On 2010.09.22 14:57, Burkhard L?ck wrote: > Am Dienstag, 21. September 2010, um 23:32:35 schrieb Jack: ...
>> One question - it would be nice if we could be consistent with use >> of the words documentation, manual, and handbook. They seem to be >> used almost interchangeably. This confused me a bit as a new KDE >> user, until I just got used to the terminology. I don't know if >> this is addressed anywhere in the KDE documentation. > Me did not notice an inconsistency so far, but from a new KDE users > PoV that could be really different. Maybe it is not as much of a problem as I thought. > An attempt for a definition of these terms from my pov: > 1) Handbook -> the application help lanched via F1/Help menu This is always clear, although I have sometimes referred to the handbook as the manual. KDE seems to use handbook specifically for this, where non-KDE apps and systems might use manual. In English, I'm not sure the difference between the words is significant. > 2) Manual -> man(ual) page I'm so used to Unix-speak, that I had almost forgotten that "man" was short for "manual." I don't think I've ever seen anyone say manual instead of man-page. In general English usage, I think of most man-pages as a summary or abbreviated form of a manual, although there are certainly exceptions. Perhaps it is best just to explicitly say man-page and avoid use of the work manual. > 3) Help for System Setting modules, ioslaves and the like, > technically usually a docbook article, what to use for them? Perhaps help-page can be used as a general reference for anything too short or too narrow in scope to be called a handbook, and not written in the specific style of a man-page (or not documenting a single command). > Documentation as general term for all types of help (1-3) I agree. > In bugreports often the term "Help" is used. I would use Help in a broader way, including documentation, but also any context-sensitive assistance provided within an application itself, such as tool-tips. > Jack, could you please give some examples for this inconsistent usage? I don't have any concrete examples - it is mainly from memory, so probably nothing needs to be done about this unless anyone else speaks up. I just need to stop saying manual when I mean handbook. > [....] > Excellent improvement, I'll use it in the docbook. Thanks. Jack
