341 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
341 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
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*Style guide for the Ardour manual*
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1. Rationale
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============
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The Ardour manual should be consistent across different media, and it should
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be easily updatable when Ardour's behaviour changes. The markup should be
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semantic--looks are determined in the CSS, and only there. If you feel you must
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compromise the markup in order to obtain a certain look: don't do it. Accept
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the look. Alternatively, edit the CSS, but be careful not to make matters worse
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elsewhere.
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1.1 visual markup
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-----------------
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<b>,<i>,<u>,<font> or any other purely visual elements are not used in the
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Ardour manual. What you really mean is an <em>phasis or a <strong> emphasis.
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If you feel that some special terms should always be green and underlined, the
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approach of choice is this:
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<span class="my_important_keyword">foobar</span>
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and then add
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.my_important_keyword {
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text-decoration: underline;
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color: #004400;
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background-color: #eeffee;
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}
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to apps.css.
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If you add a new class with semantic meaning, document it below, under
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"Custom classes", and be sure to explain it to the reader at
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include/about-ardour-documentation.html.
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2. Format and Validation
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========================
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The Ardour manual has been converted to valid XHTML 1.0. That means it must
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be valid XML, with all tags closed properly. The reason for this extra
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complication is that XML can be more easily checked and automatically
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refactored than plain HTML, which eases maintenance.
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Watch out for the ampersand "&" and angle brackets "<" and ">". They will
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render your XHTML invalid, and must be replaced by their named entities
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"&", "<", and ">".
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3. Custom classes
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=================
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We use the class attribute for some aspects of styling (such as to float an
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image left or right in a text paragraph), and also for more fine-grained
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semantic markup than core XHTML allows.
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Any XHTML element can include a class attribute. If you need to add a class
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attribute to a word or a few words which don't have an element of their own,
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use <span class="my_new_category">foo bar</span>.
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If you need to apply a class to several block-level elements such as
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paragraphs or lists, enclose them in a <div>..</div>. Wherever possible,
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create semantic classes rather than visual ones.
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.left:
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make an element float left in the surrounding paragraph.
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.right:
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make an element float right in the surrounding paragraph.
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.note:
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use for important notes that should be visually distinct from the
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normal text flow, or asides. Currently rendered in a gray box.
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.warning:
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use for potentially dangerous situations involving data loss, malfunction,
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or sound quality issues. Currently rendered in a red box.
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.mac, .lin, .win:
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use as additional classes to mark a section as relevant for these operating
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systems only.
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Check include/about-ardour-documentation.html, it serves as a style and
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markup guide.
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4. Element use
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==============
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4.1 Main structural elements
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----------------------------
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<h1>..<h6>
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An <h1/> heading is added by the build script, so it should not be used in
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the manual page itself. If you feel you need another <h1>, start a new
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subpage. Heading levels must not be skipped. Any sub-heading must be exactly
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one level below its predecessor. Do not abuse headings to style a head line.
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<p>
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Every snippet of text should be enclosed in a block level element. The
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default choice is <p>, the plain paragraph.
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<a>
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Internal manual links should be absolutely stable, as long as the references in
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the master document do not change (and they absolutely *should* not be changed
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except for a *very* good reason, even then they probably should not be
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changed!). Use the form:
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<a href="@@my-internal-link">
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where @@my-internal-link is a reference to a "link:" keyword in a header in the
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master document. Note that in the master document, they will not have the
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double at-sign ("@@") in front, that is *only* used in the page content to
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signal to the build system that it is an internal link that needs to be fixed
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so that it points to the correct URL.
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4.2 Inline markups
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------------------
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<dfn>
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encloses a newly introduced term that is being explained. Use for the first
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occurrence of the main concept of every manual page, or the first occurrence
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of a new concept after a sub-heading if necessary. Renders in bold face. Keep
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in mind that <dfn> tags might be used to generate an index of keywords--don't
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pollute it too much.
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<abbr>
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is used to explain an abbreviation such as <abbr title="Linux Audio Developers
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Simple Plugin API">LADSPA</abbr>. Browsers will usually pop up the definition
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when the user hovers over the word. Renders as dotted underlined in most
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browsers. On each page, use only for the first occurrence of every
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abbreviation. Avoid a redundant explanation in the text--the expansion can
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easily be extracted via CSS for printing. Use only in the text body, not in
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headings.
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<em>
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is used to emphasize a word. Commonly rendered as italics. Use only if its a
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truly ad-hoc, one-off situation. For anything else, consider adding a new
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semantic markup with <span class="foo">.
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<strong>
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is used to strongly emphasize a word. Commonly rendered in bold. See above for
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usage.
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<br>
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Most of the time, these should be avoided, and used very infrequently. A line-
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break can sometimes be used to structure a paragraph, or to split a longish
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heading. Never use spurious <br>s at the end of paragraphs or to control the
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spacing of sections. If you're unhappy with those, fix the CSS (which fixes the
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entire manual in one go!).
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4.3 Lists
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---------
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<ul>, <ol>
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Use the unordered list for information snippets that do not have an implied
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order. The ordered list should always be used when a sequence of actions is
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described. Within the lists, each item must be enclosed in <li> tags. Lists
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cannot be included in <p>aragraphs. Close the paragraph first.
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<dl>
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Definition lists are for technical terms <dt> and their definition <dd>. Do
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not abuse them for anything else.
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4.4 Quotations
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--------------
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<blockquote>
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is used when an entire paragraph is quoted. Must contain a cite="http://
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mysource.net/foo.pdf" attribute. Do not abuse to indent a paragraph!
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<cite>, <q>
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For inline citations, the <cite>W3C</cite> recommends to <q cite="http://
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www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/dtds.html">use the cite and q elements</q>.
