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Aw rats. I started to write more about keyboard commands but stopped myself. What I started to add to my post(and then removed) was a comment that we *did* agree on "press" for keyboard inputs. But that's a different colored horse since I was trying to address the ways users interact with the window objects. You are right. If SHIFT+F1 opens the context-sensitive help, you gotta say press SHIFT+F1.
Martha
-----Original Message-----
From: John Posada
Subject: re: Style Guide vs. GUI terminology
> John Posada wrote:
> "select an application menu"
> "click" an application button
> "press" a keyboard key
>
> Delarking (thanks Kent Christensen) to comment:
>
> Because our developers are supposed to provide a keyboard
> equivalent for every interaction users can perform with a mouse
> (Isn't this a Windows standard?), our user docs are
> input-device-neutral. Why say "click an application button" when
> every command button, menu item, check box, etc., can be
> manipulated via keyboard as well as mouse?
How do I press the F4 key with a mouse?
I'd go with putting an alternative in parens, but if a command is
invokced by pressing CTRL-F6, how can I tell the user how to invoke
that command without referencing the input device?
=====
John Posada, Senior Technical Writer
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