Today I've learnt a lot of crazy things:
1) There is a specific typography for computer. It means that the way we write ! ? () ; , : ... on a computer is important. °_O
2) This computer typography is depanding on the language you write.
3) If you want to kill a geek you just have to type some sentences with the wrong typography.
4) Software engineers are completely obsessed by typography. Try to talk a bit about that during an evening and everybody will begin to shout in the room talking about coding...
Indeed, Collabora people were totally shocked when I told them that I had no idea there were rules of typography for computer and that I had never learnt about that at the University (Note that I studied History in Philosophy & Letter faculty! )...
Of course we don't have any lesson about that. Our teachers are too old and unable to use a computer. We know the handwriting rules but not the computer writing rules!
Each time I write, I pay attention to the spelling but not at all to the space between ( ) or ; or wathever...
From my point of view, a computer is just a way of transcoding the way I would write by hand. So I just put a space when I have a handwriting space; my rules of typography stop there.
I was really surprised to learn that:
In French:
chat : CORRECT
chat: FALSE
chat ! CORRECT
chat! FALSE
chat ? CORRECT
chat? FALSE
cat ; CORRECT
cat; FALSE
"chat" FALSE
« chat » CORRECT
In English, that's the opposite, of course:
cat: CORRECT
cat : FALSE
cat! CORRECT
cat ! FALSE
cat? CORRECT
cat ? FALSE
cat; CORRECT
cat ; FALSE
"cat" CORRECT
« cat » FALSE
In French and English, you have to attach () to the word... so ( cat) FALSE ( cat ) FALSE (cat) CORRECT
And a lot of other stuff like that! Nobody cares about these details BUT software engineers are completely obsessed with that because "Computer science needs formal rules".
One more step in the geek world !
oups... sorry, world!
If you are interested to see the rules in French and English, see this document: http://www.panamo.eu/RESS/anglais.html
I promise, now that I know such a things exist, I'll pay attention (especially about the difference between French and English typography which is quite confusing!).
...
6 commentaires:
ça n'a rien à voire avec les ordinateurs, tu verras cette typographie dans tout les livres, et meme les manuscrits, depuis bien avant l'invention du transistore.
No, no-one taught me typographical rules at university; nor did anyone teach me how to type as opposed to write. I learnt how to use punctuation in school. :) And, you are supposed to type just as you're supposed to write...
Plus d'infos: http://www.traduc.org/Règles_typographiques
Will > "you are supposed to type just as you're supposed to write"
That's not true for everything! Typography for computer is not the same as typography I learnt at school for the handwritting...
Examples :
1) You don't stick your () to the word when you write by hand in French. So a space shoud exist between the ( and the word! It should be ( chat ) and not (chat). But because that's ugly on a computer, we stick the () to the word.
2) blablabla. Egouttez les pâtes
blablabla. Égouttez les pâtes
A French spelling rule is: "never accents on Capital letter after a ." (I learnt that in primary school). However we are supposed to put an accent when we write by computer! Soooo weird! Especially weird because that is not possible to put any accent on a capital letter with a classical azerty keyboard!
> A French spelling rule is:
> "never accents on Capital
> letter after a ."
That's false. At least in France, we must write accents on Capital letters. The Académie Française says we must "utiliser systématiquement les capitales accentuées". Source: http://www.academie-francaise.fr/langue/questions.html
Alban, maybe that is a recent rule!
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