TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Thanks Geoff; makes sense.
There's also a lot of confusion about an "option" and a choice of commands
--in a menu, or when menu items each have their own button.
An option is something one can use or ignore.
E.g., "You have the option of making the margins wider.
To do so, use command x."
If one has to make a selection from a list to continue,
the list items are not options. They are commands. :-)
Btw, my old edition of the _Microsoft Manual of Style_ (1995) states correctly
"Select and clear check boxes." in the 'check box' article. And they suggest
not using "activate" at all, in the 'activate' article. Was Christine Leigsen mislead
by a newer editions of the MMS?
Regards,
YJ
Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> a écrit :
Christine Leisgen wonders: <short sentences for describing software controls, for example, "click
x". I remember that this usage was recommended for technical writers
some years ago.>>
Yup. It's as clear and concise as you can get. But note that you
_click_ buttons, but _select_ options.
<explanation of software terms, e. g. "activate the check-box for
options x".>>
Microsoft is not a particularly good source for style advice. They're
outright wrong far more often than I'm comfortable with, they add
nothing insightful to other style guides (which do it better) much of
the time, and they don't give good advice sufficiently often for me
to consider their style guide useful. Some day it would be fun to go
through their guide and develop actual statistics on this; for now,
my take is they're not worth the effort.
Here, for example, they're outright wrong: you don't activate a
checkbox, because so long as the checkbox is visible (not greyed
out), it's active; instead, you activate (or deactivate) the feature
represented by that checkbox. So the better wording is "select the
checkbox" (because that is consistent with the usage of "selection"
everywhere else*), which is equally concise, or "activate feature X
by clicking in the checkbox beside it", which is longer, but clearer.
* Selection changes the visual appearance of the object being
selected. Here, the change is accomplished by adding or removing a
checkmark; in text, it's accomplished by drawing a selection box
(usually background shading) around the selected text.
----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
--------------------------------------------------
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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
True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
