ubuntu-manual team mailing list archive

[Kevin Godby <kevin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello, Tiffany.

On Sun, Apr 10, 2016 at 4:16 PM Tiffany Tisler <bits@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 1) Should I bold a GUI subheading in the manual text, to make it clear
> user is looking for said subheading under a section in the settings menu?
> The style manual does not seem very clear on how to deal with this.
>
> For example: Under *System Settings>Appearance>Behavior *tab, I have
> "Show the menus for a window" followed by several radio button options.
> Should I bold *Show the menus for a window*?
>

You're right in that we don't have a specific command for those GUI
elements. For now, you can probably just use the \radiobutton command if
those headings introduce a set of radio buttons. That will set the text in
bold.

2) What is your preference for the term directory or folder? Under the
> manual section on the Files file manager, directory is used almost
> exclusively. However, the GUI uses the term folder, and elsewhere in the
> manual folder seems to be used more frequently. I'm in favor of
> consistency, but what do you think?
>

If we don't already say it explicitly in the manual, we should probably add
a note that directories and folders are synonymous and may be used
interchangeably.

In the GUI, the term 'folder' is used more frequently. On the command line,
however, the term 'directory' is used almost exclusively (e.g., the
commands mkdir and rmdir for making or removing directories).

It's tempting to say that the manual should use the word 'folder' in all
non-command-line-related contexts, but some special directories such as the
home directory are referred to almost exclusively as such.

To some of our translators: How have you handled this discrepancy? Do you
use multiple terms or do you standardize on a single word in both cases?

What are your opinions on this?

—Kevin