path: root/docs/html/design/style/writing.jd

page.title=Writing Style
page.tags="dialog","toast","notification"
@jd:body

<h2 id="voa">Android's Voice</h2>

<p>When writing text that appears in your app, keep it concise, simple, and friendly.</p>

<h4 id="concise">Concise</h4>

<ul>
  <li>Describe only what the user needs to know.</li>
  <li>Eliminate redundancy, such as titles that restate the body of an information box.</li>
  <li>Keep text as short as possible.</li>
</ul>

<p><em>Avoid wordy, stilted text</em></p>

<div class="layout-content-row">
  <div class="layout-content-col span-6 layout-with-list-item-margins">

    <div class="do-dont-label bad">Don't</div>

    <table class="ui-table good"><tbody><tr><td>
    Consult the documentation that came with your phone for further instructions.
    </td></tr></tbody></table>

  </div>
  <div class="layout-content-col span-6">

    <div class="do-dont-label good">Do</div>

    <table class="ui-table good"><tbody><tr><td>
    Read the instructions that came with your phone.
    </td></tr></tbody></table>

  </div>
</div>

<p><em>Don't provide unnecessary information</em></p>

<div class="layout-content-row">
  <div class="layout-content-col span-6 layout-with-list-item-margins">

    <div class="do-dont-label bad">From a Setup Wizard screen</div>

    <table class="ui-table bad">
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th>
        Signing in...
        </th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td>
        Your phone needs to communicate with<br>
        Google servers to sign in to your account.<br>
        This may take up to five minutes.
        </td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
    </table>

  </div>
  <div class="layout-content-col span-6">

    <div class="do-dont-label good">From a Setup Wizard screen</div>

    <table class="ui-table good">
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th>
        Signing in...
        </th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td>
        Your phone is contacting Google.<br>
        This can take up to 5 minutes.
        </td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
    </table>

  </div>
</div>

<h4 id="simple">Simple</h4>

<ul>
  <li>Use short words, active verbs, and common nouns.</li>
  <li>Put the most important thing first. “Front-load” the first 11 characters
      with the most salient information in the string.</li>
  <li>Don’t try to explain subtle differences. They are lost on most users.</li>
</ul>

<p><em>Focus on the user's concern, not technical details</em></p>

<div class="layout-content-row">
  <div class="layout-content-col span-6 layout-with-list-item-margins">

    <div class="do-dont-label bad">Don't</div>

    <table class="ui-table good"><tbody><tr><td>
    Manually control GPS to prevent other apps from using it
    </td></tr></tbody></table>

  </div>
  <div class="layout-content-col span-6">

    <div class="do-dont-label good">Do</div>

    <table class="ui-table good"><tbody><tr><td>
    To save power, switch Location mode to Battery saving
    </td></tr></tbody></table>

  </div>
</div>

<p><em>Put top news first</em></p>

<div class="layout-content-row">
  <div class="layout-content-col span-6 layout-with-list-item-margins">

    <div class="do-dont-label bad">Don't</div>

    <table class="ui-table good"><tbody><tr><td>
    77 other people +1’d this, including Larry Page
    </td></tr></tbody></table>

  </div>
  <div class="layout-content-col span-6">

    <div class="do-dont-label good">Do</div>

    <table class="ui-table good"><tbody><tr><td>
    Larry Page and 76 others +1’d this
    </td></tr></tbody></table>

  </div>
</div>

<p><em>Put the user's goal first</em></p>

<div class="layout-content-row">
  <div class="layout-content-col span-6 layout-with-list-item-margins">

    <div class="do-dont-label bad">Don't</div>

    <table class="ui-table good"><tbody><tr><td>
    Touch Next to complete setup using a Wi-Fi connection
    </td></tr></tbody></table>

  </div>
  <div class="layout-content-col span-6">

    <div class="do-dont-label good">Do</div>

    <table class="ui-table good"><tbody><tr><td>
    To finish setup using Wi-Fi, touch Next
    </td></tr></tbody></table>

