RE: terminology question: pointer vs. cursor

["Hager, Harry (US - East Brunswick)" <hhager -at- dc -dot- com>]

Barb,

You said: 
>When writing for users who are new to Windows, you should refer them to<
>Windows help or other O/S documentation. The operating system writers are<
>better equiped to instruct the user on their platform.<

If your users are new to Windows, how do you instruct them to use Windows
help without telling them that they need to "click" or "select" the Help
button and then move the "highlight" to the term or phrase they want and
then "double-click" the term they want to see? If they are so new to
Windows, how do you know they know what "click," "highlight," "select," and
"double-click" mean? 

You also seem to be saying that in order to use your documentation the user
also needs to have readily at hand a copy of Using Windows or some other
similar book. 

I've found that putting a short chapter at the beginning of my book that
explains and shows how to use Windows is the thing to do. I do this as
insurance for my and my readers. That way I know that the Windows
terminology I use in the rest of the book has been defined. After you write
this intro chapter you can copy the chapter, with minor modifications, into
every user document you write. I'm more or less using the same intro chapter
that I wrote about five years ago. 

Jim Hager
Hhager -at- dc -dot- com
Deloitte Consulting
Pittsburgh Solution Center