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What is the correct casing for help center? If we look at the help center we find the heading in sentence casing with only the first word capitalized (Help center) but if we look further down we see it written with both words capitalized Help Center (Title Case) in Welcome to the Stack Overflow Help Center!

Use sentence casing

(...) If a feature or product is unique to Stack Overflow, capitalize it (Stack Overflow for Teams, Stack Overflow Jobs).

This happens in other places of the site, for example this breadcrumb has Review Queues with both words capitalized next to Help center with only the first word capitalized. Here we could assume the review queues are a unique feature and the help center doesn't qualify as such. But then why is Title Case used in Welcome to the Stack Overflow Help Center!?

It's worth mentioning that reading through the help-center wiki small case is used. It's safe to say I'm not the only user who isn't sure about this, experienced users in help-center questions use all kinds of casing, so it's not clear if Title Case is the recommended way of stylizing help center or not.

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  • 3
    "But then why is Title Case used in Welcome to the Stack Overflow Help Center!?" I think it's because that whole thing itself is a title/header.
    – BSMP
    Jan 22 at 10:44
  • @BSMP then wouldn't the use before it also be a title/header as you say?
    – bad_coder
    Jan 22 at 10:49
  • 5
    while we are at it, let us also fix the spelling to proper English: centre ...
    – rene
    Jan 22 at 11:06
  • 1
    @rene plot thickens :|
    – bad_coder
    Jan 22 at 11:12
  • 3
    Or we could do it in SaLAdCA5e
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Jan 22 at 11:17
  • @JourneymanGeek that would be a possibility 🤔
    – bad_coder
    Jan 22 at 11:21
  • 1
    @JourneymanGeek or in le3t k4Se 45 hE1P C3n73r. (leet language, not spam)
    – NotStanding with GoGotaHome
    Jan 22 at 13:15
  • 1
    english.stackexchange.com/a/501209/246019 but for english.stackexchange.com/a/353318/246019
    – Rob
    Jan 22 at 15:01
  • 2
    Have you tried looking this up in the... Hmm now I see what the problem is.
    – Robert Longson
    Jan 22 at 15:37
  • 3
    It's a page title: stackoverflow.design/product/components/page-titles/… stackoverflow.design/content/guidelines/grammar-and-mechanics/… .s-page-title--header support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/… - thus falling under the style guide.
    – Rob
    Jan 22 at 16:52
  • It would not make sense to write "Welcome to the Stack Overflow Help center"...
    – wimi
    Jan 22 at 18:50
  • 2
    @BSMP no... it's because there's been several different styles over the years and when a style changes we don't necessarily root out every instance of the old, outdated style... 😬
    – Catija StaffMod
    Jan 23 at 5:01
  • It is standard (well... at least common) for print media to Use the Capitalized Sentence for Titles. I read that sentence as the title of the subject matter post, and is thus eligible for such a form. Whether or not this form is good or bad, right or wrong, is a different matter entirely.
    – StianY
    Jan 24 at 12:05
  • 1
    Outright ban Title Case from the website and we're done.
    – Mast
    Jan 24 at 12:33
  • Another instance of inconsistent styling is in the vote-to-close/flag as off-topic sub-reasons. There is "…within the scope defined in the help center" as well as "…see the Help Center".
    – The Amplitwist
    Feb 13 at 8:43

1 Answer 1

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Capitalize it (the first letter) when it is used as a proper noun

So (the) Help center is the help center.

The title in the post is a title, and can as such be formed with "sentence case capitalization". And if so, both the proper noun "Help center" and the place "help center" becomes "the Help Center". It could become confusing, but I don't think this particular case will ever cause misapprehension of anything.

Thus, no need for distress regarding capitalization, the sentence case overrules (unless the capitalization is part of the identity, examplified by "iPhone" - which should never be capitalized in a sentence case differently. It for sure doesn't become IPhone.)

I might be obtuse, and the post is asking for us to purposefully define its capitalization as part of its identity - To that I am agnostic (and lazy). Let's not.

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  • Magic links like [help/on-topic] automatically resolve to help center, I don't think we need any capitals at all.
    – Mast
    Jan 24 at 12:36
  • @Mast I don't disagree. The less exceptions the better. Thus; my suggestion is we follow english language standards.
    – StianY
    Jan 24 at 13:13

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