RE: French GUI Standards

["Anita Legsdin" <anita -dot- legsdin -at- watchmark -dot- com>]

The only replies I've seen on this subject treat the French menu as
though it were a translation of the English rather than a part of common
French usage. Procedure titles in French usually appear in the
infinitive form: "to create" rather than "[You] Create". This is common
in other European languages as well. 

On Saturday, September 21, 2002 11:01 PM, TECHWR-L digest
[SMTP:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com] wrote:
Shawna asks:
>>je voudrais savoir si on utilise l'infinitif ou la deuxième personne 
>>du pluriel dans les menus: "Create a layer" devient "Créer une couche"

>>ou "Créez une couche"?

I would suggest the "imperatif" form, with the implied subject being
"vous"--as you say, "la deuxième personne du pluriel".

Just like the English "imperative", imperatif serves to suggest or
order,
and is usually conjugated similarly to the present tense but without the
subject.

So, I would say: "Utilisez l'imperatif, Shawna."



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