# Guidelines

- Use hierarchy whenever appropriate, try to group the messages by:
  - Modals (e.g. `about.foo`, `jump_to_note.foo`)
- Don't duplicate messages that are very widely used.
  - One such example is `aria-label="Close"` which should go to a single message such as `modal.close` instead of being duplicated in every modal.
- On the other hand, don't overly generalise messages. A `close` message that is used whenever the “Close” word is encountered is not a good approach since it can potentially cause issues due to lack of context.
- Use variable interpolation whenever appropriate.
  - If you see multiple messages joined together only to apply add a variable such as a user-inputted value, try to join those messages together into a single message containing a variable.
  - So instead of `“Number of updates: “ + numUpdates + “.”` use `$(t("number_updates", { numUpdates }))` where the message translation would appear as `Number of updates: {{numUpdates}}.`