs: Auto-Indent, Command-Line Launcher. Do not capitalize articles, prepositions and conjunctions: Side-by-Side, Drag-and-Drop.
Examples
- Compare With… — the short preposition with is capitalized as the last word.
- Compare with Latest Repository Version — with is not capitalized when in the middle.
- Check Out from Version Control — out is a part of the phrasal verb check out and is capitalized.
Sentence
Use for:
- Labels of UI controls: text boxes, checkboxes, radio buttons, combo boxes, etc.
- Items in combo boxes, lists, trees and tables
- Links
- Actions in the popup on Alt+Enter
- Header and body text in notifications
- Body text in error messages, tooltips, status descriptions and any kind of instructions
Rules
Capitalize the first word in a sentence, proper nouns and adjectives, and abbreviations.
Examples
- Control+Shift+F — keyboard button names are considered proper nouns.
- Accept the terms of the License Agreement — License Agreement is a proper noun.
- Side-by-side layout — only the first word of a hyphenated phase is capitalized.