Empty Values

Overview

When designing any interaction it’s important to allow affordance for how UI elements will behave when there is an empty state use case, and a key part of empty states are empty values. Empty Values is the collective term describing the UI Text options which will display when Empty States exist. The table below identifies some common Empty Values in Workday.

This is a work in progress and endeavors to offer some helpful guidelines about the UI text associated with Empty Values.

For additional information don’t forget to check out: Empty States Content Guidelines on Canvas and Empty States Product Examples on Canvas

Empty Values UI Text & Usage

UI Text	When To Use
“none“	Use “none” in lowercase and hint text for when there is: _ An empty list, that would have text _ An empty description _ An empty field type, like Instance _ An empty object, such as tags or dependent reports _ Note that “none” can work if it’s just a single object, such as you don’t have a manager. You can still say “none.” _ If a number is expected, use “0.”
“(empty)”	Use “(empty)” in lowercase and hint text when it’s an empty string. Use it when we’re not talking about objects. It’s for display values versus reporting data.
“0“	Use a 0 when the count is known and the attribute is usually numeric.
“N/A”	Use N/A in hint text when the message is that the attribute is simply not valid.
“—”	Use when a process is pending and can’t yet provide a value. Differs from the dots used for loading.

Special Cases

UI Text or Behavior	When To Use
blank	For use in Table cells only. Use a blank in tabular rows of data if there is no value given.
Hide the attribute	Use this when we choose not to display the item at all, including hiding the attribute name. This is appropriate if the attribute does not apply and would never have a value in the current state.
NULL	Use “NULL” in hint text in tabular rows of data. “NULL” should never show up in the metadata of a field. When talking about attributes, nothing should say “NULL.” Even if the backend uses NULL, use “(empty). ”For any list of objects or processes in the inspector panel, Data Catalog, (e.g., a list of fields, data change tasks, runtime processes), you would not use NULL. Note that NULL is not a field type. (note: OMS does not support NULL values. This guidance applies only to Prism or other platforms). NULL should remain as uppercase for the uses where that word is used correctly and as designed. In the database world, NULL is the standard term to represent a data value that is non-existent. It is separate and distinct from zero, and distinct from an empty string of text. Sometimes the word null is used as an adjective instead of a noun. As an adjective, it should be lowercase. For example: null value. “value” is the noun and “null” is the adjective describing the noun. We should only ever use null value in a sentence. See also: Concept: NULL Values in Tables and Datasets