Hello Being a new boy to the team, I thought I would contribute to this little discussion.
In my opinion it should be "how to" and "read me". This would help people who do not have English as their first language. I have had experience of computer terms causing confusion with people who English language knowledge is limited. Also using "how to" and "read me" will help during translation in these modern times now that translation software is used. There are several other customs, phrases or words that should not be used, but listing those will take some thought and time. Regards Peter Schofield On 6 Nov 2011, at 10:11, Tom Davies wrote: > Hi :) > I think that those terms might be very familiar to geeks, Gnu&Linux users and > some people that have quite technical understanding of computers but not to > 'normal' mainstream people. > > We have an opportunity to introduce people to those terms gently but also to > help push the language to evolve a little in a direction we like. > > I like CamelCase but all capitals looks ugly to me. In txting, emailing, > mailing-lists and so on it seems to be considered shouting so i think we > should avoid it where possible. > > My preference would be for how-to and read-me as adjectives, not nouns, in > order to help mainstream pedants understand the documentation. In titles i > prefer How-To and Read-Me in order to be more consistent with other words > written in Title Case. Obviously some titles are all capitals and that is > probably how HOW-TO and READ-ME started. > > Just because other people, such as MicroSoft, do things badly doesn't mean we > need to continue using their way. Language evolves. > Regards from > Tom :) > > --- On Sun, 6/11/11, Dennis E. Hamilton <[email protected]> wrote: > >> From: Dennis E. Hamilton <[email protected]> >> Subject: RE: [libreoffice-documentation] "how-to" or "howto" >> To: [email protected] >> Date: Sunday, 6 November, 2011, 1:24 >> I suspect it the rule has to do >> (hah!) with the adjective rule as well as the desire to >> avoid confusion with some sort of verbing. I think the >> nouning of it is typical English language vocabulary >> creativity. >> >> One factor in being consistent, of course, is to assist >> translation. >> >> I never saw HOWTO until I was looking up something on a >> Linux CD one time. I had seen man pages for years >> before, of course. >> >> Enough speculation! >> >> Your mention of "style guide" reminded me that there is a >> Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, though >> I don't know if it has been kept up. I had to look at >> three wrong choices before I found it in my disorganized >> bookshelves. It actually has "how-to" in the index. >> >> Here is the Entry: >> >> "how-to vs. how to >> >> " Hyphenate as an >> adjective (as in >> 'how-to books'), but use >> two words >> as an adverb plus >> infinitive (as >> in 'This is how to format >> your disk'). >> >> " In headings and >> titles, do not >> capitalize the 't', as in >> 'How-tos, >> Tips, and Tricks' or 'How >> to Format >> Your Disk.' " >> >> Notice that they don't address nouning, but they use >> "How-tos". (The so-called computer dictionary is >> worse. Fortunately or unfortunately, the dictionary >> has no entries with title in the how* range. Clearly >> Bill Gates did not proof-read any of this or some serious >> howlers would have been eliminated. Bill is very >> astute concerning language and clarity.) >> >> Citation: >> >> Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft Manual of >> Style for Technical Publications, 2nd edition. Microsoft >> Press (Redmond WA: 1998). ISBN 1-57231-890-2 pbk with >> CD-ROM. >> >> Experimentation: >> >> I thought I might try searching the CD-ROM version of the >> document. There is a Microsoft .chm version, but it's search >> treats "how-to" as two separate words. Bummer. Ahah, >> they talk about "readme files" not "read-me files" but that >> is probably a typographical issue, since the name of the >> file is being referenced. I suspect that is the ONLY >> case where "howto" is usable, as well as fully capitalized, >> when it is about files having a particular name or the >> application that coughs up such files (the howto command). >> >> Laughs: >> >> I tried running the install of the book on the CD-ROM using >> Windows 7 64-bit :). The installer said it needed to >> install IE 4.0 in order to operate. I declined. >> It looked so 1990s too. Wow. >> >> Well that was fun. >> >> - Dennis >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Jean Weber [mailto:[email protected]] >> >> Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2011 16:37 >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: [libreoffice-documentation] "how-to" or >> "howto" >> >> Thanks, Dennis. Although I don't consider Wikipedia a >> definitive >> source, it's always nice when it agrees with me. ;-) >> >> I note this sentence in the Wikipedia article you cited: >> 'The correct >> way to write it in English is "how-to", but it is common >> practice to >> write it as "HOWTO" in the Linux community.' That explains >> to me why >> many people on this project are used to the all-caps >> version. However, >> the majority of LO's users are Windows users and, >> therefore, I assume >> most the readers of our documentation are Windows users; >> they are less >> likely to be familiar with Linux conventions. >> >> Unfortunately, no style guide citation is given for the >> statement 'The >> correct way to write it in English is "how-to",' and I've >> been unable >> to find anything about this in a quick look through my >> style guides. >> Another possibility is to use "how-to" as an adjective, not >> a noun: >> for example, "a how-to guide" instead of "a how-to" or "a >> list of >> how-to guides" instead of "a list of how-tos". >> >> --Jean >> >> On Sun, Nov 6, 2011 at 06:36, Dennis E. Hamilton >> <[email protected]> >> wrote: >>> You have Wikipedia on your side, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HowTo>. >>> >>> The HOWTO as a companion of FAQ and README is >> noted. I also think there is affinity with the >> MAN-page Unixism, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_page>, although it >> is apparently uncommon to use "man" full-capitalized. >>> >>> North America goes off daylight savings time in about >> 13 hours. Hoo Haa. Now if I just go to bed early >> anyhow! >>> >>> - Dennis >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: Jean Weber [mailto:[email protected]] >>> Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2011 12:57 >>> To: [email protected] >>> Subject: Re: [libreoffice-documentation] "how-to" or >> "howto" >>> >>> On Sunday, November 6, 2011, Marc Paré <[email protected]> >> wrote: >>>> I just wanted to ask if there is an agreed view on >> whether to use the >>> term "how-to" or "howto" or "HOWTO" (all uppercase) on >> our LibreOffice >>> pages? >>>> >>>> I believe that the convention is "HOWTO" much in >> the same way that we use >>> "FAQ" in uppercase. Is this how it is being used in >> documentation? >>>> >>>> I just wanted to ask for the sake of consistency >> on our web pages too. >>>> >>>> Cheers, >>>> >>>> Marc >>> >>> >>> I prefer "how-to" as a generic term. It's not >> like FAQ, which is an >>> acronym or initialism. I haven't researched this in >> style guides,, however, >>> so I'm not (yet) dead set on it. I don't recall if the >> term is in our own >>> style guide (which isn't fully up to date); I'll check >> that later. >>> >>> --Jean >>> >>> -- >>> Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to >>> [email protected] >>> Problems? >>> http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ >>> Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette >>> List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/documentation/ >>> All messages sent to this list will be publicly >> archived and cannot be deleted >>> >>> -- >>> Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to >>> [email protected] >>> Problems? >>> http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ >>> Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette >>> List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/documentation/ >>> All messages sent to this list will be publicly >> archived and cannot be deleted >>> >> >> -- >> Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to [email protected] >> Problems? >> http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ >> Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette >> List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/documentation/ >> All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived >> and cannot be deleted >> >> -- >> Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to [email protected] >> Problems? >> http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ >> Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette >> List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/documentation/ >> All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived >> and cannot be deleted >> > > -- > Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to [email protected] > Problems? > http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ > Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette > List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/documentation/ > All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted > -- Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to [email protected] Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/documentation/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
