Re: Typographical treatment of GUI components

["Michael West" <mbwest -at- removebigpond -dot- net -dot- au>]

> Put simply, I do use bolding, but only within procedures, and only the items
> that users take action on. So an instruction that says "Click OK," the "OK"
> is in bold. But in something like "On the Orientation tab, click Landscape,"
> I would bold just "Landscape."

The practice you describe, and your reasons for it,
certainly make sense to me. However, it makes
somewhat more sense to me to bold not just
the command name, but also the name of the menu
or tab I have to click in order to make that command
or option visible.

Thus, using your example, I would write:

    Click the Orientation tab, and then select Landscape.

-- with both the tab name and the option name in bold.

(Also, I think it helps to remember that a tab and a
tabbed page are not the same thing.)


Mike West
Melbourne, Australia



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