Press this, or just Press

[Gene Kim-Eng]

My approach generally is to have the callout say,

<Function Name> Button

and if the function name is not self explanatory,

<Function Name> Button
<Short description of what the button does>

I don't think think I've ever written for an audience
that could not be preassumed to understand that
when something is called a button you press it (or
if it's an image of a button in SW, click it) to make 
it work.

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Milan Davidovic" <shl_ctf at yahoo.ca>

> This question is intended for tech writers who create
> call outs that instruct the reader to press a button
> (or some such) illustrated in the figure, and draw a
> line with an arrow from the call out to the button in
> question.
> 
> The question: in the call out, do you write "Press to
> <do x>" or "Press this to <do x>". I'm curious as to
> whether you regard the inclusion of "this" as
> redundant.