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goodwe-addon/STYLE.md
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UX-08 2c review: unit settings anchor to inverters, plainer texts
- messages.setting() for one inverter in the list reads
  “Inverter rating” for inverter-b (inverters.max_w), so the config panel
  files per-unit reasons under `inverters`, where the value is changed.
- The tariff card and plausibility reasons name
  “Distribution, levies and VAT” (price_taxes_eur_kwh) again.
- The wrong-direction reasons say "safety stop", the sign_disagree_w
  option says what it protects, and the roster, price-entity,
  integrator_max_w and capacity_kwh texts read more plainly.
- NL: stuurprint -> stuurmodule, "De piekbeperking".

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-09-27 06:51:57 +02:00

5.2 KiB

STYLE.md - how user-facing text is written (UX-08)

This applies to everything a home owner or installer reads: notifications, phone pushes, the add-on page, refusals, add-on log lines at WARNING and above, and the names and descriptions of options. It is enforced by goodwe_controller/test_messages.py. Kinds that have not been rewritten yet are on its allowlist, and that allowlist only shrinks.

1. Shape

  • Title: at most 5 everyday words. It says what is wrong ("Meter reading may be stuck"). No "GoodWe:" prefix, no full stop.
  • Body: one sentence of at most 25 words, saying what happened and what to do. A red alarm may use up to 3 sentences (70 words, each sentence at most 30 words), so that no action a person must take is lost.
  • Details: the last line links to the add-on documentation and names the section with the rest: Details: add-on documentation, section "<title>" under Notifications. Background, figures, reason codes and history go there or into the log, never into the body.
  • Status row: one sentence of at most 15 words. A red row may use up to 3 sentences (30 words), like a red alarm. It shows the live numbers the reader acts on and never an HA entity id. Banner: at most 12 words. Refusal: at most 30 words, naming the setting by its label and then its key, as messages.setting() writes it: “Inverter rating” (max_w), or “Inverter rating” for inverter-b (inverters.max_w) for one inverter in the list. Option name: at most 6 words, not counting the group prefix. Option description: at most 30 words. Where a value comes from belongs in DOCS.md.
  • Log line (WARNING/ERROR): one line, at most 25 words. The reasoning goes on a DEBUG line. Log lines stay in English and are not translated.
  • Sentences: one idea each, active voice, present tense, with nothing nested in brackets and no semicolons (a semicolon is a second sentence in disguise). These translate well into Dutch and French.

2. Numbers

Use a number only if it helps the reader act, for example the peak limit, or what was asked and what was sent in a fault report. Write it the way app/messages.py does: 5 000 W, 20 %, 10 minutes, 14:05.

3. Severity

Severity is shown by the title and the colour, never by CAPITALS or by words like "BUG SIGNAL".

Level Colour When
alarm red Control stopped, money or energy lost now, a fault, or a person must act now. Up to 3 sentences.
warning orange Control is still running, but something needs a look. 1 sentence.
info grey No action needed. 1 sentence.
resolved green An earlier alarm or warning has cleared. 1 sentence.

A rewrite never changes an alarm's severity, notification_id or cadence.

4. Words - the same word for the same thing everywhere

A setting is named by its label in translations/en.yaml, in quotes when it sits mid-sentence (“Inverter rating”). The words below match those labels. If a label changes, change it here and in app/messages.py in the same change.

Say Not
the add-on (who decides), control (what it does: "start control", "Control: last ran …") controller, loop, planner
battery pack, BMS pack
inverter, or its name unit, device, actuator
meter P1 feed, telegram
peak limit / this month's peak ceiling, capaciteitstarief, billed quarter
15-minute period quarter
battery level (setting: “Battery level entity”) SoC, state of charge, charge level
battery cut-out level, or cut-out level next to "battery" (setting: “Battery cut-out level”) BMS floor, bms_soc_floor
peak reserve (setting: “Peak reserve”) peak_soc_floor, EMS floor, "peak guard will not discharge below"
“Inverter rating” (the setting) max_w, rail, inverter rating as a fact about the hardware
solar production, solar entity (settings: “Solar production entity”, “Solar production entities, per inverter”, “Reversed-sign solar entities”) PV, reversed-sign list, single sensor setting
“Where the meter reading comes from” meter source
“Grid power entity”; entity for any Home Assistant sensor a setting points at grid power sensor, sensor setting
draw the battery down, give power discharge, discharging
control is stopped / every inverter is set to 0 W failsafe, trip, latch, parked
safety stop (a stop that only starting control clears) failsafe latch
software fault BUG SIGNAL
control board master, ESP32
shadow mode a mode that makes every decision but commands 0 W. The name is kept. In shadow mode a text says what the add-on would send, never that it sent it.

Banned in titles and bodies (the test fails on them): SAFETY-/TARIFF-/TEL-/CFG-/FW-/HW-nn and other card ids, integrator, anti-windup, windup, clamp, clamped, saturated, BUG SIGNAL, latch, latched, arbiter, allocator, register, 0x…, layer 1/2/3, heartbeat, watchdog, telegram, ACK, CRC, OTA, Modbus, planner, §n, file names, IP addresses, option keys in snake_case, HA entity ids, and runs of 2 or more CAPITALISED words.

HA entity ids are allowed only in refusals and validator messages, where the installer has to find that entity. They are never allowed in alarms or status rows.