Bread EnjoyerMay 2, 2023
FediTips has moved!

When you write hashtags that contain multiple words, make the first letter of each word a capital letter, for example #DogsOfMastodon. This will make the tag readable to blind people.

Blind people use the internet through screen reader apps, which read text out aloud. By putting a capital at the start of each word in a hashtag, you are telling the screen reader how to say the tag correctly.

In the non-techy world this is generally known as "CamelCase".

(Techy people may call it PascalCase)

May 2, 2023 at 6:36pmWeb
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 2, 2023

p.s. Before any programmers chip in, I know that there's "camelCase" in programming, but that doesn't get across that every word should be capitalised.

"CamelCase" is the easiest to remember and clearest in its intent. I know it's not an accurate term in programming, but this post is aimed at non-programmers doing non-programming tasks.

Show threadLoukas (They/Them) πŸ³οΈβ€βš§οΈMay 2, 2023
@feditips oh, so what happens if I write without a capital at the start?
Show threadNordnick May 2, 2023

@Loukas @feditips

For a screenreader it shouldn't make a difference...

Show threadWetzWetz' OnlyFriends πŸ₯΅πŸ”žMay 3, 2023

@Loukas
Practically, there's no difference.

camelCase/dromedaryCase and UpperCamelCase/PascalCase are mainly distinguished in programming style guides and naming conventions.

Hence, the clarification before someone eventually brings it up, just to be 🌟smart🌟 about it.

Long story short: Just use capitalization in hashtags.

@feditips

Show threadLoukas (They/Them) πŸ³οΈβ€βš§οΈMay 3, 2023
@markuswet @feditips thank you 😊
Show threadDr. Mattias Holm May 3, 2023
@Loukas @feditips I imagine something like this:
Show threadPK RockinMay 2, 2023
@feditips This would be considered Pascal Case :) - capitalizing the first letter of every word.
Show threadMarkus Redeker 🐘May 2, 2023
@feditips The right convention would be anyway to call it β€œCamelCase” if the word start with a capital letter and β€œdromedaryCase” if it does not. 🐫
Show threadπŸ’‘πš‚π—†π–Ίπ—‹π—π—†π–Ίπ—‡ π™°π—‰π—‰π—ŒπŸ“±May 2, 2023
@mrdk @feditips
camelCase Example
Show threadThommyMay 2, 2023
@feditips I often see PascalCase referred to as CamelCase and camelCase like that referred to as backCamel, and I've been largely going by that convention (e.g., CamelCase for class names, backCamel for class members, at least in C++)
Show threadLeisureguyMay 2, 2023

@feditips

I truly thought that it was not necessary to capitalize the initial letter of the string. Why is it necessary to capitalize the initial letter if the idea is to indical separate words through using capitalization?

I'm not a programmer, FWIW, but camelCase is perfectly understandable, as is PascalCase.

Show threadrobertologyMay 2, 2023
@Leisureguy @feditips
Right, the first character does not need to be capital. Mastodon appears to be case insensitive, and I believe screen readers work fine with either way
Show threadJeff C. πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡¬πŸ‡±May 2, 2023
@feditips β€œWell, ackshully… <spews forth a bunch of Perl code>”
Show threadkjuh πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ🌻May 2, 2023
@jeff @feditips I like how you managed to sneak good old FORTH in there… 😬
Show threadGrooveMD, Queer Time MachineMay 2, 2023
@jeff @feditips I fell asleep on my keyboard and the results parsed pretty good, so I guess I'm a Perl programmer now?
Show threadSupergrobiMay 2, 2023
@feditips sounds like you recently encountered a good load of *splaining
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 2, 2023

@supergrobi

Every single time I have posted about this, it has turned into a thread about 1990s programming language conventions 😁

