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RE: GUI elements - how do you format them in your docs?
Subject:RE: GUI elements - how do you format them in your docs? From:"Sharon Burton" <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 3 Nov 2005 06:20:26 -0800
If your users are at all computer literate, they have used Microsoft
documentation. The MS style is to bold GUI elements. Why introduce another
style to them? Use the MS style.
The very little usability testing I've done that includes this shows users
do better with bold. They can see what to click/select easily in scanning
the text.
sharon
Sharon Burton
CEO, Anthrobytes Consulting
951-369-8590
www.anthrobytes.com
Immediate Past President of IESTC
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-189020 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-189020 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]On Behalf Of Martinek,
Carla
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2005 5:52 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: GUI elements - how do you format them in your docs?
I'm wondering what other people, especially those with usability
experience, have to say about formatting of window/dialog titles,
buttons, menu item selections, and such. We're discussing standards
within our group, but it's always nice to get other people's opinions
and see how you're doing it.
=================
My personal preference is to simplify as much as possible, which has me
leaning towards the Sun style of using just initial caps with no special
formatting. The one problem I see here is with some radio buttons,
which often do not use initial caps on the entire string. These could
be difficult to separate from the rest of the surrounding text. Perhaps
in that case I can see using italics, without any kind of font change.
My second choice is Microsoft's option of using Bold with no color or
font change for all GUI elements.
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