  </div>
</div>


<h4 id="friendly">Friendly</h4>

<ul>
  <li>Use contractions.</li>
  <li>Talk directly to the reader. Use “you”  to refer to the reader.</li>
  <li>Keep your tone casual and conversational, but avoid slang.</li>
</li>
</ul>

<p><em>Avoid being confusing or annoying</em></p>
<div class="layout-content-row">
  <div class="layout-content-col span-6 layout-with-list-item-margins">
    <div class="do-dont-label bad">Don't</div>
    <table class="ui-table bad">
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th>
        Sorry!
        </th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td>
        Activity MyAppActivity (in application<br />
        MyApp) is not responding
        </td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
    </table>

  </div>
  <div class="layout-content-col span-6">
    <div class="do-dont-label good">Do</div>
    <table class="ui-table good">
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th>
        MyApp isn’t responding 
        </th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td>
        Do you want to close it?
        </td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
    </table>
  </div>
</div>


<h4>Words to avoid</h4>

<div style="padding:5px 2.1em;">
<table>
  <tr>
    <td class="do-dont-label bad" style="width:40%">Don't use</td>
    <td class="do-dont-label good" style="width:40%">Use</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>one, two, three, four, ...</td>
    <td>1, 2, 3, 4, ...</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>application</td>
    <td>app</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>cannot, could not, do not, did not 
will not, you will</td>
    <td><em>Contractions:</em> can’t, couldn’t, don’t, didn’t won’t, you’ll, and so on</td>
  </tr>
    <tr>
    <td>okay, ok</td>
    <td>OK</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>please, sorry, thank you</td>
    <td><em>Attempts at politeness can annoy the user, especially in messages that say
        something has gone wrong.<br />
        Exception: In Japanese, “please” is mandatory and imperative verbs should
        be localized accordingly (turn on -> please turn on).
        </em></td>
  </tr>
    <tr>
    <td>there is, there are, it is<br />
        <em>and other “disappeared” subjects (grammatical expletives)</em></td>
    <td><em>Use a noun as the subject</em></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>abort, kill, terminate</td>
    <td>stop, cancel, end, exit</td>
  </tr>
    <tr>
    <td>fail, failed, <em>negative language</em></td>
    <td><em>In general, use positive phrasing<br />
        (for example, “do” rather than “don’t,” except in cases such as “Don’t show
        again,” “Can’t connect,” and so on.)</em></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>me, I, my, mine</td>
    <td>you, your, yours</td>
  </tr>
    <tr>
    <td>Are you sure? Warning!</td>
    <td><em>Tell user the consequence instead, for example, “You’ll lose all photos 
        and media”</em></td>
  </tr>
</table>

</div>

<h2 id="formatting_text">Formatting text</h2>

<h4 id="capitalization">Capitalization</h4>

<ul>
  <li>Use sentence-style capitalization for all UI strings: “Words to live by.”</li>
  <li>Capitalize all important words in: 
    <ul>
      <li>App names (Calendar, Google Drive)</li>
      <li>Named features (Android Beam, Face Unlock)</li>
      <li>Proper nouns (Statue of Liberty, San Francisco Giants)</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>Be conservative. Don't capitalize words that aren't part of a formal feature name: 
    <ul>
      <li>Sim card lock, Home screen, not Sim Card Lock, Home Screen.</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>


<h4 id="punctuation">Punctuation</h4>
<ul>
  <li><strong>Period.</strong> Don't use a period after a single sentence or
  phrase used in isolation, such as in a toast, label, or notification. Wherever two or
  more sentences run together, use a period for each sentence. </li>
  <li><strong>Ellipsis.</strong> Use the ellipsis character (…) (Option-; on MacOS and &amp;hellip;
    in HTML) to indicate 
    <ul>
      <li>Incompleteness, such as an action in progress (“Downloading...”) or truncated text.</li>
      <li>That a menu item (such as Print… or Share…) leads to further UI involving significant
        choices. Exception: Commands whose wording already implies further (but limited) UI, such
        as <strong>Find in page</strong> or <strong>Pick a date</strong>, do not require an
        ellipsis. </li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>