Thread: Inconsistent "" use

Inconsistent "" use

From
Tatsuo Ishii
Date:
In doc/src/sgml/func.sgml description of SHOW command use
"<acronym>SQL</acronym>", while SET command description the same
section does not use "<acronym>". Shouldn't the description of SET use
"<acronym>" for "SQL" as well? Patch attached.

Best regards,
--
Tatsuo Ishii
SRA OSS, Inc. Japan
English: http://www.sraoss.co.jp/index_en.php
Japanese:http://www.sraoss.co.jp
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/func.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/func.sgml
index 02a37658ad..ecb66f9c3f 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/func.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/func.sgml
@@ -24551,7 +24551,7 @@ SELECT collation for ('foo' COLLATE "de_DE");
         If <parameter>is_local</parameter> is <literal>true</literal>, the new
         value will only apply for the current transaction. If you want the new
         value to apply for the current session, use <literal>false</literal>
-        instead. This function corresponds to the SQL
+        instead. This function corresponds to the <acronym>SQL</acronym>
         command <command>SET</command>.
        </para>
        <para>

Re: Inconsistent "" use

From
Noah Misch
Date:
On Sun, Jan 10, 2021 at 08:22:42PM +0900, Tatsuo Ishii wrote:
> In doc/src/sgml/func.sgml description of SHOW command use
> "<acronym>SQL</acronym>", while SET command description the same
> section does not use "<acronym>". Shouldn't the description of SET use
> "<acronym>" for "SQL" as well? Patch attached.

https://tdg.docbook.org/tdg/5.2/acronym.html suggests docbook formatters
either ignore that <acronym> or use it as a signal to substitute small caps.
I don't consider small caps an improvement for "SQL", so I'd prefer to never
use <acronym>SQL</acronym>.  <acronym> also makes the markup longer (though
one could mitigate that with an entity like &SQL).  However, standardizing on
either way is better than varying within the manual.



Re: Inconsistent "" use

From
Bruce Momjian
Date:
On Sun, Jan 10, 2021 at 01:11:07PM -0800, Noah Misch wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 10, 2021 at 08:22:42PM +0900, Tatsuo Ishii wrote:
> > In doc/src/sgml/func.sgml description of SHOW command use
> > "<acronym>SQL</acronym>", while SET command description the same
> > section does not use "<acronym>". Shouldn't the description of SET use
> > "<acronym>" for "SQL" as well? Patch attached.
> 
> https://tdg.docbook.org/tdg/5.2/acronym.html suggests docbook formatters
> either ignore that <acronym> or use it as a signal to substitute small caps.
> I don't consider small caps an improvement for "SQL", so I'd prefer to never
> use <acronym>SQL</acronym>.  <acronym> also makes the markup longer (though
> one could mitigate that with an entity like &SQL).  However, standardizing on
> either way is better than varying within the manual.

I think smallcaps is almost always a win for acronyms.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        https://momjian.us
  EnterpriseDB                             https://enterprisedb.com

  The usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness, Bruce Lee




Re: Inconsistent "" use

From
Tom Lane
Date:
Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> writes:
> On Sun, Jan 10, 2021 at 01:11:07PM -0800, Noah Misch wrote:
>> https://tdg.docbook.org/tdg/5.2/acronym.html suggests docbook formatters
>> either ignore that <acronym> or use it as a signal to substitute small caps.
>> I don't consider small caps an improvement for "SQL", so I'd prefer to never
>> use <acronym>SQL</acronym>.  <acronym> also makes the markup longer (though
>> one could mitigate that with an entity like &SQL).  However, standardizing on
>> either way is better than varying within the manual.

> I think smallcaps is almost always a win for acronyms.

I'm with Noah: small caps are *not* an improvement, they're just
distractingly fussy.  I note that the authors of the stylesheets
we use seem to agree, because AFAICS <acronym> is not rendered
specially in either HTML or PDF output.

Given this docbook.org advice, I'd be inclined to just remove
our use of <acronym> altogether.  Although, since it isn't actually
making any difference, it's not clear that it's worth doing anything.
The largest effect of trying to standardize (in either direction)
would be to create back-patching hazards for docs fixes.

            regards, tom lane



Re: Inconsistent "" use

From
Tatsuo Ishii
Date:
> I'm with Noah: small caps are *not* an improvement, they're just
> distractingly fussy.  I note that the authors of the stylesheets
> we use seem to agree, because AFAICS <acronym> is not rendered
> specially in either HTML or PDF output.
> 
> Given this docbook.org advice, I'd be inclined to just remove
> our use of <acronym> altogether.  Although, since it isn't actually
> making any difference, it's not clear that it's worth doing anything.
> The largest effect of trying to standardize (in either direction)
> would be to create back-patching hazards for docs fixes.

Yeah, simple grep showed that there are almost 1k lines using
<acronym>. I agree that the pain caused by fixing all of them is much
larger than the benefit to standardize the usage of <acronym>.
--
Tatsuo Ishii
SRA OSS, Inc. Japan
English: http://www.sraoss.co.jp/index_en.php
Japanese:http://www.sraoss.co.jp