Inconsistent reference to menu entry navigation

• Dec 22, 2018 - 14:18
Reported version
3.0
Type
Wording/Translation
Frequency
Many
Severity
S4 - Minor
Reproducibility
Always
Status
closed
Regression
No
Workaround
No
Project

(this one is for post-GA, when the string freeze has been lifted)

Some strings use what I consider the commonly accepted convention to refer to menu and sub-menu entries using a larger-than (arrow), e.g.

6669
File > Score Properties...

3281
SoundFont installed. Please go to View > Synthesizer to add it and View > Mixer to choose an instrument sound.

Many do not but use commas and forward slashes instead. These are the ones I can find.
Slashes are problematic because they indicate alternates, e.g. C major / a minor.
Commas are just too vague.

Changing the below will make it more consistent.

4055
Select Tools, Fill With Slashes
Select Tools > Fill With Slashes

7059
To create a triplet or other tuplet, select the duration representing the total length of the tuplet, then press Ctrl+number or use Add / Tuplets.
Add > Tuplets

7101
The File Operations toolbar allows you to create/save/open/print files and undo/redo changes.⏎ You can also save to your musescore.com account if you go to File / Save Online.⏎ The controls at the right of this toolbar control the display of your score.
File > Save Online

5648
One or more installed extensions have updates available in Help / Resource Manager...
Help > Resource Manager…

7112
That's the end of this tour!⏎ As you use MuseScore, more tours will pop up to further explain functionality.⏎ To disable these, deselect "Continue showing tours" before closing this window.⏎ You can also enable/disable tours in Help / Tours.
Help > Tours


Comments

To me "/" is equally common / accepted, and the advantage of not requiring escaping when writing in XML files. But I agree there should be consistency no matter how we decide to do things. Another common option is "->", and Ive also seen ">>" of the special character that kind of looks like that but smaller.

I also don't care what we use, as long as it looks like some kind of arrow and do it consistently.
Why the plain ">"?
1 Even Apple use it in their documentation, e.g. from the Safari Help Page

Save an entire webpage: Choose File > Save As, then choose Format > Web Archive or Format > Page Source.

2 No funny characters that could trip up translators like the mini->> or →

I have added the other string currently using > to the issue description at the top, so that we have all known strings like this in one place and can change everything to whatever we decide on. I personally like the ≫ if we are not going for >, but I don't have strong feelings about it either way.

I found a bunch of extra strings by searching for ${MENUENTRY}:, e.g. File:
(some overlap - This contains the English, the Afrikaans translation (Where I already switched to > so they stand out on my end and I know that I have identified them, which will make it easier to change if we go with a different submenu-indicator char) and the stringno

File: Open | Lêer > Maak oop 3284
File: Save | Lêer > Stoor 3285
File: Save online | Lêer > Stoor aanlyn 3286
File: Save as | Lêer > Stoor as 3287
File: Save a copy | Lêer > Stoor 'n kopie 3289
File: Close | Lêer > Maak toe 3291
File: New | Lêer > Nuwe 3292

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Not sure if I follow you
The pipe can be a menu navigation separator, e.g. File | New
however I have seen it more in the context of separating the high-level menu entries, e.g.
File | Edit | View | Add ...

Tried looking for occurrences of the pipe symbol in Transifex. There either (a) are none or (b) I was unable to get it escaped properly.

The reason there is a pipe, is because I added it for legibility in the output between source and destination languages, e.g. to turn
File: Save Lêer > Stoor 3285
into
File: Save | Lêer > Stoor 3285

The problem with / is it will create ambiguity since that character is already used for "or". Why reuse the same character when we have so many to choose from.
I understand the argument for menus being similar to a directory hierarchy, however
a) regular users do not think of it as a directory / hierarchy
b) the majority of users are on Windows meaning "\" would be a more representative delimiter.

In addition to the Apple help reference (using >) I provided above, I can also provide Microsoft as a reference, e.g.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/style-guide/procedures-instructions/de…

#

> Use a greater-than symbol (>) to separate sequential steps.

Only use this approach when there's a clear and obvious path through the UI and the selection method is the same for each step. For example, don't mix things that require opening, selecting, and choosing.

Don't bold the greater-than symbol. Include a space before and after the symbol. Select Accounts > Other accounts > Add an account.

#

I have provided two references from some of the biggest IT vendors. As counter arguments I have seen various personal preferences which I have provided arguments against) and zero references to support those preferences.

Actually I'm not really sure which strings you're talking about

Like I don't find any "Select Tools, Fill With Slashes"

Actually that is the only one I don't find, but as per Murphy's Law was the first i searched for...

Status PR created fixed

Fixed in branch master, commit a4c491bd2a

fix #281028, fix #280842, fix #280470, fix #281369 and some more text fixes

* Change sharps, flats and naturals to their unicode counterparts
* Fix #281028: remove superfluos double spaces
* Add missing "the"
* Fix #280842: change [Tablature] to (Tablature) for instruments
* fix #280470: Inconsistent reference to menu entry navigation
* Translate MusicXML import error message prefix
see https://musescore.org/en/node/281133
* Improve message on importing pre-3.0 scores
and also enabling it for pre-2.0 scores
* Fix #281369: Ottava bassa shows as "8vb", while 15ma and 22ma is used
for alta and bassa
see also PR #4547
Clefs were having the same issue, so changed those too
* Improve one text in Preferences > I/O and remove another
as that is no longer true
* Yet another ellipsis

Fixed in branch master, commit a4c491bd2a

fix #281028, fix #280842, fix #280470, fix #281369 and some more text fixes

* Change sharps, flats and naturals to their unicode counterparts
* Fix #281028: remove superfluos double spaces
* Add missing "the"
* Fix #280842: change [Tablature] to (Tablature) for instruments
* fix #280470: Inconsistent reference to menu entry navigation
* Translate MusicXML import error message prefix
see https://musescore.org/en/node/281133
* Improve message on importing pre-3.0 scores
and also enabling it for pre-2.0 scores
* Fix #281369: Ottava bassa shows as "8vb", while 15ma and 22ma is used
for alta and bassa
see also PR #4547
Clefs were having the same issue, so changed those too
* Improve one text in Preferences > I/O and remove another
as that is no longer true
* Yet another ellipsis