RE: Microsoft Manual of Style questions

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

Dan Goldstein wrote:
 
> Just to clarify, MMOS 3 doesn't consider any of those terms acceptable
> for home users and information workers. They write: "In most content,
> especially for home users and information workers, do not differentiate
> between drop-down combo boxes, list boxes, and text boxes. Refer to such
> elements by their label, and use a descriptor only if necessary for
> clarity. If you must use a descriptor, use list or box. Do use the term
> check box, however." So their intention is that you would use those
> terms when communicating about the GUI with a developer, not when
> describing the GUI to an end user.
> 
> They give the example, "In the Item list, click Desktop."

The prescription is fleshed out a bit, but the example is the same as in 1998. 
 
> By the way, their instruction not to use the term "check box" is
> confusing. Every one of their check box examples uses that term! Maybe
> they meant that you shouldn't use the term for something that isn't a
> check box...?

You read too quickly (and the construction lends itself to misreading). It says "_Do_ use the term check box, however." 


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
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