Writing
Plain words, names as they are, short facts, and errors that say what happened and what to do.
Plain words
Say the thing. "Open", "Move to the trash", "Search Downloads". No exclamation marks, no "please", no "simply". An action is a verb and its object when it needs one. A button never says "OK" when it can say what it does.
Names as they are
Show the file's own name. "Undertow - Mara Velde.mp3", not "Undertow". A song shows its title; a folder its name. When there is no room, a name shortens in the middle so its end, often the type, stays. The name beside the name gives way first.
Times and counts
| What | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Today | The time | 18:02 |
| This week | The day | Tuesday |
| Earlier | The date | 12 Sep |
| Size | Number and unit, a space between | 11.6 MB |
| A selection | Count, then total | 3 files, 2.9 GB |
| Length | Minutes and seconds | 5:01 |
Facts are right-aligned in fixed columns with tabular figures. Each fact is said once; a section heading that says the day means its rows do not.
Dates give the year only when it is not this one: "12 Sep", then "12 Sep 2025". A section heading may spell the day out: "Tuesday 22 October". Times use the 24-hour clock. Units are written with a space and the symbol the person knows: "11.6 MB", "65 %", "2 s". A count agrees with its noun, "1 item" and "9 items", and an empty page says "Nothing here yet" rather than "0 items".
Capitals and endings
Names, labels and words on a button, tab or menu line take a capital on the first letter only: "Move to the trash", "Sort by". Sentences end with a full stop; a label, a heading or a button does not. A menu line gets "..." only when it opens another step that asks you something, and a button never does.
Search names its scope
A search says what it covers: "Search Downloads" in a folder, "Search Music" in the whole library. A field in use has a clear button.
Errors
Say what happened, then what to do. One short sentence for each. Use the real name of the thing. At most one action, and it does the thing the sentence asked.
What to leave out
No subtitles under titles, no marketing adjectives, no words that a symbol already says, no counts where nobody asked. British spelling in Tacit's own apps.
Experimental, in Tacit.Kit 0.1.
Text and figures: CC BY 4.0. Tacit.Kit: LGPL-3.0 code, OFL fonts. The Tacit name.