QQ re: figure caption style in tech docs

[Mike Wickham]

On 3/23/2012 2:12 AM, hessiansx4 wrote:
> I'm up against a deadline, and wondered if anyone has insight into 
> figure captions. I'm using title case currently. Any thoughts? References?

I use sentence case, as recommended by the _Chicago Manual of Style, 
15th ed._ , which says the following:

"12.32 /Syntax, punctuation, and capitalization./ A caption may consist 
of a word or two, an incomplete or a complete sentence, several 
sentences, or a combination (see 12.8 <p12_008.htm>). No punctuation is 
needed after a caption consisting solely of an incomplete sentence. If 
one or more full sentences follow it, each (including the opening 
phrase) has closing punctuation. In a work in which most captions 
consist of full sentences, even incomplete ones may be followed by a 
period for consistency. Sentence capitalization (see 8.166 
<p08_166.htm>) is recommended in all cases except for the formal titles 
of works of art (see 12.33 <p12_033.htm>)."

Book publishers tend to standardize on this style. CMOS is a great 
reference, well worth having around.

Mike Wickham

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