Re: Clearing the check marks

["Susan W Gallagher" <susanwg -at- gmail -dot- com>]

I am particularly fond of the word "verify" for such situations. It has
always seemed to be more active than "ensure" to me, but with the same
"action may or may not be needed" implication. I'd probably just say "Verify
that none of the boxes are checked."
HTH
-Sue Gallagher

On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 9:31 AM, Boudreaux, M (GE Healthcare, consultant) <
MadelynBoudreaux -at- ge -dot- com> wrote:

> Hi, all!
>
> > When you are instructing a user that all checkboxes on a form or
> > dialogue box need to be deselected, with no way of knowing if any of
> > them may be selected at any given time, how do you write the step?
> >
> > I'm assuming MSMoS preferences here. I'm more interested in syntax
> > than in terminology (all suggestions are welcome, though).
> >
> > 1) Deselect all check boxes. (Simple, and active, but there may be
> > none that need to be deselected.)
> >
> > 2) Make sure all check boxes are deselected. (Is "make sure" a
> > colloquialism that may not translate well? It's kind of folksy to my
> > eye, and also passive.)
> >
> > 3) Ascertain that all check boxes are deselected. (Is "ascertain" a
> > two-bit word that sounds stuffy and may not be understood by all
> > users? And passive!)
> >
> > 4) Ensure that all check boxes are deselected. (Same problems as
> > ascertain, plus I try not to use words that are easily confused with
> > other words, such as "Insure," because someone will always ask if you
> > used the right one, or worse, will use the wrong one later.)
> >
> > 5) If any check box is selected, click it to deselect the option.
> > (WORDY! I can think of a lot of similar examples.)
> >
> > 6) Something else. Please state.
> >
> > To be honest, even with the issues, I like #4 best.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> > Madelyn Boudreaux
> >
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