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Table 13-2 Proper capitalization of onscreen elements (continued)

Using Contractions in the Interface

In cases where space is at a premium, such as in pop-up menus, contractions may be used, as long as the contracted words are not critical to the meaning of the phrase. For example, a menu could contain the following items:

Don’t allow printing

Don’t allow modifying

Don’t allow copying

In each case, the contraction does not contain the operative word for the item. But in Sherlock, for example, menu items enabling users to choose between text that “contains” and “does not contain” are communicated more clearly without the use of contractions.

Writing Good Alert Messages

A good alert message states clearly what caused the alert to appear and what the user can do about it. Express everything in the user’s vocabulary. Here’s an example of an alert message that provides little useful information:

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Figure 13-1 A poorly written alert message

You could improve this message by describing the problem in the user’s vocabulary:

Figure 13-2 An improved alert message

To really make the alert useful, provide a suggestion about what the user can do to get out of the current situation:

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Figure 13-3 A well-written alert message

For information about when to use alerts, see “Types of Dialogs and When to Use Them” (page 95).

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