Re: What do you assume as basic audience vocabulary?

[Christine -dot- Anameier -at- seagate -dot- com]

Bruce Byfield wrote:
< . . . if it were up to me, I would have wracked my brain
for a single syllable word for "format" when the concept and
practice were first introduced, on the grounds that a routine task
should have a simple name. But did they ask me? Nooo... >

If it were up to me, it would be "erase."

We geek types may understand why it's called "formatting," but for the
average user, "format" sounds much too innocuous for a command that really
means "irrevocably wipe out everything on my disk." Not that average users
are going to be formatting disks regularly, but at least "erase" would put
up some bright red warning cones around the concept. (I confess, I don't
recall from the original post whether the intended audience was technically
sophisticated.)

Christine



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