Re: GNOME terminology question

[Telsa Gwynne <hobbit aloss ukuu org uk>]

On Wed, Apr 28, 2004 at 04:39:34PM -0300 or thereabouts, Mariano Suárez-Alvarez wrote:
> On Wed, 2004-04-28 at 07:12 -0400, Larry W. Virden wrote:
> > 1. When dealing with dialogs relating to gnome-panel , sometimes the word
> > "Preferences" is used and sometimes the word "Properties" is used.  What
> > is the best way to distinguish the difference for a non-technical user?
> 
> 1) This kind of issue is probably discusses in the Documentation Style
> Guide (http://developer.gnome.org/documents/style-guide/book1.html),
> which includes a section on vocabulary. If it does not, it probably
> should, and you might contact the authors about it.

It is there, yes, in the "General Computer Terms" part of the 
word list. Huge page (132.61kb), btw. 
http://developer.gnome.org/documents/style-guide/x10997.html

Garbled summary: 
Preferences affects how the application behaves in relation to 
a user. Properties are characteristics of objects. Objects are
not in that list, but the examples given are files, folders, 
panels, and panel objects. So sizes of files are properties. 
Looking at Nautilus, whether it thumbnails files of a certain
size or over is presumably a preference.

Telsa