Are both options [proper noun] + [common noun] / [common noun] + [proper noun] valid, and if so is any of them preferable?

When using a pair of proper noun and common noun placed together, I always doubt what the right order is. I usually come across this situation while writing technical documentation.

For example, consider the following passage with 5 pairs of proper and common nouns:

Orders.pdf & file
Dataexport & folder
outputPath & attribute
export & tag
App.config & file

1. Proper noun before common noun

Locate the Orders.pdf file inside the Dataexport folder. The location of the Dataexport folder is set to the outputPath attribute of the export tag in the App.config file.

2. Common noun before proper noun

Locate the file Orders.pdf inside the folder Data export. The location of the folder Dataexport is set to the attribute outputPath of the tag export in the file App.config.

What is the correct choice? If both are correct, which is preferable?

Thank you very much.

Solution 1:

Consider that in speech, it is much more common to have the name (proper noun) come before the descriptive noun. We don't say "I went to high school MacArthur" or She lives in subdivision Oak Ridge."

Still, we do say, "She lives in a subdivision, "Oak Ridge." if we want to give the listener additional information about a name.

Technical writing must be crafted for maximum comprehension most of all. The way to do that can be argued; there are examples on both sides of many sentence-structure questions. In general, I believe it helps understanding if the label or adjective noun comes before the proper noun. But I don't consider this a rule:

Find the file "index.html" in the directory "pages."

This structure can vary, based on the understanding level of the audience. If the readers are highly trained administrators, not end-users, you may be able to use more shorthand, or a more conversational sentence structure:

Find "index.html" in \pages.

Find the index file in the pages directory.

As comments suggested, this can be helped by typography or other device. I use quotes for proper nouns (file names, printer names) in user instructions, because they do not depend on formatting (bold, italic) that may be lost in some formats, such as plain-text release notes.