That is excellent feedback. Thank you. Most of our straight-forward form labels (on web sites, not software) are still in title case (First Name is easier to read and doesn't take up as much space as What is your first name), while more complex labels are in the form of questions.
Courtney Jordan -----Original Message----- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Jim Drew Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 4:37 PM To: UI List Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] To use a colon or not to use a colon after field labels Possibly missed in this thread is the "origin" question. Rather than "Should I use a colon or not?", ask instead "Why did we used to always use colons?" My thought is that it tied in with Labels Use Title Case. The label plus the field or control content made a "Title: Subtitle" comb. The colon wasn't there just by chance; it was there to signal the end of the Title part, or the division between the two. Today, much software no long uses Title Case. Labels tend to be more sentence like in their structure, with the field or control content being the predicate or object of the sentence: Choice for President: [John McCain] ... has become My choice for President is [Barack Obama] A colon is incorrect grammar in the new style of label; if anything, there should be a trailing period, but that would truly be visual noise (and would usually not sit just after the sentence predicate). So I would say to use a colon if your labels are in Title Case, and not to use one if they are not. (And if they are in Title Case, ask the question why your label design seems stuck in the 1990s. There may be a deeper issue to examine.) (Discussion of why Title Case was used -- and when it might still be best -- is another thread.) -- Jim Drew UI/UX Software Tester Seattle, WA ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
