Open vs Appear,Yet Again (was: "RE: WG: Newbie question - GUI terminology")

[James Barrow]

>Sam Beard wrote:
>>Andrew Warren wrote:
>>>Beth Agnew wrote:

>>>The dislike for "appear" is the same as for "invoke", or any other
>>>term which implies some magical action on the part of the computer user
>>>or the computer. .... Using magical language subtly contributed to the
>>>impression that there was arcane knowledge about computers that one
>>>needed to obtain.

>>I keep hearing this, but it never makes sense to me.

>>"Appear", as any dictionary will tell you, just means "become visible".
>>It's no more "magical" a word than "rabbit" or "hat".

>I tend to use "... the Whatever dialog box is displayed."


This is my style also, but as I posted earlier, I've had editors cringe at
this.  Whenever I've used 'displayed', my work has come back with more red
ink than the federal budget.

- Jim