Textpattern CMS support forum
You are not logged in. Register | Login | Help
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
Thanks Mike.
Browser just crashed and I lost everything I was writing so this is going to be quicker and sound a little less elegant…
The deal with “TextBook” and “Textpattern CMS” is a done deal a while ago (the latter not having anything to do with me), so I’m not sure it’s worth getting too drawn to those changes at this point. They both were rooted in clarifying messages (TextBook actually being documentation, and Textpattern not being just a blog tool) and improving SEO, so I think they were practical changes overall.
As for Txp vs TXP, I actually don’t like TXP. I prefer “Txp”. But what bothers me more than which one, is how many are floating around in communication right now (Txp, TxP, TXP…). Abbreviations are rather ambiguous anyway, but when many are used to mean the same thing, it’s a bit much. Also, I doubt anybody out in the world has any clue what “Txp” means, so writing “Textpattern” instead of an abbreviation in official communication is always going to be better (and no, I don’t think we have to write “Textpattern CMS”, but at least “Textpattern” most of the time). Use what you want here in the forum, at your own website, whatever, but the guide is primarily intended for the documentation, and if it’s adopted a bit wider it won’t hurt anything.
I guess we need more voting, or leader input, on the abbreviation thing for purposes of the style guide, considering “TXP 5” is in the future. I’m just looking for the majority vote. :)
Last edited by Destry (2011-07-01 15:14:23)
Offline
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
You know, I think maybe I just answered my own question. Wait, what was the question? Oh yeah…abbreviations.
Maybe this should be the rule for documentation: No abbreviations. Period. Use “Textpattern” always. “Textpattern CMS” is not necessary.
That makes sense to me. Then we just remove any mention of Textpattern abbreviations from the style guide outside of making it clear they are not allowed in the docs.
How’s that sound?
Offline
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
Destry wrote:
Does “Lorem” have to be capitalized?
I’m not certain – I tend to capitalise the ‘L’ and not the ‘i’ as I use http://lipsum.com/ to auto-generate the text for my needs…certainly if it’s the first word in a sentence. The lorem ipsum Wikipedia article uses lower case when it’s use mid-sentence, so I guess it depends on placement.
For the avoidance of doubt, it may also be worth picking up a copy of the AP Stylebook if there are any sticking points for what style should be used in a given scenario.
Offline
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
Great work Destry, I’ll have to go through my replacement front-side theme project and make sure it adheres to your document. I know I mix first person and third person in the comments I’ve added throughout the HTML but that’s a relatively easy fix.
Seems like I’ve already used ‘Textpattern’ thoughout instead of ‘TXP’ so that’s good.
Offline
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
When Textbook was first created, it was really a separate site. Once all the .com/.net/.org got folded together into a single metasite, I think the name is more apt to be confusing to newcomers. So I for one approve of this change.
I am hoping we can get rid of this sentence as well – Often known as “the WIKI”, the Textpattern Manual contains a rich host of information on every aspect of Textpattern – because I don’t know anyone who calls it “the WIKI” anymore and doubt they used all-caps when they did.
Offline
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
Destry wrote:
Browser just crashed and I lost everything I was writing so this is going to be quicker and sound a little less elegant…
Get a better browser ;)
A while back I started changing every reference on my sites to Textpattern CMS from Textpattern. I thought it was the way to go, since it was mentioned on some forum thread that it would be the new nomenclature. But after some time I realized that Textpattern still stuck, just look at the admin screen, it says Textpattern everywhere, so I went back to using Textpattern.
As for txp, TXP, Txp or TxP, it’s great for forum posts and those of us who put up sites, TXP Builders, TXP Mag, TxPlanet, etc. But I don’t think it should be an official like name, since there exists a corporation, formed in 1987, that uses TXP as their logo. As for the proper capitalization of this shorthand, I think it depends on the situation, were it to be used in a forum post or the naming of a new website, either way Google picks it up, whatever capitalization is used.
Now Destry, since WordPress is up in arms about making sure we all use a capital ‘P’, maybe you should contact them to change their link text from TextPattern to Textpattern on their about page.
We Love TXP . TXP Themes . TXP Tags . TXP Planet . TXP Make
Offline
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
Maverick and Bert have me convinced. The way to deal with the abbreviations is to not to. So I’ll put in something to the effect of what I mentioned previously.
About my browser…my machine is dying, which I think is the problem. It freezes and beachballs (yep, that’s a verb there), about 40% of the time. I need to get a new, but can’t yet afford to.
And yes, somebody should point those WP folks to the Txp style guide. :)
@Michael: Yeah, that’s an attrocious sentence. Did I write it?
@Pete: I think wikipedia is right there. I found this just now too. “Moreover, in Latin only words at the beginning of sentences are capitalized” – source. I know the AP, and Chicago, but when it comes to issues with digital media, I’m all about the Yahoo Style Guide. It’s awesome.
Offline
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
Destry wrote:
Yahoo Style Guide. It’s awesome.
Wow – I never even knew that existed. Thanks for the pointer!
Offline
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
@Destry: as you’re putting a lot of time and work into the style guide, I can recommend reading, understanding and using the Google Search Engine Optimisation Starter Guide (PDF, free download). Changing a few simple things can reap great rewards in the long-term.
Also, and I’m sure there’s a great reason for this, but why not have the style guide be built-up on the textpattern.net wiki itself?
Offline
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
gaekwad wrote:
Google Search Engine Optimisation Starter Guide (PDF, free download).
Great resource. Thanks! I’ll give it a read when I have more time.
As for moving the style guide to the wiki, I could, and eventually might, but I don’t think it’s pressing. It started as a Goog doc a while ago because I have a personal Textpattern folder on Goog docs with other things-in-progress and it was just convenient for me to have everything in one place. And frankly, it’s a lot easier to write there than in Mediawiki (not that MW is hard, but Goog docs are just easier). Even if I do move it, I’d still keep the page locked. I’d rather people worked on the documentation, not the guides. :)
Btw, all. I’m heading out for a week with the Family starting tomorrow, so it’s likely to be radio silence (starting now) for me until a week from Monday. Over and out.
Offline
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
- 4 in the style guide: I know it’s unlikely for how-to documentation, but the use of exclamation marks in code and shell scripts is a notable exclusion to this, so maybe add something in about that for completeness.
Also, something is needed re: the use of apostrophes. There will likely be a bunch of apostrophes used in the documentation wiki already, including U+0027 (typewriter apostrophe: ') and U+2019 (punctuation apostrophe: ’), and sticking to the one which is most widely rendered or most readily accepted when copying and pasting into Textpattern would be preferred.
Offline
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
Pete – Those are good thoughts, especially the one on quotes. I’ll work them in.
Offline
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
See the newly added “Please keep in mind…” paragraph in the head post.
I think what’s happening is we’ll need to add a section to the style guide that’s focused on the Tag Reference specifically, that way it can address the code-related ideas without clogging up the writing areas unnecessarily.
Last edited by Destry (2011-07-18 12:14:41)
Offline
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
Destry – some more very minor things for completeness on your Google Doc:
i) add hyperlinks to the 2x URLs in the opening paragraph
ii) Textpattern gains and loses inverted commas over the first few pararaphs – looks a bit odd
iii) #7.6 behavior -> behaviour
Offline
Re: [wiki] TXP (written copy) Style Guide
Good eyes. Thanks, Pete.
I found a preference in Google doc that turns off smart quotes. I did that and changed all curly quotes (inverted or otherwise) to straight quotes. I think that will work going forward.
Offline