Block title capitalization

Block title capitalization

John Papaioannou
Vastuste arv 8
I got a bug a few days ago that suggests picking a policy for the capitalization of block titles and sticking with it. Quite reasonable. The candidates are "Capitalize first word" and "Capitalize First Letter".

My Personal Preference Should Be Evident. wink

But what do you think? big grin

Jon
Keskmine hinnang: -
Vastuses John Papaioannou

Re: Block title capitalization

Martin Dougiamas
Core developers pilt Documentation writers pilt Moodle HQ pilt Particularly helpful Moodlers pilt Plugin developers pilt Testers pilt
Actually I was going to say I'm a "First worder" but when I look at How I've Actually Named Most Of Them  ...  let's vote on it. naeratus
Vastuses Martin Dougiamas

Re: Block title capitalization

Tim Allen

The salient difference here should be between title case and sentence case.  The former capitalizes all major words, but not short words like prepositions, the latter only capitalizes the first letter of the first word.

I would prefer title case, however I think we only have a choice between sentence case and capitalizing every word without exception, Which Is Not Good Typography And Looks A Bit Strange On The Page.  wink 

Tim.

Vastuses Tim Allen

Re: Block title capitalization

N Hansen
I just pulled the latest edition of the Chicago Manual of Style off the shelf to see what they have to say on this matter. They don't talk about Web sites, but they do talk about table headings, which are similar. There seems to be no hard and fast rule about which to use. However, in their general section on titles, they say that "Sentence style" is preferable when you have a very long title, but that "Headline Style" is often preferred for various reasons, including aesthetics (of course with the exceptions of prepositions and other short words). Considering that we are not talking about long strings of text like Timothy's example, I think that the latter seems more appropriate in this case.
Vastuses N Hansen

Re: Block title capitalization

Tim Allen
My point was in particular about the conjunctions and prepositions being capitalized which I think doesn't look good even with a short phrase.  Can title style be coded?  As a writer I think it is worth it. 
Vastuses Tim Allen

Re: Block title capitalization

N Hansen
When you say coded, do you mean coding so that any string would be automatically rendered properly? If so, presumably for the most part yes, but it wouldn't be so simple and would require some artificial intelligence of some sort to analyze grammatical rules. There are a number exceptions to the prepositions rules for example. I think what we need is not automatic coding, but just simple standards for the coders to follow when they name things.
Vastuses Tim Allen

Re: Block title capitalization

David Scotson
I agree that title case should be used rather than capitalising every first letter. However, I believe we are only talking about the small number of block titles, and by their nature they are unlikely to stretch beyond two words. In English title case always capitalises the first and last word so we should therefore be okay around 99% of the time.

In the few cases were something does need a lowercase first letter pedants like you or I can simply ask for a correction to "Spotlight on Moodle" or "Search the Web" etc.
Vastuses David Scotson

Re: Block title capitalization

Tim Allen
Yes, it is important to put it in perspective like you have, and I agree that not too much sleep should be lost over this, despite my clear preferences.  wide eyes