"how-to" or "howto"

I just wanted to ask if there is an agreed view on whether to use the term "how-to" or "howto" or "HOWTO" (all uppercase) on our LibreOffice pages?

I believe that the convention is "HOWTO" much in the same way that we use "FAQ" in uppercase. Is this how it is being used in documentation?

I just wanted to ask for the sake on consistency on our web pages too.

Cheers,

Marc

I just wanted to ask if there is an agreed view on whether to use the

term "how-to" or "howto" or "HOWTO" (all uppercase) on our LibreOffice
pages?

I believe that the convention is "HOWTO" much in the same way that we use

"FAQ" in uppercase. Is this how it is being used in documentation?

I just wanted to ask for the sake on consistency on our web pages too.

Cheers,

Marc

I prefer "how-to" as a generic term. It's not like FAQ, which is an
acronym or initialism. I haven't researched this in style guides, however,
so I'm not (yet) dead set on it. I don't recall if the term is in our own
style guide (which isn't fully up to date); I'll check that later.

--Jean

You have Wikipedia on your side, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HowTo>.

The HOWTO as a companion of FAQ and README is noted. I also think there is affinity with the MAN-page Unixism, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_page>, although it is apparently uncommon to use "man" full-capitalized.

North America goes off daylight savings time in about 13 hours. Hoo Haa. Now if I just go to be early anyhow!

- Dennis

Thanks, Dennis. Although I don't consider Wikipedia a definitive
source, it's always nice when it agrees with me. :wink:

I note this sentence in the Wikipedia article you cited: 'The correct
way to write it in English is "how-to", but it is common practice to
write it as "HOWTO" in the Linux community.' That explains to me why
many people on this project are used to the all-caps version. However,
the majority of LO's users are Windows users and, therefore, I assume
most the readers of our documentation are Windows users; they are less
likely to be familiar with Linux conventions.

Unfortunately, no style guide citation is given for the statement 'The
correct way to write it in English is "how-to",' and I've been unable
to find anything about this in a quick look through my style guides.
Another possibility is to use "how-to" as an adjective, not a noun:
for example, "a how-to guide" instead of "a how-to" or "a list of
how-to guides" instead of "a list of how-tos".

--Jean

Earlier, I wrote:

Unfortunately, no style guide citation is given for the statement 'The
correct way to write it in English is "how-to",' and I've been unable
to find anything about this in a quick look through my style guides.
Another possibility is to use "how-to" as an adjective, not a noun:
for example, "a how-to guide" instead of "a how-to" or "a list of
how-to guides" instead of "a list of how-tos".

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary and dictionary.com (citing the
Collins English Dictionary) both give "how-to" as both an adjective
and a noun, and the plural as "how-tos".

--Jean

Hi Jean and Dennis

Earlier, I wrote:

Unfortunately, no style guide citation is given for the statement 'The
correct way to write it in English is "how-to",' and I've been unable
to find anything about this in a quick look through my style guides.
Another possibility is to use "how-to" as an adjective, not a noun:
for example, "a how-to guide" instead of "a how-to" or "a list of
how-to guides" instead of "a list of how-tos".

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary and dictionary.com (citing the
Collins English Dictionary) both give "how-to" as both an adjective
and a noun, and the plural as "how-tos".

--Jean

Ok, sounds like "how-to" and "how-tos" a the winners. I am used to following the adjective rule of hyphenating and it seems to make the most sense to me.

Thanks for the help!

Cheers,

Marc