Alex Vincent wrote: > I agree with Gerv. The idea of enforcing a particular word choice -- when > the context of the word's usage, the sentences and subject matter around it > will make it clear -- will cause more headaches than benefit. > > We want to keep it simple to write documentation, and this is a dangerous > idea towards boggling it down. I would say we should attempt to exclude any > sort of attempts to build a mozilla.org official spelling guide, except to > insist that it be correct in one language or another, and not be a > profanity.
A style guide, official or non-official, is a guidelines (level 3 from the ISO 9000 point of view) document, not a specification (level 2). Unless a higher level document dictates that the style guide "shall" be used, documentation writers may use it at their own discretion. I do not like the argument that "as long as it is correct language, it is okay." A document is acceptable if its language is consistent, accurate, and grammatically correct and serves the needs of the intended audience. A style guide would serve this purpose. (I do agree with Gervase Markham that "The form used by the document author should be used, because both are as correct as each other.") I guess most documentation contributors already use style guides. A Mozilla style guide (again, official or non-official) would therefore be just another style guide, except it is readily available to everyone. In reply to all the comments about variant spelling, I apologize for rushing into judgment in my early postings. I have changed my mind about this several times since starting this thread and have settled down to this: it doesn't matter, use either British English or U.S. English. In reply to Brant Langer Gurganus, I would say inline designation of language is an overkill. Be consistent and write a document in one language only. If you want to use the lang attribute, put it in the <html> or <body> element. Similarly, do not use <acronym>, <abbr>, title, and the like just for their own sake. Avoid the use of jargons. If you must, provide a definition and make sure the reader can infer their meanings from context.
