All MinistryPlatform Users we train know that we explain our "Pages" as nouns and our "Buttons" as verbs. The phrase "nouns are down the left, and verbs are across the top" is said in every basic training and most demos.

If we extend this grammatical metaphor, new fields added to existing pages can be thought of as adjectives. They further describe the record. For example, if you want to track "Maiden Name" for each Contact record then adding a text field called Contacts.Maiden_Name to the database makes sense. In language, having too many or redundant adjectives is a bad idea. Often what you need is a period and a new sentence. Contact Support for expert advice on avoiding getting too wordy in your database!

• Make sure you are putting the field on the best possible table/page. If it is a field about a Donor or Participant put it on those pages rather than putting it on a Contact record.
• Custom fields will not be included in any standard reports.
• Custom fields will not be included or available through our applications (Widgets, Check-In, and so on).
• Renaming an existing field in the database is virtually always unwise. If we created the field then this is not supported.
• Fields names should always use proper case. Underscores should be used in place of spaces. Avoid any special characters in the field name including hyphens and slashes.