CaPiTaLiSaTiOn of the entire UI in the English language
The capitalisation on Diaspora is all over the place.
Can we pick an agreed method and get it rolled out across the board please?
If you look around you'll see some items are all 'lower case', others have 'A Capital For Each Word' and some are 'Capital letter only on the first word'.
It's a mess.
Some quick examples of what I mean, there are no doubt many more:
Amy Fri 2 Jan 2015 10:57AM
Yes, I'd like to see some consistency. Please no all caps. I can't handle when words are ALL CAPS.
Lucas Meijer Fri 2 Jan 2015 6:45PM
I agree that the mixing of capitalization gives a loose impression, however I don't think that the difference of capitalizations in the different parts of the site is a big problem.
For example, that the entire footer is in lower case I don't see as a problem. Neither do I think the capitalization of every word in the toolbar is an issue. However I believe that the different phrases that belong to the same element should have the same capitalization, to keep the consistency.
Phil M Sat 3 Jan 2015 1:43AM
English has culturally developed specific rules for capitalization --- however they were decided by the media, such as "The Chicago Manual of Style", which is one of the most popular styles. The reputation of a capitalization standard became proportional to the reputation of the newspaper(s) that make(s) use of it.
I always refer myself to this online tool when I write titles:
http://www.titlecapitalization.com/
It's simple to use: just type your title and it gets auto-capitalized correctly according to certain rules. As you can see with this tool, here's how I see the future of diaspora* capitalization:
"Log Out"
"Invite Your Friends"
"Welcome New Users"
"Need Help?"
"My Activity"
"Start a Conversation…"
"About 3 Hours Ago"
"What's New?"
"Toggle Mobile"
"Terms"
You can debate with me about the fact that there are alternatives to the Chicago Manual of Style, or that using capitals "everywhere" looks "ugly". However, http://www.titlecapitalization.com/ makes this style very convenient to follow. Plus, following it would make diaspora* feel definitely more professional.
Jonne Haß Sat 3 Jan 2015 1:50PM
I'd like to note that most of these examples actually aren't titles, so applying title capitalization makes no sense to me and especially for the "About 3 Hours Ago" it looks very ugly to me. Actually from the examples visible on the screenshots, only "Stream", "Invite your friends", "Welcome New Users", "Need Help?" and the "My Activity" above the stream, not the one in the header bar or the left side bar, are titles.
Phil M Sat 3 Jan 2015 2:05PM
The only exceptions I would accept in the example are "Start a conversation…" and "about 3 hours ago". The rest should be capitalized, especially "Log Out".
goob Sat 3 Jan 2015 6:06PM
I’d like to note that most of these examples actually aren’t titles
Exactly. Using title capitalisation rules makes no sense for all, or almost all, text strings used in Diaspora.
Plus, following it would make diaspora* feel definitely more professional.
Applying title capitalisation would make Diaspora look anything by professional to me. And I speak as a ex-professional editor.
Phil M Sat 3 Jan 2015 6:08PM
so… write everything in lowercase then?
Rich Sat 3 Jan 2015 8:20PM
All the links in the main drop down menu are capitalised, yet all links in the footer are lower case.
It's just plain inconsistent.
I don't mind which format we opt for, so long as it's applied throughout in order to make it consistent instead of untidy.
Rich Sat 3 Jan 2015 8:21PM
Do we have a brand identity style guide?
If not, do we need one?
y.semin · Fri 2 Jan 2015 10:30AM
I agree, something must be done. It doesn't help D* to look other than "home made".
I don't know the orthographic/writing rules enough, but i think it can depends on the language we use. In German, each noun has a Capital. In French, we use to Capitalize only the first letter of the first word. A solution could be (In my humble opinion) to capitalize completely the menu bar, and lesser a bit the font size.