Re: Word-a-Day Bonus Round: screencast

[Denis Washington <dwashington gmx net>]

On Thu, 2008-04-03 at 12:32 -0500, Shaun McCance wrote:
> Since we've got screenshot on the table, what do people
> think of the word screencast?
> 
> If it's used, it definitely should be one word, since
> "cast" is not a word on its own.  (All right, it's a
> word, but it doesn't mean the right thing.)
> 
> Screencast isn't as well known as screenshot, although
> it seems to be the most common word among people who
> know what it is.  We could opt for a verbose phrase
> such as "video screen capture".
> 
> But then, there's a certain nice symmetry between the
> words screenshot and screencast.  One can imagine making
> a web page entitled "Screenshots and Screencasts" for an
> application.  "Screenshots and Video Screen Captures"
> sounds kind of silly.
> 
> Here are our options:
> 1) Boldly embrace this newish term.
> 2) Recommend a more verbose phrase.
> 3) Make no recommendation either way.
> 
> For what it's worth, none of the style guides I'm looking
> at make any recommendation about this.  Then again, I'll
> bet none of them overwent a recent overhaul like we're
> doing right now.
> 
> --
> Shaun

I would go with (1), especially since "screencast" seems to be a wildly
used term in the Internet too. The educational Ubuntu screencasts are
also labeled as "screencasts", for instance (IIRC). I guess a more
verbose term would confuse people when they look outside of their GNOME
desktop, as they won't be likely to find it at any other place.

Regards,
Denis