RE: Legal text for review.

["Kristin E Thomas" <kristint us ibm com>]

I've just recently joined the GNOME documentation project (about when the
discussion of the legal statement started).  I'm fairly familiar with the
GNOME Style Guide, as I have reviewed my colleagues documents for adherence
to GNOME style.  I guess my main argument against using all capital letters
for the legal statements is that it goes against accepted documentation
practices. Even the GNOME Style Guide states (in the section on "Grammar
and Usage Guidelines for GNOME Documentation) that capitalization should
not be used for emphasis.

All caps text is difficult to read, and, as several other people have
mentioned, it connotes screaming at the reader.  When text is in all
capital letters, it appears as a big block.  Readers are unable to quickly
distinguish one letter or word from another, so they generally don't read
the text at all.  If the concern of the legal team is that people won't
read the legal statement unless it is in all capital letters, I think they
will be achieving the opposite effect.

While I understand the origin of capital letters for legal statements, I
don't think we should be looking to ancient Rome to justify our
documentation practices.  Modern literature on technical communication
would tell us that the importance of text is demonstrated by headings or
its placement on the page.  I understand the need to protect writers and
the corporations that employ them with effective legal statements, but,
since informing the reader is the first goal of documentation, I don't
think using antiquated documentation techniques serves any purpose.  We
certainly can't ask other writers to adhere to the Style Guide if the GNOME
User's Guide doesn't adhere to it.   I look forward to working with this
team in the future, I appreciate you listening to my opinion

Thanks,
Kristin

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Kristin Thomas
Linux Information Development
Linux Technology Center
Ph. (512) 838-4546
T/L 678-4546
Bldg. 908 1D002