Re: Chapter Titles in Tech. Documentation

[Jan Henning <henning -at- r-l -dot- de>]

>Why shouldn't "Setting Post-Audiotex Behavior" simply be "Post-Audiotex
>Behvior"?

Whether it should or shouldn't remains to be seen, but the two titles
would raise differing expectations:

- Setting Post-Audiotex Behavior: I would expect this section to tell me
how I might, by configuring the entity being described, determine how it
behaves after Audiotex.

- Post-Audiotex Behavior: Here I would expect simply a description of the
behavior of the entity, not necessarily including any ways to influence it.

The fact that you could replace "setting" with other verbs without
changing the meaning much seems immaterial in this context - it simply
means that "to set" has synonyms.

In general, gerunds (or possibly other forms of verbs) seem useful to
indicate to the reader that the section is about him or her doing
something. When the verb is dropped, the title might look more like a
simple description of an object or behavior.

As for the French translations being very long, that's just the way the
cookie crumbles. French translation are always long, and I wouldn't
choose less appropriate English expressions just to facilitate shorter
translations.

Regards
Jan Henning


--------------------------------------------------------------------
Jan Henning
ROSEMANN & LAURIDSEN GMBH
Am Schlossberg 14, D-82547 Eurasburg, Germany

Phone: +49 700 0200 0700, Fax: +49 8179 9307-12
E-Mail: henning -at- r-l -dot- de, Web: www.r-l.de
--------------------------------------------------------------------


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Want to support TECHWR-L? Get shirts, bags, hats, clocks,
and more from the TECHWR-L Store. All proceeds support TECHWR-L.
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store/store.aspx?storeid=techwhirl

Check out the new release of RoboDemo, our easy-to-use tutorial software.
Plus, buy RoboHelp Office in August and save $100 with our mail-in rebate.
Get details and download free trial versions at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com 
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com 
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.