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4.5 Keyboard/Controller interaction
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-----------------------------------
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<kbd>
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Any keys or key combinations, mouse buttons or controllers, menu items or
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textual user input should be marked with this element. It is used here in
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the widest possible sense, qualified by classes. E.g.:
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"Press <kbd>f</kbd> to fit all tracks to the height of the Editor window."
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"Move <kbd>Fader 1</kbd> on your MIDI controller to bind it."
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Since modifier keys are not cross-platform and Ardour makes a point of
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abstracting them, do not hard-code "Alt", "Cmd" and friends, use
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class="modN"
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instead.
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So if you want the user to press Ctrl-N on Linux, that's actually <kbd
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class="mod1">N</kbd>. It will render as "Ctrl N" for you, and as "Cmd N" for
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your Mac-using friend. Nice, huh?
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Multiple modifier keys are supported as "modNM" as well, so for Ctrl-Shift-N on Linux, you would use "mod13".
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N.B.: If you want to have just the name of the modifier key by itself, use the
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modN name followed by a lower case "n", like so: <kbd class="mod1n></kbd>
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For anything you want the user to type, use <kbd> as a block-level element.
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See above for other <kbd> classes to denote menu items, selections, mouse
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events and controller actions.
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Keys and mouse key names should always be entered lowercase, even though the
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stylesheet might capitalize them.
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CSS Classes used with <kbd> are:
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.modN, .modNM, .modNn, .modNMn
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.mouse: mouse buttons
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.cmd: a command line
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.lin, .win, .mac: add nice prompts to that command line
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.input: inline text to be entered by the user
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.menu: path to an Ardour menu or other GUI item
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.option: path to an option, with (X) at the end.
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.optoff: path to an option, with ( ) at the end.
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.button, .fader, .knob: external controllers (OSC or MIDI).
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<code>
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is only used for program code, or the content of configuration files etc. Do
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not abuse to style keys or user input, use <kbd> instead.
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<samp>
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is only used for the textual output of any code, never for anything the user
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types or presses.
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4.6 Images
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----------
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<img>
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The image tag must contain a 'src="/images/yourimage.png"' element and a
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descriptive 'alt="A short textual description of the image content"' element.
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Images are usually placed as block-level elements, i.e. outside of a paragraph,
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unless they are no higher than one row and make sense in the text flow.
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Images should also be wrapped (unless they are embedded inside a paragraph) in
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a <figure></figure> block, and should contain a <figcaption></figcaption> block
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inside as well to describe to the reader what the image is.
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5. Other conventions
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====================
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5.1 Typography
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--------------
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* Avoid any typographical quotation marks to highlight terms or express any
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kind of subtle inflection, use semantic markup instead.
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* The hyphen is used for compound words such as this well-advised example.
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* Do not hyphenate words at line breaks.
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* For breaks in thought—such as this splendid example—use the long
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em-dash. Note that the em-dash is snugged up against the text on both
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sides--this is the proper way to use them.
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* For ranges of values, use the en-dash: Monday–Friday, 0–11. Note
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again, the en-dash is snugged up to its surrounding elements.
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* Use a non-breaking space (" ") between a number and its unit.
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* Colons (":") always snug up to their text on the left: it is an error to add
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space between text on the left and the colon.
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5.2 Language
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------------
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* The Ardour manual is written in American English spelling.
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* Use SI units with standard abbreviations. Give imperial units only as
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additional information, if at all.
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* Do not use contractions like "it'll", always write full forms.
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* Do not over-use "You"; write about the program, not the user. Avoid it if at
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all possible, it makes for tighter and better reading text.
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* Always write out numbers less than 11. E.g., "One or two ..." instead of
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"1 or 2 ...".
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5.3 Chapter Headline Capitalization
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------------------------------------
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Capitalization follows
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https://developer.gnome.org/hig-book/3.6/design-text-labels.html.en#layout-capitalization:
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* Capitalize all words in the headline, with the following exceptions:
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Articles: a, an, the.
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Conjunctions: and, but, for, not, so, yet ...
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Prepositions of three or fewer letters: at, for, by, in, to ...
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* Keep headlines short and concise.
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* secondary headlines in articles are not capitalized
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* Do not capitalize concepts in the text body, with the possible exceptions
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of _the_ Editor and _the_ Mixer.
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5.4 Janitorial tasks/review
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---------------------------
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If you encounter something that is unclear or patent nonsense, but you are not
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bold or knowledgeable to fix it, express your doubts with an <p
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class="fixme">editorial note</p>, so that readers will be warned and fellow
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editors know where there's work to do.
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5.5 Writing style suggestions
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-----------------------------
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* "Click OK" and similar explanations of the utterly obvious should be
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avoided. Keep the writing concise and to the point. Explain as much as
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possible, with as few words as possible.
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* Do not fear repetitions, this is not artistic prose. Repeat important
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keywords, rather than burden the user with synonyms made up on the spot.
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* Do not create headings for different ways of doing the same thing (<h>Via
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the context menu</h>,...<h>Via hotkeys</h>). Headings separate new
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concepts. To not add gratuitous sub-headings if there is very little
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content per heading and you do not expect the article to grow.
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* If pages grow long, consider splitting them into sub-chapters at their
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headings.
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* Nobody needs "the next paragraph is about the following" paragraphs.
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* When creating a <p class="note">NOTE</p>, *do not* put the word NOTE into
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the note, the styling tells the user that it is a note.
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5.6. Encoding
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-------------
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* Pages should be encoded in UTF-8, with Unix-style newlines if possible
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(although that's not critical). Avoid using verbatim special symbols, use
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HTML character entities instead, for example for cursor arrows: →
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← ↑ ↓. Diacriticals on vowels and other special letters are
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probably ok by now, so don't bother with é and friends, just type é.
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