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Oh, I only revisited this because of what the dialog box itself was
called. And, I was referring to text directly in the GUI, not in writing
about the GUI. For the case in point, the "Windows Update -- Web Page
Dialog," I suppose in the user's guide you'd write, the "Windows Update
-- Web Page Dialog dialog box," if you were consistent with the MMoSfTP.
Or, "Windows Update -- Web Page Dialog dialog," if you were
inconsistent.
Nevertheless, my observation was the name of this dialog box from
Microsoft not only contravenes the MMoSfTP, it also names itself as a
"dialog" in the title bar. If you have Windows XP, perform an update and
check out the name of the dialog box. ;?P
-----Original Message-----
From: Dick Margulis [mailto:margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net]
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 1:17 PM
Samuel -dot- Beard -at- tdcj -dot- state -dot- tx -dot- us wrote:
>
> For right or wrong, the way I handle this things is, perhaps, a
>combination of your suggestion and those listed in the manual. I say
>something like "the "OK" button" or "the "Open" dialog box" to refer to
>these items. I place the name of the button or box or what-have-you in
>quotations and then call it what it is: a box, button, or pull-down or
>whatever. I'd be interested to hear other's suggestions/comments on
this
>topic.
Sam,
It isn't a matter of right or wrong. It's a matter of style. I think you
are using too many quotes, but if you are using them in a consistent way
and abiding by whatever style guide you use, then who am I to complain?
Many people who have considered the way we render words into type have
suggested that less is more. Mark Baker (whatever happened to Mark
Baker?), a long-time techwr-l contributor, talked about avoiding "double
marking" of text. If you indent a paragraph, you don't need to put extra
space before it, too, for example. Edward Tufte, in discussing graphic
display of information, says, "Relevant to nearly every display of data,
the smallest effective difference is the Occam's razor ('what can be
done with fewer is done in vain with more') of information design. And
often the happy consequence of an economy of means is a gradeful
richness of information, for _small_ differences allow _more_
differences." (Visual Explanations, p. 73)
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