Names

Name pages, tabs, groups and buttons in the person's words, in as few words as the answer needs.

Adoptedsince 2026-10-02Maximum intuition One wayMarkdown

When to use

Use it whenever you name a page, tab, section, group, button or dashboard number, and whenever you write a description.

When not to use

Field names follow the table’s schema and the required markers. Intake step names follow the intake convention.

How it works

Name a page in one or two words

Use the plural row unit or the object of the question, as in <Things>, Due or History. A detail page is <Table> detail.

Pass: every page name has one or two words and none of them is a schema term.

Name a tab or section for what it holds

Write the state or the question in three to five words. An empty tab then reads as nothing to do.

Pass: every tab name says what would be in it, and an empty tab still reads as nothing to do.

Replace this: Open
With this: Due today or overdue

Name a detail group in one or two words

Use What, Next, Amounts and History, in that order.

Pass: every group title has one or two words.

Use the words the person is thinking in

A button or a name says what the person is doing, as in Send or Approve. Words for what the system does to the data, such as Post, Sync or Commit, stay out of the interface.

Pass: no label uses a word for what the system does to the data, such as Post, Sync or Commit.

Replace this: Post to ledger
With this: Send order

Replace this: Reset to 2985
With this: Fill to par

Keep button labels to two words

Two words is the target and three is the limit. The label names what happens next and carries no punctuation.

Pass: every button label has two or three words, no punctuation, and starts with a verb.

Workable's link reads click here. — A button that creates a project.

Keep every description under 140 characters

Descriptions, group descriptions and tab names stay under 140 characters. The name says what the thing is and the description adds the context.

Pass: every description, group description and tab name has fewer than 140 characters.

Replace this: You told us you wanted to hand your taxes off to a tax expert. Ready to continue?
With this: Get expert help with Full Service

Pick the label by majority among the reference products

For a UI label such as a page name, a button or a form title, take the words that at least two of three reference products use. Capitals do not count toward the match. When no two agree, choose one product’s copy and record which one and why. Entity names are the exception: they follow the CONTEXT glossary (Relationship, Organization, Person, Membership), even when the majority says otherwise.

Pass: every UI label matches the majority of three reference products, or carries a note naming the product copied and the reason, and every entity name matches the glossary.

Replace this: People
With this: Relationships

Label a dashboard number with what it counts

The label says what is counted. The description states the rule behind the number in one sentence.

Pass: every dashboard number’s label names the unit it counts, and its description states the rule in one sentence.

Research

Intuit’s Actions page says: “Keep CTAs brief, especially for buttons. Two words is optimal. Three is OK.” Its Do and Don’t pair, “Create project” against “Click here”, is the pair above. The long sentence and its short replacement come from Intuit’s Writing small page. Atlassian’s button page says: “Keep labels short and free of punctuation.”

The majority rule copies the Names table of the reviewer’s CRM usability comparison (2026-09-29/30) (comparison, lines 679 to 714). It counts a majority only among the three CRMs it compared, and it “ignores capitalization only”. Companies, Deals and Tasks win outright, and Create contact wins for the person form title. Companies and contact are both on the glossary’s Avoid lists, for Organization and Person, so the glossary decides those two as well. Where no majority exists, the comparison records a proposed copy choice, as in “Use People for Relationships. Proposed copy choice: Attio; no majority exists.” (comparison, line 701). That case is where the glossary wins: CONTEXT names the entity Relationship and lists People and contact under Avoid, so the page keeps the name Relationships.

The page, tab and group name lengths and the 140-character limit come only from the reviewer’s feedback and the intake rules. “Post to ledger” and “Reset to 2985” are the reviewer’s examples; the reviewer proposed “Fill to Par” and named sending the order as the step the person is thinking of.