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But we don't say - in most cases - "click the xxx button". In procedures, we try to consisently say "Click xxx" with xxx in bold. We use bold for field names, checkbox names, etc. Things we want to be sure whoever is using the procedure understands are things to look for in the GUI or buttons on a physical device (usually a telephone). Unfortunately, some of our field and checkbox names have lower case words in them.
Mike Hiatt
Manager, Tech Pubs
VocalData, Inc.
Dallas, TX (yep, that one) mailto:mhiatt -at- vocaldata -dot- com
www.vocaldata.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Janice Gelb [mailto:janice -dot- gelb -at- sun -dot- com]
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 8:09 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Describing buttons and fields
I wouldn't use quotation marks for GUI items. We only
use them in cross-references to chapters and sections.
I also recommend not using any kind of alternate font
treatment (like bold) for GUI items, as your procedures
then start to look like a ransom note. Just make sure
that your engineers use initial capitals for button and
field names and that should be sufficient to distinguish
them in steps, especially if you decide to add "the...button"
around the name.
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