Re: Representing Computer Interactions

Subject: Re: Representing Computer Interactions
From: Sarah Lee Bihlmayer <tecscrib -at- SIRIUS -dot- COM>
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 17:31:09 -0700

On Jan. 13, Dan Azlin wrote:

>The format that I have seen most often (and which I use) is:

> Select File|Open|SOME.FIL

>The use of the vertical bar as a seperator is useful because it is
>grammatically uncommon (I believe it has some obscure phonetic
>application) and catches the eye enough to differentiate the various
>menu levels.

True...however there is one potential point of confusion which may arise
from this usage. The vertical bar is used in UNIX command syntax to
signify the "pipe" command, and therefore I would hesitate to use it in doc
for any sort of UNIX-based application.

I avoid using colons when writing Mac documentation because the colon is
sometimes used as a separator in Mac pathnames. My favorite separator for
command names is the logical-greater-than (>) symbol, either on its own or
preceded by a hyphen or two (-->).

|"God is in the details." --Frank Lloyd Wright|
| Sarah Lee Bihlmayer * Print/Online/WWW Documentation Specialist |
| Technical Writing * Technical/Developmental/Copy/Production Editing |
|Indexing * Technical Illustration * Electronic Prepress * Graphic Design |
|POB 27901-312 San Francisco CA 94127 * 415-207-4046 * tecscrib -at- sirius -dot- com|


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