Screen names, buttons and all text that appears on screen should be the same, no matter what page you are viewing it on.
Aim for consistency throughout because inconsistency creates confusion. This can be done in the following ways:
- Describe all UI elements in the same way across the product.
- Use the same style, tone, voice and terminology throughout.
- Use consistent capitalisation for buttons, page names, and so on.
- Use a maximum of three words for button text.
Notice the consistency in the verb form used for the bullets above. Each bullet begins with a verb. Similarly, when creating components of the same type, follow the same construction (language pattern) throughout. For example, if you are using one or two nouns for your navigation menu items, ensure you do this throughout. For buttons, use the verb form throughout (for example, Save, Continue, Print, and so on).
For example, within Chemical Manager you can navigate to various modules using either the icons provided on screen or using the modules icon. The naming convention should be consistent throughout so that if you click the SDS Requests module, this should open the SDS Requests page. Ideally, no more than two words should be used for a navigation menu item, the word should be a noun and it should describe what the user can do or find there. In addition, do not use punctuation for page or button names.