Timeline for Formatting Goodies
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
5 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 5, 2013 at 1:14 | comment | added | Scott - Слава Україні |
@Bob: Another example: the user who typed ‘E’, ‘n’, ‘t’, ‘e’, and ‘r’, and wondered why nothing was happening. I go along with using square brackets ([ and ]) for optional input somewhat grudgingly, partly because it’s not as likely to cause a mess if the user types it literally, and partly because there’s no widely recognized typesetting equivalent (although I have seen “<sub>opt</sub>”). But I recommend using italics for non-literal input (e.g., “filename”) whenever possible.
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| Jan 5, 2013 at 1:13 | comment | added | Scott - Слава Україні |
@Bob: I actively discourage the <filename> convention because < and > have meaning in the Windows Command Prompt and all Unix shells. The fact that we still feel the need to give instructions like, “Type "date –u" (but type only the part between the quotes, don’t type the quotes themselves),” tells me that we don’t trust 100% (or even 99.44%) of the user population to be able to distinguish characters from meta-characters. (Remember the user who asked, “Where’s the "any" key? The computer is telling me to "Press any key".”)
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| Jan 1, 2013 at 7:20 | comment | added | Bob |
I think it's standard to use angled brackets (<>) to indicate a variable the user should insert, e.g. <filename>. Probably from BNF, as is square brackets to indicate something optional ([--another option <path>]). Of course, a lot of users won't be aware of this syntax...
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| Dec 29, 2012 at 0:46 | comment | added | Scott - Слава Україні | I believe that the <code> and </code> in your example are superfluous — if you delete them, the display doesn’t change. | |
| Dec 26, 2012 at 17:08 | history | answered | slhckMod | CC BY-SA 3.0 |