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RE: Microsoft Manual of Style (was log on to NOT login)
Subject:RE: Microsoft Manual of Style (was log on to NOT login) From:Darren Barefoot <dbarefoot -at- mpsbc -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 11 Apr 2000 11:36:29 -0700
Good afternoon,
I think the second part of Mr. Wilcox's message kind of defeats the first.
Just because he's used "log in" and "log out" for 14 years doesn't make it
currently correct, just as "CD-ROM" may have been correct five years ago
while "CD" is now apparently more acceptable. I referred to the second
edition MS Manual of Style, published in 1998, which offers the following
advice under CD:
"It is acceptable to use the abbreviation CD alone if there's no possibility
of confusion with other compact disks, such as CD-R (recordable)."
Obviously, the MS Manual of Style is not the be-all, end-all of
decision-makers, but we make Windows software, so we adhere to it. Just my
two cents. DB.
-----Original Message-----
From: John Wilcox [mailto:jwilcox -at- tcsi -dot- com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2000 11:30 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Microsoft Manual of Style (was log on to NOT login)
Tara Charter wrote:
>Do you subscribe to the Microsoft Manual of Style guideline?:
>
>Use log on to to refer to connecting to a network
>and log off from (or log off) to refer to disconnecting from a network. Do
>not use log in, login, log onto, log off of, logout, sign off, or sign on.
Only when I agree with it. In this case, I don't. I've used "log in" and
"log
out" for 14 years.
Just yesterday I read two articles in the latest Intercom magazine. The
articles dealt with "CD-ROM" production. Both authors (or perhaps the
magazine's editors) apparently subscribed to the Microsloth Manual of Style,
because they always referred to "CD-ROMs" instead of just "CDs" with one
exception, in which they were referring to a music CD. I blew the dust of
my MS
M of S to check their recommendation, and sure enough that is their usage.
The
reason I checked is that I almost always see data CDs referred to as CDs,
just
as music CDs are. Of course, the MS manual was written five years ago, so
maybe
it's just not up with current conventions.
--
Regards,
John Wilcox - Senior Technical Writer, TCSI Corp., Bothell, Washington USA
Sometimes you gotta create what you want to be a part of. -- Geri Weitzman
