Re: [libreoffice-website] Please ask developers et al not to use negative questions

On 19/07/13 10:23, Robinson Tryon wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 18, 2013 at 5:46 PM, Donald <donr2648@clear.net.nz> wrote:
> > In the website project I came across this string:
> >
> > "Not the version you wanted?"
> > ...
> > Please change the question to:
> >
> > "Is this the version you wanted?"
> "Not the X you wanted?" and "Is this the X you wanted?" have different meanings.
We cannot guarantee that translations in all the languages will have the 
same subtleties that you mention below. Lets keep it simple.
> The former implies that you are about to offer the person an
> alternative to X (or tell them that they have no choice because there
> isn't another dinner/plane flight/taxi cab driver), while the later
> implies that you are going to give them X, and then perhaps later give
> them an Else-clause for some other alternative.
>
> I don't know where you saw this particular text, but one place it
> appears is on the download page:
> https://www.libreoffice.org/download
That is where I saw it. Sorry; I should have mentioned that.
> ---
> Download LibreOffice
>
> LibreOffice Linux - deb (x86), version 4.0.4, English (US). Not the
> version you wanted? Change System, Version or Language
This is very abbreviated. I guess the translations will be longer.
> ---much
>
> I'm a native English speaker, so the text scans just fine to me. If
> someone asked me to re-write that text to avoid the "Not"-y part, I'd
> suggest:
>
> "Need a different build of LibreOffice? Change System, Version or Language"
That is better. I would put "Operating System" instead of "System". 
Maybe "edition" would be better understood than "build"? How about:
"If you need a different edition of LibreOffice, you can choose a 
different operating system, version or language."
> (I don't like the double-use of the word 'version', but changing the
> first one to 'build' might be too esoteric for many of our users)
>
> Cheers,
> --R
Regards
Donald

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