Block title capitalization

Block title capitalization

by John Papaioannou -
Number of replies: 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
Average of ratings: -
In reply to John Papaioannou

Re: Block title capitalization

by Martin Dougiamas -
Core developers இன் படம் Documentation writers இன் படம் Moodle HQ இன் படம் Particularly helpful Moodlers இன் படம் Plugin developers இன் படம் Testers இன் படம்
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. புன்முறுவல்
In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Block title capitalization

by 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.

In reply to Tim Allen

Re: Block title capitalization

by 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.
In reply to N Hansen

Re: Block title capitalization

by 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. 
In reply to Tim Allen

Re: Block title capitalization

by 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.
In reply to Tim Allen

Re: Block title capitalization

by 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.