Bug 157920 - Terminology: "Table Header" or "Table Heading" ?
Summary: Terminology: "Table Header" or "Table Heading" ?
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
unspecified
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: difficultyMedium, easyHack, skillDesign
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2023-10-25 13:29 UTC by Olivier Hallot
Modified: 2023-10-28 03:12 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

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Description Olivier Hallot 2023-10-25 13:29:15 UTC 
Description:
In Writer - and possibly other modules - the user interface has Table Header and Table Heading intermixed.



Steps to Reproduce:
1. When inserting a table, the dialog shows "Heading", "Repeat heading rows across pages" and "Heading rows".
2. When editing a table command Table -> "Header Rows to Break Across Pages"
3. When in dialog Table Properties -> Text Flow "Repeat Heading"
4. the UNO command name is .uno:HeadingRowsRepeat

Actual Results:
dual terminology with impact in user interface and translation.

Expected Results:
Use just one term. Either "heading" or "header".


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:
Comment from mst__ in IRC:
10:10:13 AM - mst___: ohallot, seems that PDF and ODF consistently use "table header", which makes more sense because like a page header, the table header is repeated on every page
10:10:39 AM - mst___: whereas a heading is not automatically repeated
10:12:30 AM - ohallot: mst___: In concur too. Do we agree that Table->Insert has "Heading" as misused word?
(...)
10:13:40 AM - mst___: ohallot, yes
Comment 1 Adolfo Jayme Barrientos 2023-10-26 19:44:26 UTC 
I agree with Michael.
Comment 2 Heiko Tietze 2023-10-27 08:11:04 UTC 
Plus, Heading might be confused with text content. Seth, what do you think?
Comment 3 sdc.blanco 2023-10-27 10:01:31 UTC 
1. I agree with OP request for consistency.

2. There are good arguments for either usage. 

  a.  In web design:  Table Header
      Corresponds to HTML element <th> (table header)

  b.  In academic papers (both natural and social sciences): 
             Heading (or maybe "Column Heading")

      https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/tables-figures/tables
      https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cont/prep-table#column
      https://cdn.journals.aps.org/files/styleguide-pr.pdf  (p. 10)


My opinion:  Column heading

Reasons: In light of 2b. plus assumption (guess) that LO is used more for academic papers than web design.

So....

1. When inserting table:  
      "Heading" -> "Column heading"
      "Repeat heading rows across pages" -> "Repeat column heading across pages"
      "Heading rows" -> "Column headings rows"

2.  In Table menu

   "Header Rows to Break Across Pages" -> "Repeat Column Headings Across Pages"

3.  In Table Properties - Text Flow

     "Repeat Heading" -> "Repeat Column Heading"


Additional comments:
 
1. The "Column heading" proposal is consistent with current PS "Table Heading" assigned automatically in this case.  If Column Heading is used, then maybe PS "Table Heading" should become "Column Heading".

2. Maybe PS "Table Index Heading" should be changed to "Table Index Title"
(possibly along with the other "* Index Heading")
Comment 4 Heiko Tietze 2023-10-27 10:24:20 UTC 
Thanks for the elaborated comment. Let's do this.

Code pointer on request (shouldnt be too hard to find).
Comment 5 sdc.blanco 2023-10-27 10:30:53 UTC 
Extended tips for the relevant options in "Insert Table" and "Table Properties - Text Flow" should also be reviewed/revised/improved.