Copy editing is go!

[rho]

Hot on the heels of introducing the site copy team, it's now time for me to introduce the copy editing team. Everyone, say hello to:

bohemianeditor
chasy_la
cheyinka
ivorygates
rainbow
ryan

Their job will be to go over all the text written by the site copy team and the userdoc team, and correct all the dumb typos we inevitably make. OK, all the dumb typos I inevitably make, and possibly one or two made by the rest of the team.

Copy editors, here's what I want you to be doing now:

I'm afraid you're going to be grappling with the translation system. I'm so very very sorry. There's a guide to it on the wiki that katieastrophe wrote for us, but here are the cliff notes:

* Go to http://www.dreamwidth.org/translate/edit.bml?lang=en_DW (I've given you the privs you need)
* In the top left frame, scroll down and select prf: no and upd: yes, then hit search.
* Select one of the pages in the bottom left frame to bring up a list of translation strings.
* In the list, select "edit" for one of the strings, then copy edit it, and select proofed.
* When you're done with the age, click save at the bottom.

In proof reading you should be checking for:

* typos
* spelling mistakes
* grammar and punctuation
* Manual of Style compliance
* correct use of terminology

(Please read through both of these thoroughly before you get started.)

If you see any problems with any of these, change them and mark the string as being proof read. If you proof read a string and see that it's fine as it is (hopefully most of them will be!) then mark it as proofed without making any changes. If you see anything that you think needs a more substantial rewrite, then don't update it yourself, but instead comment here letting me know which string you think needs rewriting, and what you think the problem is. We might revisit this if we end up with a lot that need substantial rewrites, but we'll go with this for now.

Above all, have fun with it, and don't be shy of contacting me if you have any questions.

Comments

[chasy]

Okay thanks! ^_^

[rainbow]

Code: /manage/circle/index.bml.about

The updated version seems very awkward to me, but I'm not sure how substantial my substantial changes are compared to what you might think. So just in case, I'm posting to you here rather than editing there.

This is what I'd suggest:

"Dreamwidth offers two types of relationships between users: subscription and access. Subscribing to a user allows their entries to show on your Reading page so you can easily keep track of new entries. Granting Access to another user lets them see protected entries in your journal. The accounts you subscribe to and the accounts you grant access to form your Circle. You can also subscribe to communities and feeds."

I've capitalised "Circle" as that seems to be what the Manual of Style suggests; "Access" seems like it could also be capitalised in this instance because it's capitalised on the profile pages.

Carys

[rainbow]

*sigh* I missed being able to edit comments when my brain and my fingers get tangled up. Please excuse the second "substantial".

[cheyinka]

If there are no matches for Prf: no, Upd: yes when I click the second search button, does that mean there's no proofreading to be done at the moment?

[rainbow]

Code: /editjournal_do.bml.error.getting Sev: 0

English:
There was an error getting the journal entries to edit:

Is "getting" referring to the act of the retrieving the entries or the act of editing the entries?

[cheyinka]

(Third button, not second. I just now noticed there was one at the top too.)

[rho]

It does, yes. Proof reading tends to be quicker than the original writing, so there will often be times when there's nothing ready to be proof-read.

[rho]

I agree with you that the existing version wasn't very clear, but I've rewritten from scratch myself. Thanks!

[rho]

After the latest code change to get rid of the strings that weren't doing anything, this one seems to have vanished. Hopefully that means that we don't need to worry about it at all. If it comes back, I'll look at it again.

[rainbow]

Cool, thank you!

[rainbow]

Code: /login.bml.loggedin.suggest1 Sev: 0

English:
Did you know you can now easily add a photo?

Is this purposefully phrased as an interrogative? It seems to me that it would fit with the rest of the section better as a declarative (ie "Add a photo").

[rainbow]

Thanks!

[rainbow]

It just popped up again for proofing, and the new version is _much_ better.

I've noticed an awkward bit,though:

their entries will be included on your Reading Page so you can easily keep up with their entries

Now that the paragraph is written so much more clearly overall, the awkwardness of the phrasing there (with the doubling of "entries") really stands out (and yes, I did it _exactly_ the same in the example I gave you earlier. Ashes on my head, and all that).

Something like, "their entries will be included on your Reading Page where you can easily keep up with them" would eliminate the doubling, or it could be broken down into two statements: "When you subscribe to a personal journal, community, or feed, their entries will be included on your Reading Page. This allows you to keep up with their entries."

Or something else entirely. Or ignore it.

And do let me know if I'm worrying too much about grammar or driving you crazy. I love editing and can get a bit..er... enthusiastic about it... *g*

[rainbow]

Code: inbox.menu.new_friends Sev: 0

English:
New Friends

The edited version for this one is "New People". That works if it's only personal journals, but if it's also comms and feeds, "New Subscriptions" would be clearer.

[rho]

In this case, it's people only. It's the menu thing in your inbox for when people add you to their circle.

[rho]

I'm fairly sure that this is something that won't ever show up any more, so I'm fairly sure it doesn't greatly matter either way. I'll look into it further if/when I get a chance though, to make sure.

[rho]

No, please do carry on! Being nitpicky is a good trait for an editor. :)

For cases like this where it's just changing one word to avoid a clumsy repetition, feel free to change it over yourself, though.

[rainbow]

Thanks!

[rainbow]

Thanks!

[rainbow]

Code: /didyouknow/index.bml.notips.text Sev: 0

English:
You've hidden one or more tips, and so you won't see them here. If this makes you sad, you can restore them:

Is the mood relevant, or can this be changed to a preference for seeing all tips?

[rainbow]

If that one comes up again, I'll correct it.

And cool. Thanks :)

[rainbow]

Code: /interests.bml.findsim_do.similar.text Sev: 0

English:
The following are the most related users to [[user]]

Unclear. "most related" = "most similar" (since that the coding) or ?

[rainbow]

Code: /interests.bml.results.toomany
(edited copy from the page rather than orig)
The interests you deselected were successfully removed from your interests list. However, you selected too many interests to add. You may only have [[intcount]] interests in total. None of the selected interests were added to your interests list. You may wish to go back and try again, selecting fewer interests to add or deleting some old ones.

That's the same copy as for Code: /interests.bml.results.del_and_toomany -- is it meant to also mention deselecting? The original copy for the code doesn't ("You selected too many interests to add. You may only have [[intcount]] interests in total. None of the selected interests were added to your interests list. You may wish to go back and try again, selecting fewer interests to add.")

[rainbow]

I *really* want to rewrite this one extesnively, because it's always made my editor side flinch.

Code: /lostinfo_do.bml.lostpasswordmail.part3

Here's what I suggest

This information was requested on the website from [[remoteip]].

Don't worry if you didn't make this password request; you're the only person who received this email. The user who made the request may have mistakenly thought he or she controlled this username or may have made a typo in a username or email address.

(Although I'd prefer to stick in Dreamwidth rather than "the website", but I don't grok the deep magic *g* )

[cheyinka]

grak, I should have looked here before marking that one as proofed (actually, all the way down) - I didn't even think about "make you sad" as seeming weird. :(