active vs. passive voice

[Janice Gelb]

Leonard C. Porrello wrote:
> I'm with Nina, and Janice may be right. I don't have strong convictions
> one way or the other. It does seem to me that if the user didn't bother
> reading both sentences before executing the task, he probably won't go
> back to verify what happened against the text anyway. I'd argue, then,
> that if he is going to read both sentences at all, it will be before
> executing the task. Granted that, would you (Janice) still object to my
> grammar?
> 

Yes, I would. Our style assumes that readers read along
with the bouncing ball:

4. Click Tools->Fring
        ["Right, did that"]
    The Fring dialog box appears.
        ["OK, that worked"]
    Before continuing to the next step, make sure that
    you have disconnected the framajam."
        [*whew* That was a close one!]


> I do like Janice's suggestion of front-loading warnings. At the same
> time, I worry that, being out of context, the reader may not take them
> in anyway.
> 

They're only out of context if you assume that
the reader is reading them after performing the
step rather than before. Otherwise, they're leading
into the next action in the sequence.

-- Janice

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