button or key?

[DURL <durl -at- BUFFNET -dot- NET>]

        Thank all of you for your input. Dumb question or not, a lot of us
have wretled with it!!
         Part of the reason the problem arises (whether to call it a
button or key) is
that the label isn't on the button, so you can't say "Press Fred." Some of
the buttons are
double-function, with one function in blue above the button and the other
in black beneath it. To complicate things, half the buttons have
*additional* functions, subordinate to resetting the display screen. So,
to change the unit of measurement, say, you must first access one of the
double-functions, which changes the functionality of some of the buttons
to functions which aren't labelled anywhere except in the transient
display.
        The whole experience has made me think that the tech writer
should be involved in product design, esp. in situations like this where
the product is shipped globablly.
        If anybody has had any success in getting involved in the
product design,
could you let us know how that (a) happened and (b) worked?

Mary Durlak   Erie Documentation Inc.
East Aurora, New York (near Buffalo)
durl -at- buffnet -dot- net

 TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send commands
   to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
  Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/  or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html