[GRASS-dev] Message standardization

[Carlos Dávila]

Hamish escribió:
> Michael Barton wrote:
>   
>> Module descriptions are a different sort of beast from error
>> messages--and from GUI messages and other descriptors. All need
>> standardization, but I'd recommend doing them one at a time so as not
>> to overwhelm everyone.
>>
>> If we can standardize error messages first it might be the simplest
>> piece to attack. Then move on to others like module descriptions in
>> the module code, module doc formatting, GUI, etc.
>>     
>
>
> I would consider module and option/flag descriptions much easier "low-
> hanging fruit" than error messages. For them the rules are simpler,
>
> - module descriptions end with a "."
> - option/flag descriptions do not.
> - Multi-sentence descriptions are probably good candidates to break up
> into a short ->label + a ->description to hold additional info.
> - Begin with a capital letter.
> - Don't pad whitespace.
>
>
> For standard error/warning messages (ie the ones that always come right
> after G_open_file() or whatever) we can pick something nice and specify
> that on the wiki page to avoid repetitious translations of almost
> identical messages.
>
> For the vast majority of error/warning/regular messages, they are
> single-use, module dependant, and maybe put there by the programmer on a
> just-in-case basis, ie they may never be seen by a user. Contrast that
> with the module description and option descriptions which have high
> exposure, & thus greater result from a translator's time.
>
> library translations have high-reuse value.
> GUI translations have high-exposure value.
>
>
> 2c,
> Hamish
>
>   
Another issue to discuss: module descriptions currently have verbs both 
in infinitive and present, depending on the module. We should choose 
only one tense, infinitive IMHO.
Carlos