Form naming standard

Design System 3.0 (NSW Gov)
1

Is there are form naming standard?

There doesn’t appear to be at/in:

So one might be guided by Service NSW practice.

At Search | Service NSW Service NSW lists links to forms. The naming format of that list generally verb-first format, where the whole comprises a grammatically correct English sentence. E.g. “Apply for a learner driver licence”; “Submit a notice of disposal for a vehicle”; “Notify the use of pesticides in multiple occupancy residential complexes”.

Clicking through takes one to an informational page where the link name is reflected in the page title. E.g. for “Apply for a learner driver licence”. That much seems universal or near universal on the NSW search results page. But we want to discern the form (or other) name when you push through the informational page. Clicking through a few examples provides the following:

That is, there seems to be two duelling formats …

  • Verb-first with grammatically correct English sentence. “Apply for a tow truck operator licence”;
  • All-noun. Subject area followed by document type. “Tow Truck Operator Licence Application”.

… but the actual form, once you get to it, is in the all-noun format.

Is this - all-noun; Subject area followed by document type format - the de-facto standard? Any other thoughts?

2

Hi @JohnBentley ,

Thanks for getting in touch.

While we don’t have any guidelines around naming conventions for the headings, we do adhere similarly to the guidelines provided in the federal government style manual.

https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/content-types/forms#write_clear_questions_and_headings

There is advantages of the verb-first approach as that it tells users about the action they’re undertaking and what to expect.

E.g. “Apply for a learner driver licence”; “Submit a notice of disposal for a vehicle”; “Notify the use of pesticides in multiple occupancy residential complexes” are all valid.

Additionally, it’s recommended to keep headings under seventy characters and include keywords.

3

Hi @Digital.NSW,

Thanks very much.

It’s not really an issue of conventions for heading as such, but form names. Form names are probably always expressed as a heading (e.g. a heading in a pdf or an html heading), but not only. Form names can, for example, end up: in bookmarks; or configuration data; etc.

However, I do take your observation as applying to form names. And so I’m thankful you’ve confirmed there’s not a formal convention as such, save for following the federal style manual when expressing a form name as a heading (which is silent on the “dueling formats” issue).

It’s seems we are left with the defacto practice being that the form name, once one gets past the informational page, generally has the all-noun format “Tow Truck Operator Licence Application”.

And when thinking about the pros and cons of each format …

That “the verb-first approach … tells users about the action they’re undertaking and what to expect” is plausibly a pro. It’s also a grammatically fluent style. It reads easy, in and of itself. “Apply for a tow truck operator licence”

However, on a web page that might list many forms that format would seem a con to me. Far easier to scan an all-noun format left to right from more general to more specific.

  • Tow Truck Operator Licence Application
  • Tow Truck Operator Annual Safety Notification [A hypothetical]
  • …
  • Real estate and property certificate or licence,
  • Real estate and property rental bond refund application
  • …

… on the basis that most users want to orient themselves, first by the general area - “Tow Truck” stuff or “Real state and property” stuff - then by document type - “Licence Application”, “Notification”, “refund application”.