RE : Preposition at Beginning or End?

[Yves JEAUROND <jingting -at- rogers -dot- com>]

Geoff makes a good point.
  And since this thread is still kicking... :-)
  let me play devil's advocate for one minute
and take his idea further.
   
  == New Rules ==  // With apologies to Bill Maher
  (1) Experienced users are smart enough to know 
  where to do things. Have you ever typed your name
 in an Address field. Duh! Or an IP address in the Date field?
  If users are doing that,
  then the coders need to know there is something
 profoundly misleading about their GUI labels.
  (2) It's a matter of mnemotechnic.
  Users only want to know the ORDER in which to
  do ALL of the steps. They don't want a course about 
data-entry. Individual steps matter less
  than that checklist of "all the steps needed to complete
 the task", such as, to enter a record into the database
  for company x, enter these ten items... 
   If users can't remember all of the steps,
  then the coders need to know there is something
profoundly wrong about the workflow in the GUI.
  (3) People joke about it but users really do 
prefer "Ready, fire, aim" to "Ready, aim, fire".
  If users can't do that,
  then the coders need to know there is something
profoundly counter-intuitive about their GUI's data-checking.
   
  With tongue firmly in cheek, on a Friday, :-)
   
  YJ
   
  Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> a écrit :
  Keith Hansen wondered: <1: "From the Country drop-down list, select USA." Sentence No. 2: 
"Select USA from the Country drop-down list.">>

Both are acceptable, but the first is nominally superior because it 
tells the reader where to look; in the second, the reader must hold 
the action ("select") in their head while they figure out where the 
action must take place. But for such short phrases, that's largely a 
theoretical objection. I doubt that there's any practical 
significance to the difference, and that it's more important to be 
significant.

Note, however, that this query doesn't really have much to do with 
prepositions. 

<>

Again, both are correct, but this time the second option follows the 
abovementioned principles, and is arguably superior. But "click" and 
"click in" aren't necessary in either option. Readers who don't 
already know how to click to position the cursor in an input field 
aren't going to be helped much by the rest of your instructions.


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
--------------------------------------------------
Coming soon: _Effective onscreen editing_ (http://www.geoff-hart.com/ 
home/onscreen-book.htm)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or 
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007 
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

Now shipping: Help &amp; Manual 4 with RoboHelp(r) import! New editor,
full Unicode support. Create help files, web-based help and PDF in up
to 106 languages with Help &amp; Manual: http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.