Should I use proper punctuation for single sentence alert/notification popups?

Question

Is it necessary to use a period for single sentence notification boxes? Even though its considered proper grammar to do so, it just looks ugly and feels too formal.

Here are two screenies for comparison (first includes period, second doesn't).

alt text http://wordofjohn.com/files/stack_alert_1.png

alt text http://wordofjohn.com/files/stack_alert_2.png

Answer 1

Good grammar shows to your customers that you took time to make a good software even where others might not took time.

This way they can expect the best out of you and your company.

Answer 2

Can't go wrong with correct grammar

Answer 3

If you are using a full sentence to tell the user what to do, then I think proper grammar is important, although I always stay away from exclamation points, I find them annoying.

Answer 4

It is more preference that anything, but I like to maintain the best grammar possible in any situation.

Answer 5

In both instances you capitalized the first word in the sentence so I would say go with proper grammar

but it really is a preference

Answer 6

I'd vote No.

These alerts are like signposts or roadsigns, they need to present a brief but important message as succinctly as possible.

My reasoning extended - I think it's subjective, and so I doubt anyone's going to have a bad user experience because of the presense or absence of a full stop (period). A question mark might be confusing if it was left out, but a full stop is kind of implicit.

Answer 7

If you use periods at the end of your sentences, then users will know that the string hasn't been truncated (well OK, they won't know that it hasn't been truncated, but it's a good indicator. Plus, as others have said, it shows you went to the trouble to get it right.

I can't remember - what do MS/Apple do?

Answer 8

Let me explain my preference with an analogy.

I used to work at a bookstore where they sold Bibles. Some of them were Cambridge calfskin leather bound deluxe editions that came in special boxes for over US$100.00 each. Some of them were mass market paperback throw-away versions for US$1.99 each. The cheap ones often had glaring grammatical and spelling errors. I don't think this was a coincidence.

Regardless of where my software is going to be used or what it is for, I try to do my best to make sure it gets put (metaphorically) on the high-quality, expensive rack. Every time. Even at the risk of sounding "too formal".

Answer 9

If you are using the string as a normal resource, you (or someone else in your project) could use the text in another context, which would mean you need to keep track of which resources contain a period or not.