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Subject:Re: What is the best term to use? From:Mary Arrotti <mary_arrotti -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:jlshaeffer -at- aol -dot- com, techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Mon, 22 Oct 2007 08:29:49 -0700 (PDT)
Jim makes an excellent point - one that nearly got bypassed with the the applet discussion. It's always important to use terms that have meaning to users. From a programmatic perspective a piece of an application may be considered an applet, application, system, routine, javascript, etc., etc. And there can be conflicts about what term best applies (as with applet).
What's important is that terms used in user documentation have meaning to users & will help them to perform tasks. If it's terms like module, feature, or function - then by all means use those terms.
So, these may be perfectably acceptable descriptions:
To do X, Y, or Z, select the Payments tab.
To perform payment functions, select the Payments tab.
To work with payment features, select the Payments tab.
To work with the Payments module, select the Payments tab.
jlshaeffer -at- aol -dot- com wrote:
As a user, I don't care if I'm running an application, a program, an applet, a widget or a glimph. I'm just using tools to get my job done. (The phrase "Payments tools" might replace "Payments controls" in the samples above.)
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