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I see no way around it, other than not referring to either file type if
your audience cannot handle it. Binary and ASCII are specific computer
terms, not unnecessary jargon--ASCII is sort of readable by humans and
binary is readable by machines, does that work? Define them in a
glossary and in their first use. These terms can more easily be omitted
from the marketing slicks.
My company makes a product that manages both plain ASCII text and binary
files (such as graphic files or .pdf files). A significant portion of
our
end-user audience is not very computer-savvy, so our marketing people
object to us referring to "binary files" in our end-user documentation.
They have a valid point, but I don't know of any synonyms for "binary
files". I've checked several online dictionaries (FOLDOC, Whatis,
Webopedia, to name a few)for the definition, hoping it would point me to
an
alternative term, but I've had no luck.
Terms like compiled or non-ASCII files really don't offer much
improvement,
since these users wouldn't know compiling or ASCII any better than
binary.
Has anyone had to use a synonym for "binary file"? Does any one have
any
other suggestions?
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