[libreoffice-l10n] Re: [libreoffice-documentation] Help-files: Large-scale 'cosmetic' changes

Hi,

It is a bad idea to describe the actions of the user in the Help. The Help (as 
documentation) should describe only the functionality of the program, but it 
is not something that the user can (should) do. Therefore, the words "you", 
"your", "user" should be used with extreme caution. Almost always, the 
description of the functional can be done without reference to the user. So, 
"allows to" (and like this) often can be removed from a sentence.

Best regards,
Lera

В письме от 16 декабря 2015 19:15:44 пользователь Tom Davies написал:
> Hi :)
> Again i am asking for advice and suggestions.  I don't know the best
> way to handle this or even if there is a real problem here or not.
>
>
> It is about the Help Files.  The Documentation Team may be able to
> make some much-needed changes to the help-files.  However, it is to
> solve a problem that only exists in English.  For all other languages
> it is, beyond doubt, already corrected purely through the translation
> process.
>
> Is there a system or tool that allows such sweeping changes without
> marking completed translations as incomplete?
>
> I think there was some discussion about developing such a tool but i
> imagine it would be extremely difficult to make something like that.
> So i would be surprised if there is anything yet.
>
>
> The problem is that the help files often say "allows to", which is bad
> grammar (at best) and may even be nonsensical or misleading in
> English.  Even in English (US).  Bad grammar is often fine in emails
> because we can usually be a bit forgiving and figure out what is
> likely to be meant.
>
>
> The 2 currently proposed ways of correcting this are;
>
> 1.  A "broad brush strokes" sweeping change to "search and replace" to
> replace it with something like "allows you to", which is not a perfect
> fit for all circumstances but is mostly "good enough".  It's not
> always clear who "you" refers to but mostly it's fairly clear or the
> ambiguity is tolerable.  There are a few cases where the sweeping
> change is just as confusing or nonsensical but it hides the problem in
> the majority of cases.
>
> 2.  A careful and detailed re-phrasing of each occurrence
> individually.  This will take a long time and requires a lot of very
> intensive work.  It's would be very similar to doing a lot of
> translations - from geeky-English to English.
>
> 3.  A hybrid of the first two.  Option 1 and then followed by option
> 2.  This gives us a "quick fix" improvement to start with and then the
> detailed corrections later.
>
>
> You may have better ideas.  This may be similar to a problem you have
> had to solve and you may have experience of what works best.  Please
> let the documentation team know.
>
> The additional problem is that changing the English version might well
> have a negative impact on all or most of the translations.  That is
> the main problem i hope we can solve without too much pain.
>
> Many regards from
> Tom :)


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