RE: Capitalization question - Microsoft Manual of Style

["sbuckley" <sbuckley -at- onlinewriter -dot- com>]

There are some rules to this.  When "ocean" is used as part of a title it is
capitalized.  For example, Atlantic Ocean is a title.  Also, "ocean" is
defined as that entire body of water that covers roughly 72% of our planet.
The subdivisions of the ocean have titles, such as Atlantic Ocean.

However, when speaking about multiple sections of the ocean it is OK to
shorten the titles to something along the lines of "The Atlantic, Pacific,
and Artic oceans."

Also, maps with reduced space will sometimes shorten the ocean subdivision
titles down to just regions (e.g., Atlantic) so that the name fits in the
amount of space the map has for the name.

Note these rules are for English.  Other languages may have different rules.

Button names, and names of other objects, are not the same. I suppose if
your company really wants to capitalize both words (e.g., Minimize Button)
they can change their style guide, but it will not be grammatically correct.

Another way to handle this issue that was often used at MS is to drop the
word "button" if the name of the button is on the button.  Usability tests
showed this did not cause user difficulty.  For example, you often see
"Click OK" instead of "Click the OK button."

Hope that helps.

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sbuckley=onlinewriter -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sbuckley=onlinewriter -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Combs, Richard
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 2:37 PM
To: Rob Hudson; TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Capitalization question - Microsoft Manual of Style

Rob Hudson wrote:
 
> Regarding Atlantic Ocean: Atlantic Ocean is a specific ocean, 
> the same (it seems) as the Minimize button is a specific 
> button. "Atlantic" and "Minimize" each modify nouns.
> 
> If we presume that Atlantic is a proper noun, then why isn't 
> "Minimize" in this usage?

I think you're mixing up nouns and names. Many things have multi-word
names -- "Adobe Systems," for instance. Arguably, "Adobe" is an
adjective modifying the noun "Systems." But both words are part of the
name. 

"Minimize" is the name of the button, according to Microsoft. And it's
their button, so they get to decide. "Atlantic Ocean" is the name of the
ocean. Some international board of bureaucrats decided that one -- don't
ask me why they get to. 

As I said before, the fact that you're referring to something specific
has nothing to do with it, or you'd have to capitalize nouns preceded by
"the."
 
> Sorry to add more fuel to the fire.

Or should that be "the Fire"? Don't apologize -- if we keep this
discussion going another day or so, it could morph into a pretty funny
Friday thread. ;-) 

Richard


------
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
------




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