Style notes: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
|||
Line 133: | Line 133: | ||
Mark Twain wrote (in a letter):</font></div> | Mark Twain wrote (in a letter):</font></div> | ||
<div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">"I notice you use plain simple, language, short words, and brief sentences. That is the way to write English."</font></div> | <div><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">"I notice you use plain simple, language, short words, and brief sentences. That is the way to write English."</font></div> | ||
<font size=2 color="#000000" face="Arial"> | |||
<div><font size=5 color="#993300" face="Verdana">Is documentation important?</font></div> | |||
<div><font face="Verdana">Anyone who doubts the value of good, consistent, documentation might consider the following report taken from the BBC web site (22 September 2005).</font></div> | |||
<div><font size=3 color="#ffffff" face="Verdana"><b>Computer terms 'confuse workers'</b></font></div> | |||
<div><font color="#000000" face="Verdana">Most office workers find computer jargon as difficult to understand as a foreign language, a survey suggests. Three quarters of workers waste more than an hour a week deciphering what a technical term means, the poll found.</font></div> | |||
<div><font color="#000000" face="Verdana">Terms such as jpeg, javascript and cookies are among the problem words highlighted by firm Computer People. The recruiter, which questioned 1,500 workers, says effective technology professionals "understand the need to tailor their levels of jargon".</font></div> | |||
<div><font color="#000000" face="Verdana">Most office workers admit an over-reliance on IT support staff.</font></div> | |||
<div><font color="#000000" face="Verdana">Three quarters of workers waste more than an hour a week deciphering what a technical term means, the poll found.</font></div> | |||
<div><font color="#000000" face="Verdana">The findings revealed that younger workers were just as likely to make a mistake over computer language. It also points to problems which regularly leave workers baffled.</font></div> | |||
<div><font color="#000000" face="Verdana">Just under two thirds had sent e-mails with large attachments which had blocked clients' systems.</font></div> | |||
<div><table width="100%" border=0 cellpadding=4 bordercolor="#000000" cellspacing=0> | |||
<tr valign=top> | |||
<td bgcolor="#ffcc00"><font size=2 color="#000000" face="Arial"> | |||
<div><font size=2 color="#000000" face="Verdana"><b>Jargon Problems</b></font></div> | |||
</font> | |||
</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
</table> | |||
</div> | |||
<div><font color="#000000" face="Verdana">An over-reliance on IT staff was admitted by 67% of office workers.</font></div> | |||
<div><font color="#000000" face="Verdana">Logging off instead of re-starting is a mistake made by 14% those surveyed.</font></div> | |||
<div><font color="#000000" face="Verdana">Some 44% of office workers feel it is their duty to improve their IT knowledge.</font></div> | |||
<div><font color="#000000" face="Verdana">More than one in four people are not sure what a firewall does, tempting them to turn it off.</font></div> | |||
<div><font color="#000000" face="Verdana">Turning off firewall - software to protect computers against hackers - is the worst course of action to take, according to IT experts.</font></div> | |||
<div><font color="#000000" face="Verdana">And a quarter of those surveyed had to ask for technical help to download information.</font></div> | |||
<div><font color="#000000" face="Verdana">Mr Fletcher, managing director of Computer People, said: "We're finding that many clients are increasingly requiring professionals who have concise communication expertise as they recognise this improves company productivity in the long run." </font></div> | |||
<div><font color="#0000ff" face="Verdana"><b>Note</b></font><font color="#0000ff" face="Verdana">:</font><font color="#010100" face="Verdana"> It's </font><font color="#010100" face="Verdana"><i>web site</i></font><font color="#010100" face="Verdana"> not </font><font color="#010100" face="Verdana"><i>Website</i></font><font color="#010100" face="Verdana">.</font></div> | |||
<hr noshade size=4 color="#333399" > | |||
<div align=center><font color="#000000" face="Verdana"> </font></div> | |||
</font> | |||
</body></html> |
Revision as of 03:16, 28 October 2006
In general terms, we follow Microsoft guidelines for terminology, as detailed in:
Microsoft® Computer Dictionary, Fifth Edition (Microsoft Press, 05/01/2002).
This establishes basic meanings, spellings and wordforms.
Unfortunately, this has not been updated for more than five years although MicroSoft (MS) terminology changes almost as often as they issue software patches.
More recent glossaries can be accessed through http://www.microsoft.com/resources/glossary/default.mspx.
Some exceptions are noted below:
We use ie. (NOT i.e.) for "that is", and eg. (NOT e.g.) "for example". This violates Microsoft documentation standards, but we like to live dangerously.
We also use etc. as an abbreviation for "et cetera" (it means "and so on"). Curiously, this also violates MS standards, but you'll find many examples of this in their software and documentation.
Like MS, we use both "System tray" and "Notification area" as the name of the right-hand section of the Taskbar that normally includes the clock. (If anyone's actually interested, there's a whole debate about it [here].)
For Your Amusement
Writer's Rules, OK ?
|
These rules are normally attributed to William Safire, "the most widely read writer on the English language". In reality, these "Fumble Rules" have a long history and there are many, many variants of these lists. Some may have descended from the "xeroxlore" that circulated throughout campuses and offices in the 1970s.
Life
|
Unfortunately, life and writing are seldom simple, and despite its obvious brilliance, (7,12,17 in particular) Safire's list has attracted some criticism.
The following list may also be useful.
George Orwell
|
George Orwell (1946) reckoned that writers "need rules to rely on when instinct fails". He proposed the following rules. (Slightly modernized here.)
Mark Twain
|
Mark Twain wrote (in a letter):
Jargon Problems
|
</body></html>