[Xfce4-commits] r29004 - in xfce4-mixer/trunk: . panel-plugin xfce4-mixer

[Jannis Pohlmann]

Am Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:25:04 -0800
schrieb "Brian J. Tarricone" <bjt23 at cornell.edu>:

> Just a few notes..
> 
> Jannis Pohlmann wrote:
> 
> >        message = g_strdup_printf (_("Could not execute the command
> > %s. "
> > -                                   "Perhaps you need to adjust the
> > PATH variable."), 
> > +                                   "Perhaps the PATH variable
> > needs adjustment."), mixer_plugin->command);
> 
> This is a minor nitpick, but... probably a better phrasing would be 
> simply "Ensure that the PATH environment variable includes the
> location of the command" (I don't like the last half of that, but the
> phrasing is better").  Why?
> 
> 1.  It notifies the user clearly that they may need to do something.
> 2.  It is precise -- "variable" is ambiguous, "environment variable"
> is not. 3.  It tells the user what kind of adjustment is necessary.
> 
> Of course, if they get to this point, the average user won't really
> have a clue what to do anyway, no matter what the dialog says, so it
> might be a moot point.

How about something like the following?

  "Could not execute the command %s. Ensure that either the location of
   the command is included in the PATH environment variable or the full 
   path of the command is given."

Not sure about the "given", but providing the full path of the command
is an alternative to fiddling with PATH at least.

> Maybe I wasn't really clear on the whole "avoid addressing the user 
> directly" thing.  It's more about not using "you" sentences and being
> a little more target-neutral.  

Target-neutral, like considering another userbase besides humans? :p 
I mean "you" is pretty much target-neutral already. 

> If the user needs to take some action
> to proceed, you should make it clear that the user has to do
> something. Saying "Perhaps PATH needs adjustment" doesn't do that --
> the user could think "oh, maybe the programmer did something wrong"
> or "oh, maybe my sysadmin needs to fix this" or whatever.  Using
> verbs like "ensure" puts the ball in the user's court for the next
> step without pointing a big fat finger at them like "You need to fix
> PATH" would do.
> 
> > -      xfce_err (_("GStreamer was unable to detect any sound cards
> > on your system. "
> > -                  "You might be missing sound system specific
> > GStreamer packages. "
> > -                  "It might as well be a permission problem."));
> > +      xfce_err (_("GStreamer was unable to detect any sound cards.
> > "
> > +                  "Some sound system specific GStreamer packages
> > may "
> > +                  "be missing. It may also be a permission
> > problem."));
> 
> "Permissions" should be plural here.
> 
> Also I'd discourage the use of xfce_err() (perhaps we should
> deprecate it) as it doesn't produce the usual bolded primary text /
> normal secondary text type of dialog.
> 
> > -  xfce_titled_dialog_set_subtitle (XFCE_TITLED_DIALOG (dialog),
> > _("Please select which mixer track should be used by the plugin"));
> > +  xfce_titled_dialog_set_subtitle (XFCE_TITLED_DIALOG (dialog),
> > _("Select which mixer track should be used by the plugin"));
> 
> I already made a note about this on Bugzilla but for consistency:
> don't use XfceTitledDialog subtitles as a substitute for normal
> dialog text. The subtitle should serve as a description of what the
> dialog does or is for.  Put another way, the user should still know
> what to do if the subtitle were to disappear.  If you need to prompt
> the user for something, use a normal GtkLabel in the body of the
> dialog. XfceTitledDialog may not even be appropriate, depending.
> 
> > -  xfce_heading_set_subtitle (XFCE_HEADING (heading), _("Configure
> > your sound card(s) and control the volume of selected tracks"));
> > +  xfce_heading_set_subtitle (XFCE_HEADING (heading), _("Configure
> > sound card(s) and control the volume of selected tracks"));
> 
> This would be an example of the correct usage for the dialog subtitle
> ^_^.
> 
> > -      gtk_label_set_markup (GTK_LABEL (label2), _("No controls are
> > marked as visible. Please open the <span size='large'><b>Select
> > Controls</b></span> dialog to select some."));
> > +      gtk_label_set_markup (GTK_LABEL (label2), _("No controls are
> > marked as visible. Open the <span size='large'><b>Select
> > Controls</b></span> dialog to select some."));
> 
> There's no reason to remove the "please" here.  Being polite never 
> hurts, as long as it's not overused.  More a personal style thing, I
> guess.

Ok. Please have a look at revision 29006. I tried to improve strings
in reply to your comments.

  - Jannis
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 197 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mail.xfce.org/pipermail/xfce4-dev/attachments/20081210/3db9d925/attachment.pgp>