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RE: Is the generic "you" implied in error messages?
Subject:RE: Is the generic "you" implied in error messages? From:"Dawn Marie Oliver (Write Stuff)" <a-dawnmo -at- Exchange -dot- Microsoft -dot- com> To:"'Jeanne A. E. DeVoto'" <jaed -at- jaedworks -dot- com>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 11 Feb 2000 17:50:59 -0800
I think what Chuck was trying to get at was this: that the user
interface should be designed so that the user _cannot_ click the
Delete button if the item cannot be deleted. For example,
in Word, on the Edit menu, the Paste command is disabled
(grayed out) until there is actually something on the clipboard
to paste.
This eliminates the need for an error message.
Dawn-Marie
>> At 2:49 PM -0800 2/10/2000, Chuck Martin wrote:
>> The point's irrelevant. The correct answer is to say to the programmer:
>> "Why is the program designed so the user can delete if it is not allowed
>> at that point?" Worrying about grammar of a message that shouldn't
>> appear in the first place is a waste of time.
>
> You click the select the item. You press the Delete key. What should
happen
> at that point, a mysterious silence?
>
> --
> jeanne a. e. devoto ~ jaed -at- jaedworks -dot- com
>http://www.jaedworks.com
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