General guidelines for all course names
Descriptive
Course names should describe the core topic of the course. They should be intuitive for the intended audience, use real words (not made up) and optimized for SEO.
Distinct
Course names should not overlap/conflict with other course names.
Durable
Course names need to endure beyond the current hype cycle (i.e. not just a trending term).
Length
Limit course names to 40 characters (paid ads cut off text past that limit). The shorter the better for SEO (noting that “with pandas” or “in Python” helps SEO).
Abbreviations
Commonly used abbreviations are okay to use (e.g. IDE). When in doubt, spell out terms in the course description.
Ampersands
Check ampersands section in Grammar and Punctuation guide.
Capitalization
Course names and chapter titles should be written in Title Case: Capitalize the first letter of all words in a course name and chapter title except “stop words,” such as articles and prepositions. Examples of stop words in English include: a, all, and, for, each, how, in, with.
Exercise names and slide titles should be written in sentence case: Only capitalize the first word of the exercise name or title and any proper nouns.
Case studies
Generally we avoid using this in titles because almost all of our courses use real-world data. Use this sparingly and only when it truly is a case study. If you do use it, make sure it’s formatted correctly at the beginning of the title:
Coding languages, packages and libraries
DataFrames, data.frame, data frames
Dataset
See Dataset.
Domains
These are current recommendations, not strict rules.
Only include the domain (e.g. HR, marketing) in a course name when necessary for clarity. Prioritize outcomes and learning objectives over domains.
For example, “HR Analytics in Python: Predicting Employee Churn” does not need to include “HR.” The domain is clearly understood based on the rest of the course name.
Alternatively, “Marketing Analytics in R: Choice Modeling” benefits from including the domain “marketing” for learners who are not familiar with choice modeling.
Parallel courses
As much as possible, we try to use parallel course names for equivalent courses in multiple languages. However, this rule should only be applied if the content of both courses is relatively comparable. In the case that the content of the courses differs significantly, the course names can be different for the sake of clarity and accuracy.
Proficiency levels
Levels should only be used in course names when it makes the course content clearer and/or more accurate for learners, but it is not required. For introductory courses, always use “Introduction to” in the course name. Avoid using “fundamentals,” “basics,” “foundations,” or “beginner.” “Intermediate” can be used if there are prerequisites to the course. Levels should be primarily determined by the content within the course and in relation to introductory or more advanced courses on related topics. Levels in course names should not be changed solely on the basis of where they are placed in tracks since this can differ from track to track.
- For introductory courses, use the following construction: “Introduction to [course topic]”
- Do not use alternative words such as “foundation(s),” “fundamentals,” or “basics.”
Punctuation
Do not use Oxford commas in course names. Do not use ampersands in course names.
Sequential course titles
We do not include “Part 1” or “Part 2” in course titles as this will cause continuity issues.
Technologies, coding languages and packages
We generally only add the technology when the package could be used for more than one language (ie. “Interactive Data Visualization with Plotly in R / Python”).
Track and course names should reflect the following construction: “with” a package, “in” a technology.
For consistency, lean in favor of course names ending with “in [language]” or “with [package]”.
We do not make plays on words or puns with technology in titles.
Verbs in course and track titles
Verbs can be used at the beginning of a course name when it makes the course content clearer and/or more accurate for learners, and when the alternative option of removing the verb is a less succinct and less accurate reflection of the content in the course. Verbs should not be used at the beginning of a course name when it is not necessary, overly broad, or when an alternative option adequately describes the course content.
Examples of appropriate usage of a verb at the beginning of a course name:
Examples of unnecessary usage of a verb at the beginning of a course name (these are not actual course names) and the correct counterparts: