[Patternfly] *Action Required - Terminology and Wording Sprint 2

[Matt Carrano]

I think this looks good.  I have only one question/comment about the usage of Add vs. Create (and consequently Remove vs. Delete).

I personally like the distinction between Add and Create and agree that Create is a more descriptive term when naming the action of instantiating a new object.  However, in the Middleware products I've worked on I have generally seen the term Add used to create a new object and add it to a list or table.  Curious how these terms are being used elsewhere (are the products I've worked on the exception?).  If we start promoting the use of the term Create instead of Add, will this cause an inconsistency with existing releases?

-Matt

----- Original Message -----
From: "Leslie Hinson" <lhinson at redhat.com>
To: patternfly at redhat.com, "uxd-team" <uxd-team at redhat.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2015 7:58:42 PM
Subject: [Patternfly] *Action Required - Terminology and Wording Sprint 2

Hi all, 
The Terminology and Wording Group's second sprint includes general rules and standards for the following: 


    * Started to define Terminology and Wording for Action Labels. This list will continue to grow and we are taking requests. 
    * Some more abbreviations were added for Days, Months and Units of Time 
    * General rules and guidelines for Truncation 

As part of our review process, we would like to gather feedback from you to ensure there are no major issues or concerns with the definitions below. Please provide your input by end of day on Friday, March 27. In addition, let us know of any new requests for us to address in future sprints. 

Thanks, Leslie 
Terminology and Wording for Action Labels 

Label 
	
Action 
	
Complement 
	
Notes 

Add xxx 
Add 
	
Add an existing item to an existing list, group, view, or other container element 
	
Remove 
	
If what you are adding is not readily apparent from the context, 
consider adding a noun to the button label (for example, Add 
File, Add User). 
Do not use Add to mean create a new item. See Create 

Change 
	
Not recommended. See Edit 

Create xxx 
Create 
	
Create something new 
	
Delete 
	
If what you are creating is not readily apparent from the context, 
consider adding a noun to the button label (for example, Create User, Create File, Create Device). 
Not recommended: 


    * 
New 

    * 
Add (see Add for usage guidelines) 


Delete 
	
Removes the selected items. 
Also see Undo. 

	
Create 
	
Provide a mechanism to reverse (undo) Delete. 
Not recommended: 


    * 
Erase 

    * 
Remove (see Remove for usage guidelines). 


Edit 
	
Open a dialog box to make changes (to a file, configuration, policy, and so on). 
Also see Rename. 

	
	
Use Edit to provide a facility for making changes to an object the 
user selects. 
Not recommended: 


    * 
Modify 

    * 
Change 


Modify 
	
Not recommended. See Edit 

New 
	
Not recommended. See either Add or Create 

Remove 
	
Remove an item from a list, group, view, or other container element without deleting the item 
Also see Add and Delete. 

	
	
Complement of Add. 
If what you are removing is not readily apparent from the 
context, consider adding a noun to the button label (for 
example, Remove File, Remove User). 

Abbreviations for Days 
In sentences, do not abbreviate days. Abbreviate them only when space is limited, as in tables or graphics. When you must abbreviate them, use the following abbreviations: 

Sun 
	
Sunday 

Mon 
	
Monday 

Tue 
	
Tuesday 

Wed 
	
Wednesday 

Thu 
	
Thursday 

Fri 
	
Friday 

Sat 
	
Saturday 

Abbreviations for Months 
In sentences, do not abbreviate months. Abbreviate them only when space is limited, as in tables or graphics. When you must abbreviate them, use the following abbreviations: 

Jan 
	
January 

Feb 
	
February 

Mar 
	
March 

Apr 
	
April 

May 
	
May 

Jun 
	
June 

Jul 
	
July 

Aug 
	
August 

Sep 
	
September 

Oct 
	
October 

Nov 
	
November 

Dec 
	
December 

Abbreviations for Units of Time 
In sentences, do not abbreviate these units of time: seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years. Abbreviate them only when space is limited, as in tables or graphics. When you must abbreviate them, use the following abbreviations for both the singular and plural forms: 

sec 
	
Seconds 

min 
	
Minutes 

hr 
	
Hours 

d 
	
Days 

mo 
	
Months 

yr 
	
Years 

qtr 
	
Quarter 

Q1 
	
First Quarter 

Q2 
	
Second Quarter 

Q3 
	
Third Quarter 

Q4 
	
Fourth Quarter 

Truncation 
Instances where text might need to be truncated: 


    * 
Page titles that show object/host names 

    * 
Table cells that contain long strings or lots of data and that have some method to view the full text 

    * 
Others? 


Avoid abbreviations or truncated text in navigation items (first, second, and third levels of navigation in the masthead; left navigation). 

In column headings, if there is not sufficient room for the full spelling or hyphenation of a word, abbreviate the text according to the English abbreviation rules [actually, should be according to our rules too]. Do not truncate text in column headings. 

Whether to design for truncating strings at the beginning, end, or in the middle requires a bit of research. 


    1. 
Does the product have a default truncation scheme? (For example, CloudForms, which has a default setting for how to truncate host names but also a user preference if users want to change it to suit their naming scheme.) If yes, follow that scheme along with the guidelines here. 

    2. 
If the product doesn't have a default truncation choice, think about how the product's users are apt to name objects -- is it more likely that the unique part of the name will be at the beginning or end of the string? 


Guidelines: 


    * 
Indicate truncated text with an ellipsis (…). If the text is part of a link, the ellipsis should be part of the link as well. 

    * 
Leave no fewer than 4 characters when truncating text, and preferably leave enough characters to give a fair idea of what the string says. For example, don't truncate demo1.internal-el6.satellite to de... 

    * 
Ensure that there is at least one method for the user to view the entire string. Options include: tooltips (useful for less than 150 characters or so), expanding rows, overlays, others? 

    * 
For UI text (as opposed to user-generated text), ensure that the truncation does not make an awkward word (i.e. "associate" truncating to "ass...") 

    * 
If possible, ensure that truncation does not happen after punctuation, because then it is difficult to differentiate which is the ellipsis and which is part of the name. For example, don't truncate demo1.internal-el6.satellite to demo1…. 

    * 
If a table column is resizable, the truncated text should adjust accordingly, and continue to follow the preceding guidelines. 





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