Am Mittwoch, 22. September 2010, um 21:56:29 schrieb Jack: > 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. > I just found an example, Khelpcenter has "Application Manuals" as top level item. Maybe this has to be changed to "Application Handbooks"?
-- Burkhard L?ck
