> From Middle English reule, rewle, rule, borrowed from Old French riule, reule, from Latin regula (“straight stick, bar, ruler, pattern”), from regō (“to keep straight, direct, govern, rule”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₃réǵeti (“to straighten; right”), from the root h₃reǵ-; see regent. Doublet of rail, regal, regula and rigol.
Thanks that's helpful to know they picked a valid term, but if I'd hold a no-context poll (unless I mention ruler) a significant number of people wouldn't know this.
How many of those people would know what CSS is though? Or understand the distinction between "internet" and "web"? Heck, a lot of people don't even understand the distinction between "wifi" and "internet" let alone anything actually technical.
I do get your point and can honestly relate to it. But I wouldn't argue that a no-context poll is the right way to define specialist jargon.
Choosing terminology without context is probably a terrible idea in general; you’re basically forcing everything to fit that “describe complex topics like I’m a toddler” framework, which is terribly inefficient for any non-novice practitioner in the subject.
The more important aspect is that, within the context, it’s internally consistent. If I bother to learn my terms, I’ll be able to utilize it functionally. And of course, that the term can actually be explained
No? Both "rule" and "ruler" can denote this thing also called straightedge; but the word "ruler" is more commonly used in this sense, while "rule" generally means an instruction.
But here the meaning of "rule" is not "straightedge", but rather the derived meaning "a thin printed line or dash". So "ruler" would be improper because that word doesn't have the typographical meaning.
Wait, so the "ruler guides" are misnamed, they are just "rules"?
In any case, the things they added could very well have been called "column-divider" and "row-divider" with much less ambiguity because not everyone who has to wrangle with CSS is a designer by profession or by choice.
In page layout software, the thin UI elements bordering the left side and top side of the page, with the little tick marks, is called a ruler. The tick marks on the ruler are called rules (just like the rules on a physical ruler used for measuring things). When you click/drag on the ruler elements, you create guides (or guidelines).
I’ve never seen “ruler guides” verbatim, but I would take that to be shorthand for “guides one could create using the ruler” (which would be a mouthful) to disambiguate the word “guide” when there isn’t sufficient context for the reader to likely understand what was meant.
"ruler guide" - One of those English noun chains that my translators hate so much. Because in most other languages you actually do have to say "the guide of the ruler" or some comparably awkward mouthful.
> A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale or a line gauge or metre/meter stick, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a length is read from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device.
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/rule#English