Use sentence-style capitalization in headings (EK00037)
Sentence-style capitalization in headings reads like natural prose and keeps every heading in your documentation consistent. Learn why to use it.
Sentence-style capitalization capitalizes only the first word and any proper nouns in a heading, which reads cleanly and keeps every heading in your documentation consistent. EkLine flags a heading written in title case and suggests sentence case (rule EK00037).
Why use sentence-style capitalization in documentation?
Section titled “Why use sentence-style capitalization in documentation?”Title case forces a decision about every word — which ones to capitalize — and different writers make that call differently, so a set of headings drifts out of sync. Sentence case removes the guesswork: capitalize the first word and proper nouns, lowercase the rest. The result reads like natural prose and matches the style guides most software documentation follows.
What EkLine flags
Section titled “What EkLine flags”EK00037 matches a heading written in title case instead of sentence case.
- ❌ Incorrect: Getting Started With Authentication
- ✅ Correct: Getting started with authentication
- ❌ Incorrect: Configure Your Project
- ✅ Correct: Configure your project
How to fix
Section titled “How to fix”Lowercase every word in the heading except the first word and any proper nouns.
What is sentence-style capitalization?
Section titled “What is sentence-style capitalization?”Sentence-style capitalization, or sentence case, capitalizes only the first word of a heading and any proper nouns. For example, “Getting started with authentication” instead of “Getting Started With Authentication”.
What is the difference between sentence case and title case?
Section titled “What is the difference between sentence case and title case?”Sentence case capitalizes the first word and proper nouns only, while title case capitalizes most words in the heading. Sentence case reads like natural prose and removes the guesswork about which words to capitalize.
Rule details
Section titled “Rule details”| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Rule ID | EK00037 |
| Category | Consistency |
| Default severity | Error |
| Enabled by default | Yes |
Ignore this rule
Section titled “Ignore this rule”To keep a title-case heading on one line, add an inline comment:
<!-- ekline-ignore-next-line EK00037 -- keeps the exact wording of a cited title -->## The Chicago Manual of StyleTo disable the rule across your project, add it to the ignore list in your configuration file.