Re: Hamster documentation review

[Bruce Cowan <lists bcowan fastmail co uk>]

On Sun, 2010-02-21 at 16:16 -0600, Shaun McCance wrote:
> On Sun, 2010-02-21 at 15:39 +0000, Bruce Cowan wrote:
> > Here's a patch that fixes a few grammar issues. I don't really know how
> > Mallard works, so bear with me if I did anything incorrectly.
> > 
> > I'd be happy to review any other documentation now, or in the future.
> 
> Thanks Bruce.  A lot of really good fixes in there.
> A few comments:
> 
> 
> -    Activities are stored in an SQLite database, located
> +    Activities are stored in a SQLite database, located at
> Whether to use "an" or "a" is tricky here, because there are
> two common pronunciations of SQL.  I tend to say "es que el",
> and hence "es que el lite", so I would use "an".  But if you
> say "sequel" and "sequelite", then "a" is correct.  (The "at",
> of course, is a correct addition regardless.)

I'd say it as "es que el" as well, and I notice the SQLite website uses
"an".

> -        News go here.
> +        News goes here.
> Correct fix, but I wonder if we should just nix this section
> until there's real content.  I know I tell people to stub
> early and often, but when we're preparing for releases, we
> should start scrubbing the unfinished stubs.

Yes, I just did that for completeness really.

> + doing something else for the last seven minutes. Relative times work
> + only without end times — that is — for the most recent activity.
> A comma should follow "that is" in pretty much any case.  As
> for what should precede it, read a dozen different style guides
> and you'll get two dozen different answers.  Maybe we could just
> recast the whole thing as "Relative times only work for ongoing
> activity without an end time."

I'd have used a comma looking at it again. However, the way you've
phrased it is better, so I've used it.

> + day. Start by entering the first activity and check the "in progress"
> Style guide actually says never to use "check" as a verb, and
> to use "select" instead.  "and select <gui>in progress</gui>
> for the end time"

Ah right, I was a wee bit over-zealous in the en_US there, especially
considering I'm Scottish.

The review wasn't as thorough as it should have been, I rushed it a bit.

Attached is an updated patch with all the changes, and some new ones.
I'm not too sure about the "on the fly" bits still.
-- 
Bruce Cowan <bcowan fastmail co uk>