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Revision 5 as of 2009-08-21 08:26:13
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Comment: Moved the template tips to PageTemplateHacking so this page can focus on text/wording when linked from the UserInterfaceReviewNotes.
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## page was renamed from DeveloperDocumentation/UserInterfaceChecklist

These are low-level design guidelines for Web pages, e-mail messages, and other Launchpad output. They cover common mistakes, and are not a substitute for having an interface designer involved in the design of any visible change.

Text

These guidelines apply to Web pages, e-mail messages, and any other media used in the future.

Don’t use this

Use this instead

abort

stop

above

this, these

click

nothing

below

this, these

DOAP

nothing

FOAF

nothing

illegal

not allowed

invalid

incorrect (or more specific error)

just

nothing

Malone

Launchpad or Launchpad’s bug tracker

Note:

nothing

Note that

nothing

please (unless announcing serious inconvenience)

nothing

Rosetta

Launchpad or Launchpad Translations

simply

nothing

Soyuz

nothing

the following

this, these

the form

nothing

this form

nothing

this page

nothing

to the left

better page layout

to the right

better page layout

*

better text ordering

!

nothing (or, if in real danger, <strong>)

Capitalization

  • Buttons should be Headline Case; the last word capitalized, and all other words capitalized except those three letters or fewer that are prepositions, articles, or conjunctions.
  • Everything else should be sentence case, including headings, checkbox labels, menu items, and e-mail Subject lines.

  • Menu items should start with a verb if practical.
  • use of "Show", "List", or "View" TBA

Notifications, warnings, and errors

Follow the guidelines specified in AlertMessages.

Cancelling actions

The actions at the end of a form should consist of a button, followed by the word "or" and a Cancel link:

( Summary of Action ) or Cancel

The "Cancel" link should return you to the page you came from. (To get this link, define the cancel_url @property in the browser class.)

E-mail messages

These guidelines apply to all e-mail messages:

  • Don't wrap paragraphs manually in the message template. The e-mail machinery can do this more consistently (especially if the message contains variables).
  • If the message is from a subscription, the footer should consist of three lines:
    • the URL of the relevant resource (e.g. the bug report)

    • "You are precise reason for getting this message"

    • "To unsubscribe: <URL of unsubscription page>" ?? -- TBD

These guidelines apply to notifications not being sent on behalf of a Launchpad user:

  • From addresses should be @launchpad.net, not @canonical.com or @ubuntu.com, and should have a display name starting with "Launchpad".

  • The Web page that tells you you're being e-mailed should say what the From address will be.
  • The Subject line should be informative, and use sentence case.
  • The body text should be copyedited by someone fluent in the language being used.

Comments and suggestions

UserInterfaceWording (last edited 2011-08-04 10:00:28 by matthew.revell)