Show threadkkellerMay 2, 2023
@feditips maybe we should just turn every post into a thread about 1990s programming language conventions!
Show threadAlison MeeksMay 3, 2023
@kkeller @feditips and it isn’t about language conventions but accessibility.
Show threadSupergrobiMay 2, 2023
@feditips wait, don't I hear a nuance here that disapproves of "languages of the nineties"?!
Java is very much alive, thank you for asking!!11!!
Show threadrobertologyMay 2, 2023
@feditips As an experiment, I'd suggest just leaving out the part about what it's called. See what that causes
Show threadπŸ’‘πš‚π—†π–Ίπ—‹π—π—†π–Ίπ—‡ π™°π—‰π—‰π—ŒπŸ“±May 2, 2023
@supergrobi @feditips
Well, if you want people to do A, but you tell them to do B, they're gonna do B, cos that's what you said to do.
Show threadπŸ’‘πš‚π—†π–Ίπ—‹π—π—†π–Ίπ—‡ π™°π—‰π—‰π—ŒπŸ“±May 2, 2023

@feditips
If you tell tech people to use camelCase (note the hump in the middle from the lone capital) then they'll literally never capitalise the first word, because that's precisely what it means! If you tell people to use camelCase then you'll get the exact opposite of what you're actually asking them to do.

"clearest in its intent" - yes, it specifically means DON'T capitalise the first word. That's where it's name comes from! If you don't wanna use "PascalCase" then call it something else

Show threadJames Armes  πŸ‰May 2, 2023

@feditips I like to call it "UpperCamelCase" because it's more easily understood than "PascalCase".

Also, thanks for the tip! I hadn't considered that the first word should also be capitalized.

Show threadSam ShoresMay 2, 2023
@feditips I hear that pattern often referred to as "Title Case"
Show threadMark EvansMay 2, 2023
@plaidphantom @feditips same here, TitleCase and camelCase!
Show threadCDunnMay 2, 2023
@feditips
I think the buried lede is that mastodon doesn’t understand underscores (β€œ_”) in hashtags.
Why not? This really should be fixed.
Show threadmellowfishMay 2, 2023
@feditips it’s ok, we aren’t consistent with it either
Show threadXantulon  May 2, 2023
@feditips Pascal case just doesn't convey the imagery the way camel case does
Show threadGalaxy MapMay 3, 2023
@feditips Programmer here. To me it has always been CamelCase and snake_case. Never heard of PascalCase. According to Wikipedia the insistence on a lower case version of CamelCase comes from people in Microsoft. You see the same cultural divide with people insisting on pronouncing SQL as "sequel" instead of "es-queue-el" or pronouncing Linux as LIE-nix with a long i instead of a short i. I don't think you are wrong even in tech circles - you are just triggering a small but vocal group of people.
Show threadDeggsieMay 6, 2023

@feditips ProperCase is the term I use for this.

And now I owe you 2 cents. πŸ‘πŸ»πŸ˜‚

Show threadSiderea, Sibylla BostoniensisMay 15, 2023
@feditips #KermalCase: because if you don't use it, a social justice Young Turk will show up to explain to you why you should, and you'll deserve it.
Show threadFeohMay 2, 2023
@feditips Thank you for that I've never been sure how to handle it. I usually just break the multi-word out into its sub words and make each a hashtag (e.g. #camel #case) but that's not ideal either.
Show threadHiCoo πŸ’™πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ ΏπŸ΄σ §σ ’σ ·σ ¬σ ³σ ΏMay 2, 2023
@feoh @feditips The #CamalCase also makes it easier to find hashtags eg #BooksOfMastodon or #DogsOfMastodon then you can follow the hashtag to keep up with what's going on.
A good way to connect with other people of same interests or hobbies.
Show threadTΓ’i SiΓ‘u-kΓ‘u ε°η—Ÿη‹— γ„Šγ„‡γ„‰ πŸ‡³πŸ‡« ε°η£εœ‹May 2, 2023
@feditips
What about placing underscores between the words of a multiword hashtag β€” is that any better/worse? πŸ€·πŸ½β€β™‚οΈ
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 2, 2023

@TimMaddog

Unfortunately hyphens and underscores don't work in hashtags on the Fediverse, so it's best to stick to CamelCase.

