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A Petition: how to represent pathnames
Authored by: gatorparrots on Jan 22, '05 11:53:45PM
Rob, please, please, please consider this request. I love the site and community surrounding it, but one thing really irks me: it's how you represent file pathnames in your articles:
"navigate to the top-level Library -> Application Support -> Keynote -> Themes folder"
Please consider switching over to the simpler typical UNIX path representation from the root of the filesystem:
/Library/Application Support/Keynote/Themes
That way those of us following along on these hints can simply Go in the finder (CMD+shift+G) directly there by pasting in the pathname from the hint.

Thanks for listening.

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A Petition: how to represent pathnames
Authored by: nickv2002 on Jan 23, '05 03:30:40AM

I'm with you on this one. It seems a lot easier to type them that way anyway.



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A Petition: how to represent pathnames
Authored by: kyliu99 on Jan 23, '05 10:38:45AM

There are very good reasons for leaving the paths the way they are now. Read the FAQ.

http://www.macosxhints.com/cfaq/index.php?qid=39&catid=5

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How to represent pathnames
Authored by: gatorparrots on Jan 24, '05 12:22:18AM
Pursuant to the FAQ you cite, I cannot see how
/Library/Application Support/Keynote/Themes
qualifies as a long pathname. In the FAQ on the subject, Rob indicates that he represents a long pathname using the -> delimiters. Lately, however, it seems to have become the de facto standard on the site. I rarely see any path represented in the standard UNIX way anymore (with simple / delimiters). It seems to have simply become his habit of late to use the nonstandard delimiters: another recent example. (I just can't see how /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc qualifies as a "long" pathname.)

My plea is for him to return to the standard he set forth in the FAQ -- that only inordinately long pathnames be represented with the nonstandard method ( -> ). Most pathnames in hints could (and should) still be represented with standard delimiters (/).

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How to represent pathnames
Authored by: nickv2002 on Jan 24, '05 02:14:52AM

Okay let's take one of Rob's from above:

Contents -> Resources -> Themes

and then

/Contents/Resources/Themes/

Now take your browser window and make it as narrow as possible. Does it break up the pathname?

As you can see there's clearly no reason to use the "=>" for pathnames like this because the template only lets users make the window so narrow before enabling horizontal scrolling. Furthermore, if the location is placed on it's own line it's easier to follow if a user is switching back and forth between the page and the Finder. I can understnad the arrows for <b>long</> pathnames but not for short ones like this. Does anyone have a counter argument?



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How to represent pathnames
Authored by: robg on Jan 24, '05 02:03:45PM

I'll try to be a bit better about shorter paths, but I won't use longer path without breaks, because it will force horizontal scrolling for many people -- and when it does, I *always* get emails.

Also keep in mind that people browse with different sized fonts, too, so it's not strictly line length.

-rob.



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