Capitalization of UI Elements

Follow these rules for capitalization in the user interface:

  • For menu items, button labels, titles, tabs, datagrid column headers, use title capitalization.
  • For all other text controls, including text boxes, drop-down menus, check boxes, radio buttons, tooltips, and tree views, use sentence capitalization.
  • For a product name, use the capitalization as defined in the trademark, for example, vSphere Web Client.
  • For capitalization of specific words, see the VMware Technical Publications Glossary.  
  • For object names, use the capitalization as determined by the user.


Use title caps.  


Use title caps for column headings.


Stack Editor
Use sentence caps for the table of contents.

Use sentence caps for controls and descriptions in the content area. 


Use title caps in title bar and for button labels. 

Use sentence caps for controls (except buttons) in the content area.  

Use title caps in title bar and for button labels.

Use sentence caps in the table of contents, the section header and description, and for controls (except buttons) in the content area. 


Menu items
Use title caps for items in menus and submenus.


Use title caps when providing a label for an icon-only button.

Use sentence caps when describing a control.


Use sentence caps. If the link text includes the name of an interface element that uses title caps, then use title caps for that element in the link.


Use title caps for inventories and object relationships.


Title-Style Capitalization

Capitalize every word except the following:

  • Articles ("a," "an," and "the")
  • Coordinating conjunctions ("and," "but," "for," "nor," and "or")
  • Prepositions of four or fewer letters ("with", "of," and "for") 
  • The word "to" in an infinitive phrase  (for example, "How to Set Up Your Computer")
  • Case-sensitive programming terms and object names (for example, "A fancy cluster")
  • Always capitalize the first and last words, regardless of their parts of speech (for example, "The Text to Look For").

Sentence-Style Capitalization

  • Always capitalize the first word of a new sentence. Proper nouns and capitalized object names maintain their usual capitalization. Rewrite sentences that start with a case-sensitive lowercase word, such as an object name.
  • Do not capitalize the word following a colon unless the word is a proper noun, or the text following the colon or dash is a complete sentence.

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