Re: Zip terminology

[Breda McColgan <Breda McColgan Sun COM>]

Hello all,

as the writer currently responsible for the online reference manual for File
Roller, I'd like to add my two cent[1] to this thread.

I agree that the noun and verb "zip" should be changed.
I suggest the following changes:


GUI
===

1. System Tools menu item:
   Zip Creator --> Archive Manager

2. Properties dialog (Archive -> Properties) label:
   Zipped on --> Modified on

3. File Manager right-click popup menu item and dialog title:
   Zip Objects --> Add to Archive

4. File Manager "Add to Archive" dialog button:
   Zip --> Add


Strings
=======

5. #: component/File_Roller_Component.server.in.in.h:5
   msgid "Zip Objects..."
   --> "Add to Archive" [2]

6. #: file-roller.desktop.in.h:2
   msgid "Zip Creator"
   --> "Archive Manager" [2]

7. #: file-roller.desktop.in.h:1
   msgid "Create and modify zips and other archive types"
   --> "Create and modify an archive" [3]

8. #: src/dlg-batch-add.c:101 src/dlg-batch-add.c:126
src/dlg-batch-add.c:166
   msgid "Could not zip objects"
   --> "Could not add to archive"

9. #: src/dlg-batch-add.c:185
   msgid "Zip not performed"
   --> "Not added to archive"

10. #: src/dlg-prop.c:149
    msgid "Zipped on:"
    --> "Modified on" [2]

11. #: src/file_roller.glade.h:12
    msgid "Zip Objects"
    --> "Add to Archive" [2]

12. #: src/file_roller.glade.h:19
    msgid "_Zip"
    --> "Add" [2]



Note that there is a difference between an archive and a compressed file, as
shown by the following definitions from the American Heritage Dictionary:

"Archive:
  [noun] 2. <Computer Science> ...(b) A file containing one or more files in
compressed format for more efficient storage and transfer.
  [verb] 2. <Computer Science> To copy or compress (a file) into an
archive."

"Compress: 3. <Computer Science> To transform (data) to minimize the space
required for storage or transmission: compressed the file so that it could
be downloaded efficiently. "


So you could have:
a) An uncompressed archive, e.g. file.tar
b) A compressed archive e.g. file.tar.gz
c) A compressed non-archive [that is, single file], e.g. file.txt.gz [4]



Eugene -- what do you think? [5]


Regards,
Breda.


[1] In euro currency, the plural of "cent" is "cent" :)

[2] I have assumed that these strings directly correspond to the GUI strings
listed in the first part of this mail.

[3] "archive" is similar to "zip" in that "archive" can be a noun or a verb,
so I have included the article "an" here to clarify that this usage is a
noun. In any case, although you can use File Roller to open several
archives, each archive is opened in a separate window and File Roller acts
on only one archive at a time. Therefore, "an archive" is more accurate than
"archives", as well as less ambiguous :)

[4] You can use File Roller to open and extract a compressed non-archive
file, but you cannot use File Roller to create or modify a compressed
non-archive file.

[5] I've updated the bug with the contents of this mail, and added myself
and Eugene to the CC list.


Alexander Kirillov wrote:

> Quite agree that "zip" is a bad choice (just imagined translating it to
> Russian... scary). Obvious replacements are either
> "compress" or "create archive/add to archive". I'd actually go with the
> latter, even though it is longer.
>
> Eugene - what do you think?
>
> Sasha
>
> On Mon, 2004-03-01 at 14:26, Christian Rose wrote:
> > I just filed http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=135863 which
> > suggests that "to zip" and "a zip" are bad terminology choices in
> > file-roller. My reasons for thinking so are outlined in the bug report.
> >
> > However, I would very much like to hear the input of the GDP team
> > aswell, and in particular the opinions of those responsible for the
> > GNOME Word List. My hope is there to be some form of terminology
> > recommendation for this aswell in the future.
> >
> >
> > Christian
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > gnome-doc-list mailing list
> > gnome-doc-list gnome org
> > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-doc-list
>
> _______________________________________________
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