Show threadTΓ’i SiΓ‘u-kΓ‘u ε°η—Ÿη‹— γ„Šγ„‡γ„‰ πŸ‡³πŸ‡« ε°η£εœ‹May 2, 2023
@feditips
Underscores work…
https://mstdn.social/tags/Joe_Biden
Mastodon 🐘

A general-purpose Mastodon server with a 500 character limit. All languages are welcome.

Mastodon hosted on mstdn.social
Show threadUnprecedented 2023May 2, 2023
@feditips I do not put #s in ALT. Are you advising whether ALT or not use the CamelCase?
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 2, 2023

@Mallulady

It's nothing to do with alts.

This is for hashtags in the actual post itself.

So, if you're tagging a post, make sure that the first letter of each word is a capital letter.

Show threadUnprecedented 2023May 2, 2023
Tnx.
Show threadch0ccyra1n is leaving fedi soonMay 2, 2023
@feditips I thought it was camelCase and what you're describing is just PascalCase or UpperCamelCase
Show threadLeisureguyMay 2, 2023

@feditips I thought there was a difference in that Pascal case capitalizes the first word of the string and camel case does not:

https://www.theserverside.com/answer/Pascal-case-vs-camel-case-Whats-the-difference

I use camel case, though if the first word is a proper noun (e.g., "Mastodon" as the name of what we're on), I capitalize it. Thus I would write "PascalCase" but "camelCase."

#PascalCase #camelCase

Pascal case vs. camel case: What's the difference? | TheServerSide

The difference between Pascal case and camel case is minor, but not knowing your variable naming conventions can land you outside of code compliance.

TheServerSide.com
Show threadScott BronsonMay 2, 2023

@Leisureguy @feditips my coworkers have called it StudlyCaps.

snake_case, kebab-case, camelCase, StudlyCaps, SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE

Show threadArtilectZedMay 2, 2023
@feditips It's not just sight-impaired users will benefit from doing this :D
Show threadAaron OMay 2, 2023
@feditips Mastodon and apps need to better understand this use case, and stop suggesting down cased hashtags. So annoying to get it righ, only to have autoincorrect it.
Show threadErionMay 2, 2023
@feditips A good way to remember which is which (because they are not the same) is if the case begins with an uppercase, as in Pascal case, that's when the first word, and every subsequent word afterwards is uppercase. Camel case on the other hand, starts with a lower case word, and has every subsequent word uppercase. PascalCase vs. camelCase.

FYI both of them work with screen readers, the casing of the initial word in a hashtag does not matter, but subsequent words should be capitalised for best results.
Show threadbettybarcode (she/her) 🚲May 2, 2023
@feditips
Camel case is easier for *everyone* to read. And avoids the kind of embarrassment that happened to the people of Pen Island:
#penisland
Show threadRobin Frost Has MovedMay 2, 2023
@feditips Thank you so much for highlighting this. Many of us are grateful.
Show threadJosh LevinsonMay 2, 2023
@feditips If someone uses the term PascalCase, they are retiring within five years
Show threadWm.sonMay 2, 2023

@feditips

I am amazed how many toots don't do this, even well-known users like Neil Gaiman don't do it.

I'm new to all this # use, but I was told to use capitals so that's what I do.

Show threadSteveMay 2, 2023
@feditips ah Pascal. Good memories
Show threadOliver CoxMay 2, 2023

@feditips When I'm approving new trending hashtags on page.lgbt, I always try to remember to change the display name of multiple-word tags to use PascalCase whilst I'm at it.

It doesn't force people to use it, but it does mean that the dropdown menu which appears when you start typing a hashtag will show them in PascalCase correctly, and if you click on one from that list to insert it, it'll insert it with the correct capitalisation. So hopefully it encourages people to follow that style of capitalisation when writing their own.

Show threadEOMay 2, 2023
@feditips Thanks for that great idea (who may it concern or find out),to inform people and asking for make human beings being include πŸ‘Šβ€οΈ
Show threadDavidLotsOfDogsMay 2, 2023
@feditips she volunteered to share her photo just in case someone followed the #dogsofmastodon hashtag and expected to see a dog