Form style guide

Almost all pages in GroupServer are forms, and almost all forms conform to the following basic style and use the same terms. The GNOME Human Interface Guidelines provided much of the inspiration for this guide.

Basic style

Having a consistent style makes a system easier to use. Because of this link to the page, its title, the introduction and the button used to submit the form all use similar phrasing. The widget fields sit between the introduction and the button. Finally, a feedback message is displayed.

Title

The main page heading is always an <h1> element containing the same verb phrase as the link, while the <title> element contains the site name, group name, or profile name as appropriate.

Heading Title
Start a group Start a group: Example site
Change the privacy Change the privacy: Initial group: Example site
Set a new password Set a new password: Administrator: Example site

Initial caps, rather than title case, is used.

Introduction

If the form has an introductory paragraph it should open with the verb in the infinitive form:

  • To start a group…
  • To change the privacy…
  • To set your new password…

When possible, your is used in the introduction to convey a sense of inclusion, ownership, and responsibility.

Note

This use of your does lead to ambiguity about the ownership of a group, which is owned both by the administrator and each member. In some cases there is an over-arching concept of an owner (such as a corporate body) that is not reflected in this use of your.

Fields

A noun is used for the title of each field.

  • Group type
  • Privacy
  • Password

Note

The fields are defined using the API, and are displayed in a consistent manner by the Widgets content provider.

Button

The button to submit the form always uses the verb from the link and title:

  • Start
  • Change
  • Set

Feedback message

When a form has been processed a feedback message is displayed (by the Status message content provider). The exception is when the form creates something, when the created object should be shown.

The feedback message is a complete sentence that refers to the verb from the link in the past-tense, and clarifies what has been changed (usually linking to the object).

  • You have changed the privacy for the Initial group to secret.
  • You have set your password.

Terms

A consistent set of terms is used to describe the actions (verbs) that are carried out on objects (nouns).

Actions

Some actions are general, while many more are specific GroupServer actions.

General actions

Most forms will just need to use change as their sole action.

Change

Alter a group, profile, or site (see also edit):

Change the site About box.
Click

Buttons and links are clicked.

  • A button is explicitly stated as such (use “click” rather than “click on”):

    Edit the Message and click the Change button.

  • For a link just link-phrase is used:

    To find more details click view more below.

Edit

Alter a field (see also change):

Edit the Message and click the Change button.
Select

Check-boxes and radio buttons are selected:

Select the privacy level from the Privacy list below…
Visit

A person visits a page:

Visit the group page to see the current activity.

Specific GroupServer actions

The following actions have specific meanings in GroupServer.

Accept
A person will accept an invitation to join a group, or a administrator will accept a request to become a member. See also decline.
Add
An administrator will add a person to a group, after which they become a group member.
Decline
An invitation to become a group member issued by a administrator may be declined by a person. Conversely, a person can request to become a member, which can be declined by an administrator. See also accept.
Invite
A person can be invited to join a group by an administrator. See also add. This is the inverse of request.
Join
Leave
A person will leave a group when they no longer wish to be a member. See also remove, unsubscribe.
Manage

Alter the privileges and membership of a group member:

Manage the members of GroupServer Development.
Register
Sign up

A person registers to create a profile and join a public group (see also add invite):

Register to become a member of GroupServer Development.

Since GroupServer 14.03 register has been preferred over sign up.

Remove
A administrator may remove a member from a group. Only members are ever removed, use the term revoke for privileges. See also leave.
Request
If a person wishes to join a private group then they can request membership of the group.
Revoke

Privileges are revoked from a member to prevent the action from being confused with remove:

You have revoked group administrator privileges from Example member. They are now a normal member of this group.
Sign in
Login

Entering an email address and password so GroupServer knows the profile to use for the subsequent actions:

Sign in to view the messages in GroupServer Team.

Since GroupServer 14.03 sign in has been preferred over login.

Subscribe
A particular way a person becomes a member of a public group by sending a message to the group with Subscribe as the Subject. Prefer the term join in the general case.
Unsubscribe
A particular way to leave a group by sending a message to the group with Unsubscribe as the Subject. Prefer the term leave in the general case.
Verify
Prove that an email address is correct and working. Only an email addresses is ever verified, never a person.

Objects

There are three main actors in GroupServer: a profile, a group, and a site.

Address
Email address
Use address rather than email address, unless there is possible ambiguity with a Web page address (also known as a URL). The term email could mean an address, or a message and should be avoided. Each group has a single address, while a person can have multiple addresses associated with their profile.
Administrator
Group administrator
Site administrator
A person that can alter a group or site, as opposed to a normal member.
Archive

The topics and posts in a group are known as the archive (see also post, and topic):

The group page shows the archive of posts that have been added.
Attachment
An attachment is only used in when discussing an email message: they are stripped when the processed by them group and replaced with a link, which is then referred to as a file.
File
A file is associated with a post. It appears in a list in the bottom of the post, both in the archive and in the email message sent from the group.
Group
In GroupServer a group is analogous to a listserv or forum in other systems. A person is a member of a group, and the group belongs to a site. Each group has an email address that people can use to make a post, which is shown in the archive found on the group page.
Group page

The web page for a group, as opposed to the homepage:

Homepage

The web page for a site rather than the group page:

Visit the homepage at <http://groupserver.org/>.
Member
Group member
Site member

A person that belongs to a site or group (explicitly or implicitly):

You are a member of GroupServer Development.
Message
Email message

A message is either

  • Sent to a group when someone makes a post using email, or
  • Sent from the group after someone has made a post.

It can be referred to as a message if there is no ambiguity with the feedback message; the term email is easily confused with an address and should be avoided. See also notification.

Normal member
A normal member is a group member that lacks administrator privileges. In a discussion group a normal member can add and view a post, while in an announcement group a normal member can only view posts (see posting member).
Notification

An email message sent by GroupServer for any reason other than a person making a post:

Because you are a group administrator you will receive a notification whenever someone leaves your group.
Person
User
Avoid the term user, preferring person at the very least. However, member or administrator should be used in preference to either. In all cases they is used as a gender-neutral singular.
Post
A post is made to a group by a member, and organised into a topic. It may be posted using the web interface to GroupServer, or by sending an email message to the group. It may be associated with a file.
Posting member
A member of an announcement group that can add posts to the group.
Profile

The data associated with a person. Try and distinguish between the profile and the person:

To add an email address to your profile….
Site
Each group belongs to a site, and a profile is shared between the different groups. A GroupServer site sits at the top of a domain; the index-page for this domain is referred to as the homepage.
Topic
One or more posts with the same Subject are organised into a topic within a group. See also post.