X-Git-Url: http://shamusworld.gotdns.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=STYLE_GUIDE;h=be65d6381b365ee4a7596826b116489ec9315d1d;hb=d2f3daa498bef39dc0602dfc7b0ee12cb13b40ab;hp=5c367ab6dc3cf519f250c625c1fec5842ef4d918;hpb=5f92c0832cc395082fef91df5cb695bb53510e6a;p=ardour-manual-diverged diff --git a/STYLE_GUIDE b/STYLE_GUIDE index 5c367ab..be65d63 100644 --- a/STYLE_GUIDE +++ b/STYLE_GUIDE @@ -102,6 +102,11 @@ level below its predecessor. Do not abuse headings to style a head line. Every snippet of text should be enclosed in a block level element. The default choice is

, the plain paragraph. + +Cross-reference links in the manual are reasonably stable, since they are +independent of the ordering number (which gets removed from the URL) and the +pretty page title (the URL is created from the file name). So unless a file +is renamed or moved to another sub-directory, links should be ok. 4.1 Inline markups ------------------ @@ -109,14 +114,15 @@ default choice is

, the plain paragraph. encloses a newly introduced term that is being explained. Use for the first occurrence of the main concept of every manual page, or the first occurrence -of a new concept after a sub-heading if necessary. +of a new concept after a sub-heading if necessary. Renders in bold face. Keep in mind that tags might be used to generate an index of keywords - don't pollute it too much. is used to explain an abbreviation such as LADSPA. Browsers will usually pop up the -definition when the user hovers over the word. +definition when the user hovers over the word. Renders as dotted underlined +in most browsers. On each page, use only for the first occurrence of every abbreviation. Avoid a redundant explanation in the text - the expansion can easily be extracted via CSS for printing. @@ -170,10 +176,11 @@ elements. ------------------------------------ -Any keys or key combinations, mouse buttons, or controllers should be marked -with this element. +Any keys or key combinations, mouse buttons or controllers, menu items or +textual user input should be marked with this element. It is used here in +the widest possible sense, qualified by classes. E.g.: -"Press F to fit all tracks to the height of the Editor window." +"Press f to fit all tracks to the height of the Editor window." "Move Fader 1 on your MIDI controller to bind it. " Since modifier keys are not cross-platform and Ardour makes a point of @@ -181,16 +188,15 @@ abstracting them, do not hard-code "Alt", "Cmd" and friends, use class="modN" instead. So if you want the user to press Ctrl-N on Linux, that's actually N. It will render as "Ctrl+N" for you, and as "Cmd+N" for +class="mod1">N. It will render as "Ctrl N" for you, and as "Cmd N" for your Mac-using friend. Nice, uh? For anything you want the user to type, use as a block-level element. See above for other classes to denote menu items, selections, mouse events and controller actions. -Keys and mouse key names should always be capitalized. We do not need to -distringuish between "x" and "X", because the latter would be "Shift-X". -In case you forget, the stylesheet takes care of this. +Keys and mouse key names should always be entered lowercase, even though the +stylesheet might capitalize them. CSS Classes used with are: .modN @@ -220,7 +226,8 @@ The image tag must contain a 'src="/images/yourimage.png"' element and a descriptive 'alt="A short textual description of the image content"' element. Images are usually placed as block-level elements, i.e. outside of a -paragraph. +paragraph, unless they are no higher than one row and make sense in the text +flow. 5. Other conventions ==================== @@ -246,10 +253,12 @@ paragraph. * The Ardour manual is written in Americal English spelling. * Use SI units with standard abbreviations. Give imperial units only as additional information, if at all. +* Do not use contractions like "you'll", always write full forms. +* Do not over-use "You", write about the program, not the user. -5.3 Headline Capitalization ---------------------------- +5.3 Chapter Headline Capitalization +------------------------------------ Capitalization follows https://developer.gnome.org/hig-book/3.6/design-text-labels.html.en#layout-capitalization @@ -260,4 +269,40 @@ https://developer.gnome.org/hig-book/3.6/design-text-labels.html.en#layout-capit Conjunctions: and, but, for, not, so, yet ... Prepositions of three or fewer letters: at, for, by, in, to ... * Keep headlines short and concise. +* secondary headlines in articles are not capitalized +* Do not capitalize concepts in the text body, with the possible exceptions + of _the_ Editor and _the_ Mixer. + + +5.4 Janitorial tasks/review +--------------------------- +If you encounter something that is unclear or patent nonsense, but you are +not bold or knowledgeable to fix it, express your doubts with an

editorial note

, so that readers will be warned and fellow +editors know where there's work to do. + +5.5 Writing style suggestions +----------------------------- + +* "Click OK" and similar explanations of the utterly obvious should be +avoided. Keep the writing concise and to the point. Explain as much as +possible, with as few words as possible. +* Do not fear repetitions, this is not artistic prose. Repeat important +keywords, rather than burden the user with synonyms made up on the spot. +* Do not create headings for different ways of doing the same thing (Via +the context menu,...Via hotkeys). Headings separate new +concepts. To not add gratuitous sub-headings if there is very little +content per heading and you do not expect the article to grow. +* If pages grow long, consider splitting them into sub-chapters at their +headings. +* Nobody needs "the next paragraph is about the following" paragraphs. + +5.6. Encoding +------------- + +* Pages should be encoded in UTF-8, with Unix-style newlines if possible +(although that's not critical). Avoid using verbatim special symbols, use +HTML character entities instead, for example for cursor arrows: → +← ↑ ↓. Diacriticals on vowels and other special letters are +probably ok by now, so don't bother with é and friends, just type é.