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Re: Rule needed: expressing temperatures in two units of measurement
in text
Subject:Re: Rule needed: expressing temperatures in two units of measurement
in text From:David Artman <David -at- DavidArtman -dot- com> To:Lauren <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net>, techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Mon, 17 Jun 2019 21:33:01 -0400
I think the only convention requires audience respect. The primary unit is given to the audience that expects it; the secondary unit is parenthetical for the (smaller!) audience that needs it.The parentheses are prefect, because... Uh, they're parenthetical info. Forget slashes or any other demarcation.Choosing which is first depends on the audience.I'd even consider engineering something in the tool stack that lets writers enter each value and the output generator (OG) picks the order automatically. (Really good opportunity for extending DITA specialization.)Bonus points if the source can include only one unit of measure (using an attribute to inform the OG of the unit standard) and then the OG does (or does NOT) the conversion and insertion. Why pay writers to (a) do rote math and (b) control presentation?TL;DR: parentheses, audience standard first. I have no source for that standard other than logic.HTH,David[DCA:d.a.d.]
-------- Original message --------From: Lauren <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net> Date: 6/17/19 21:06 (GMT-05:00) To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Subject: Re: Rule needed: expressing temperatures in two units of measurement
in text I don't know if there is a rule but the convention you describe is common and I've seen it in recipes. I have also seen a slash used but that can be disruptive with measurements.On 6/17/2019 9:17 AM, Lin Sims wrote:> In most of the companies I've worked at, when providing measurements in> both US and metric units, the style has been to provide the measurements> in one unit with the equivalent being provided in following parenthesis.>> So, expressing a length as "1.5 inch (40 mm)", or expressing a range as:> "-4 ÂF to 77 ÂF (-20 ÂC to 25 ÂC)".>> But is there an actual rule for that? And if so, where? I've been googling,> but so far all I've been able to find is a page on Nat Geo that provides> the above style in an example but provides no actual rule. My Gregg, Sun,> and Microsoft Style Guides don't address it at all.>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | https://techwhirl.com^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as david -at- davidartman -dot- com -dot- To unsubscribe send a blank email totechwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- comSend administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visithttp://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.comLooking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
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