TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
RE. Preposition to use when referring to window, page, or tab?
Subject:RE. Preposition to use when referring to window, page, or tab? From:"Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 31 Oct 2000 13:03:12 -0500
Elizabeth Cummings wonders about <<From the X tab, do Y." ['window' or
'page' can be substituted for tab to
cover all such occurrences. of this line.]>>
I prefer to handle such constructions by turning them into instructions:
"Select the X tab. [Open the X menu/dialog box/page.] Do Y." (Context for
subsequent instructions referring to the tab or page or whatever can be
established implicitly--i.e., it's obvious enough not to need repeating--or
explicitly, using the "select the X tab" as a heading or introductory
statement for the series of steps that follow.)
Where that approach isn't feasible, I prefer to use "in" for dialog boxes
and tabs, and "on" for pages. No particularly good justification for those
choices, other than that they pass the "it reads funny" test more often than
not for me.
"When ideas fail, words come in very handy."--Goethe
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Learn how to develop HTML-based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver!
Dec. 7-8, 2000, Orlando, FL -- $100 discount for STC members. http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.
Your web site localized into 32 languages? Maybe not now, but sooner than
you think. Download ForeignExchange's FREE paper, "3 steps to successful
translation management" at http://www.fxtrans.com/3steps.html?tw.
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
