Re: "one action per step"

Subject: Re: "one action per step"
From: Rose Wilcox <RWILC -at- FAST -dot- DOT -dot- STATE -dot- AZ -dot- US>
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 1995 11:36:00 PDT

>> From: Jan Boomsliter <boom -at- cadence -dot- com>
>> Hmmm. Why would one "type," i.e., write something without entering it?

To which Bev Parks replied:
>If this is your assumption, then it is even more supporting of
>the theory that one can combine two steps by saying

> Enter your password.

>What those three words really mean is

> 1. Type your password.
> 2. Press the Enter key.

To take this farther, in one set of manuals I worked on with a team, the
team decided to define the two terms "Type" and "Enter". Type meant to
"write something without entering it" (roughly, I'm not sure I remember
exactly how we put it), and "Enter" meant to "type something, then press
Enter".

In this system, the user had to tab down through the fields "typing"
information, then press Enter. But on some screens, they "entered" a single
field. This was a mainframe, menu-driven, hierarchal, screen-based program,
nothing like a Windows program.

Rosie Wilcox
rwilc -at- fast -dot- dot -dot- state -dot- az -dot- us
ncrowe @primenet.com


Previous by Author: Re: Value of Techwriters
Next by Author: Re: Communicator or Writer?
Previous by Thread: Re: "one action per step"
Next by Thread: Re: "one action per step"


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads