Date: Wed, 06 Oct 1999 12:07:26 -0400 (EDT) From: John Baldwin <jobaldwi@vt.edu> To: Narvi <narvi@haldjas.folklore.ee> Cc: FreeBSD Documentation Project <doc@FreeBSD.ORG>, Neil Blakey-Milner <nbm@mithrandr.moria.org> Subject: Re: Style Challenge! Message-ID: <199910061607.MAA06336@server.baldwin.cx> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.991006184815.37031Q-100000@haldjas.folklore.ee>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 06-Oct-99 Narvi wrote: > > [your mailer seems to be doing funny things with the cc: list] It did spam -doc twice it seems. I think the message only actually went out once however. Odd. > On Wed, 6 Oct 1999, John Baldwin wrote: >> >> >> >> That's how formal English specifies sentence endings and is how >> >> the >> >> rest of the documentation is. >> >> >> > >> > Really? Most of printed books definately don't follow that rule >> > then. >> > Or online texts/documents for that matter. >> >> That's how it is in source form (the DocBook for example), the style >> sheets that output text may not follow that convention at the moment >> however. HTML for instance, compresses multiple spaces into a >> single >> space unless you explicitly use . >> > > Then take a look at the sgml source and discover that apparently, > there is > no rule how many spaces (one or two) you put after the period. As I said, check the archives where this was hashed out earlier. All new (English) documentation is supposed to use double spaces. If it really bothers people, then I'll write a sed script to go put double spaces in everywhere in the older docs as well. > And if they get always compressed by the styles sheets anyways, why > bother at all? In the future this behavior may be tweaked in the style sheets. The issue, however, has to do with the readability of the source. The style sheets determine the output, so output and input formats are two different animals. The documentation writers decided earlier to go with double spaces for the (English) documentation because we find it easier to read. Some of us are anal about grammar as well. Not to mention that most of us are in the habit of using two spaces after sentences, so keeping it at two spaces makes our lives easier. :) For example, look at my e-mail. I use two spaces between sentences all over the place because that is the grammar that has been ingrained into me and several other doc writers since we were in grade school. >> > What about translations into languages that are different? >> >> That is up to the translation teams. I have not look at the other >> language's sources in enough detail to know if they use single space >> or >> double space after sentences. Presumably they follow the grammar of >> their respective language. >> > Presently the translators are just as chaotic as the main sources. That is up to the translation teams to choose a standard and go with it if they feel it will make their jobs easier. Grammar is a language specific characteristic. --- John Baldwin <jobaldwi@vt.edu> -- http://www.cslab.vt.edu/~jobaldwi/ PGP Key: http://www.cslab.vt.edu/~jobaldwi/pgpkey.asc "Power Users Use the Power to Serve!" - http://www.FreeBSD.org/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199910061607.MAA06336>