撰写应用相关文本时应保持简短、简明和友好。(以下内容是为英语而编写，中文应当酌情考虑。下面的翻译可能和一些 Android 版本的翻译不一致)
简短
- 只告知用户最必要的信息。
- 避免冗余的表述。
- 尽可能的缩短文本长度。
Don't
| Consult the documentation that came with your phone for further instructions. |
Do
| Read the instructions that came with your phone. |
Don't
| Signing in... |
|---|
Your phone needs to communicate with
Google servers to sign in to your account.
This may take up to five minutes. |
Do
| Signing in... |
|---|
Your phone is contacting Google.
This can take up to 5 minutes. |
| 登录... |
|---|
您的手机将会和 Google 服务器通信
以便登录您的帐户。
这会花费几分钟。 |
| 登录... |
|---|
您的手机正在和 Google 通信。
这会花费几分钟。 |
简明
- 使用短词语、行为动词和简单名词。
- 先说重要的事。一句话的开头两个词 (一共大约 11 个字母，包括空格) 应当表达出重要的信息。
- 仅说明必要的信息。不要费力解释细枝末节。大部分用户不关心那些。
Don't
| Manually control GPS to prevent other apps from using it |
Do
| To save power, switch Location mode to Battery saving |
Don't
| 77 other people +1'd this, including Larry Page |
Do
| Larry Page and 77 others +1'd this |
| 其他 77 人为此 +1 了，包括 Larry Page |
| Larry Page 和其他 77 人为此 +1 了 |
Don't
| Touch Next to complete setup using a Wi-Fi connection |
Do
| To finish setup using Wi-Fi, touch Next |
友好
- 使用缩写。
- 使用第二人称和用户对话 (“您”或“你”)。
- 保持随意、轻松的腔调，但避免使用俚语。
Don't
| Sorry! |
|---|
| Activity MyAppActivity (in application
MyApp) is not responding |
Do
| MyApp isn’t responding |
|---|
| Do you want to close it? |
| 抱歉！ |
|---|
| 应用程序 MyApp 中的 Activity MyAppActivity 无响应 |
Words to avoid
| Don't use |
Use |
| 一, 二, 三, 四, ... |
1, 2, 3, 4, ... |
| 应用程序 |
应用 |
| cannot, could not, do not, did not
will not, you will |
Contractions: can’t, couldn’t, don’t, didn’t won’t, you’ll, and so o |
| okay, ok |
OK |
| please, sorry, thank you |
Attempts at politeness can annoy the user, especially in messages that say
something has gone wrong.
Exception: In Japanese, “please” is mandatory and imperative verbs should
be localized accordingly (turn on -> please turn on).
|
there is, there are, it is
and other “disappeared” subjects (grammatical expletives) |
Use a noun as the subject |
| abort, kill, terminate |
stop, cancel, end, exit |
| fail, failed, negative language |
In general, use positive phrasing
(for example, “do” rather than “don’t,” except in cases such as “Don’t show
again,” “Can’t connect,” and so on.) |
| me, I, my, mine |
you, your, yours |
| Are you sure? Warning! |
Tell user the consequence instead, for example, “You’ll lose all photos
and media” |
Capitalization
- Use sentence-style capitalization for all UI strings: “Words to live by.”
- Capitalize all important words in:
- App names (Calendar, Google Drive)
- Named features (Android Beam, Face Unlock)
- Proper nouns (Statue of Liberty, San Francisco Giants)
- Be conservative. Don't capitalize words that aren't part of a formal feature name:
- Sim card lock, Home screen, not Sim Card Lock, Home Screen.
标点符号
- 句号: 如果toast、标签或通知消息等控件中只包含一句话，无需使用句号作为结尾。如果包含两句或更多，则每一句都需以句号结尾。
- 省略号: 使用 省略号 (…) 表示以下含义:
- 未完成的状态, 例如表示操作进行中 (“下载中...”) 或是表示文本未能完全显示。
- 菜单中需要进一步 UI 操作的条目 (例如 打印… or 分享…) 。例外: 如果该条目的描述文字中已经对进一步的操作进行了一定的描述则无需添加省略号, 例如 页面内查找 或 选定日期。