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Bill, you are right as always. What does your style guide say? :-)
Very interesting conversation. Thanks all.
Best,
PT
On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 3:49 PM, Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>wrote:
> Correct. In fact, they really do mean very different things.
>
> Text: "I'm leaving something out" or "and so on" or, for all you
> Seinfeld fans, "yadda yadda yadda"
> GUI: "this feature requires additional action to use"
>
> Is the GUI convention the right convention to use? Maybe, maybe not,
> but it's one that has been in place for quite a long while.
>
> But, we can debate using it or not using it until the cows come home
> (where'd they run off to, anyway?). The point is that you need to
> decide on a style for the right reasons, and then you need to stick
> with it. You can side with the MMoS which says to omit the ellipsis,
> or you can decide to leave it in. Just be consistent about your use,
> and make sure you document why (if not deferring to a 3rd party style
> guide for the rule) so your reviewers don't red pen your draft in
> error.
>
> Funny, my initial reply to this thread still stands.
>
> Q: How does Open... help the user complete their task?
> A: However your editor says it does. ;-) Seriously though, what does
> your style guide say?
>
> Bill
>
> On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 4:39 PM, Dan Goldstein
> <DGoldstein -at- riverainmedical -dot- com> wrote:
> > Because an ellipsis in the GUI and an ellipsis in the manual don't mean
> > the same thing.
> >
> > In text, an ellipsis means, "I'm leaving something out."
>
> --
> Bill Swallow
>
> Twitter: @techcommdood
> Blog: http://techcommdood.com
> LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/techcommdood
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