@setfilename standards.info
@settitle GNU Coding Standards
@c This date is automagically updated when you save this file:
-@set lastupdate August 3, 2018
+@set lastupdate January 14, 2019
@c %**end of header
@dircategory GNU organization
at the beginning, and advanced topics only later. This also means
defining every specialized term when it is first used.
+Remember that the audience for a GNU manual (and other GNU
+documentation) is global, and that it will be used for years, maybe
+decades. This means that the reader could have very different cultural
+reference points. Decades from now, all but old folks will have very
+different cultural reference points; many things that "everyone knows
+about" today may be mostly forgotten.
+
+For this reason, try to avoid writing in a way that crucially depends on
+cultural reference points for understanding, or that refers to them in
+ways that would impede reading for someone that doesn't recognize them.
+
+Likewise, be conservative in your choice of words (aside from technical
+terms), linguistic constructs, and spelling: aim to make them
+intelligeble to readers from ten years ago. In any contest for
+trendiness, GNU writing should not even qualify to enter.
+
+It is ok to refer once in a rare while to spacially or temporally
+localized reference points or facts, if it is directly pertinent or as
+an aside. Changing these few things (which in any case stand out) when
+they no longer make sense will not be a lot of work.
+
Programmers tend to carry over the structure of the program as the
structure for its documentation. But this structure is not
necessarily good for explaining how to use the program; it may be