TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Since the result of checking a checkbox is a checkmark or an X that marks
the spot, I use "mark the checkbox". Unchecking a checkbox results in a
clear checkbox, so I use "clear the checkbox". It's not so much the
confusion with other senses of "check" that bothers me as the ineloquence of
the redundancy.
The issue of consistency comes up often on this list and I think that's
really what's important here. It's good to establish a vocabulary for your
readers and to remain true to it. For instance, using "enable" in one
context to mean "mark the checkbox" and in another to mean "something the
system does to a control when I take a magical combination of actions" means
the user has to think overtly about what "enable" means in the context.
Consistent vocabulary choices act as guideposts which point to the real
content. Ideally, users process these guideposts peripherally to smooth the
trip to their real destination: completion of the task at hand.
Regards,
Gay Reed
INCODE, Inc.
Lubbock, TX
-----Original Message-----
From: Drew Adams [mailto:drew -at- synplicity -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 1:52 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: "check" the box (was RE: "Click on" or "click")
What about use of the verb "check" for placing a check in a check box? A
number of you have mentioned it, but I think it can be confusing, given the
other sense of "check", as in "check the box, to see if...".
This may sound silly, but I can imagine some users (especially those for
whom English isn't the first language) interpreting "check the Foobar box
before you..." as advice to verify its current state.
If you agree that "check" is not the best choice here, what alternatives do
you prefer? "fill"? "activate"?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free copy of ARTS PDF Tools when you register for the PDF
Conference by April 30. Leading-Edge Practices for Enterprise
& Government, June 3-5, Bethesda,MD. www.PDFConference.com
Are you using Doc-to-Help or ForeHelp? Switch to RoboHelp for Word for $249
or to RoboHelp Office for only $499. Get the PC Magazine five-star rated
Help authoring tool for less! Go to http://www.ehelp.com/techwr
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
