Sentence Case vs Title Case: When to Use Each

The Two Main Capitalization Styles

When writing headings, article titles, and UI labels, two styles dominate: Sentence case and Title Case.

• Sentence case: Only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized

- Example: How to convert text to sentence case

• Title Case: Most words are capitalized (excluding short prepositions, articles, conjunctions)

- Example: How to Convert Text to Sentence Case

Key Differences

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Where Each Style is Preferred

Sentence case is preferred for:

• Modern web apps — Google, Notion, Linear, Figma use sentence case in their UI
• Blog posts on tech sites — Medium, Dev.to, GitHub blogs
• Chat messages and notifications
• Button labels in SaaS products
• Error messages and tooltips

Title Case is preferred for:

• News headlines — The New York Times, AP style
• Book and movie titles
• Academic paper titles (varies by journal)
• Traditional publications
• Navigation menus in many websites

What Major Style Guides Say

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The Modern Trend

The tech industry has shifted toward sentence case for UI components because:

1. It's more conversational and approachable

2. It requires fewer decisions (no need to remember which words to capitalize)

3. It scales better internationally (some languages don't capitalize nouns the same way)

Quick Decision Guide

If you're writing **UI copy or blog content for a tech product** → use Sentence case

If you're writing **headlines for a news publication or traditional media** → use Title Case

If you're writing **book titles, movie names, or academic papers** → use Title Case