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Subject:Re: Word to describe an empty check box From:Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L (techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com)" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 15 Jan 2014 10:25:21 -0800
MMS4 is the gospel if you choose it as your style guide. One of the
main reasons to have a style guide is to avoid wasting time discussing
arbitrary choices.
Marked / unmarked is standard for ballots but is highly nonstandard in
describing software UI elements.
On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 5:37 AM, Dan Goldstein <DGoldstein -at- cytomedix -dot- com> wrote:
> There's nothing wrong with "marked." I was just correcting a misquote of MSTP, but as I said before, MSTP isn't the gospel.
>
> The gospel, of course, is Strunk and White.
>
> <ducking now>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Keith Hood
> Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2014 6:33 PM
> To: Tony Chung
> Cc: Dan Goldstein; Robert Lauriston; TECHWR-L (techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com)
> Subject: Re: Word to describe an empty check box
>
> What's wrong with "marked" and "unmarked"?
>
> On Tue, Jan 14, 2014 at 12:58 PM, Tony Chung wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 14, 2014 at 5:31 AM, Dan Goldstein wrote:
>
>> <sigh> This is also from MSTP:
>>
> ...
>>
>
>
> Yeah. I was on crack. Wouldn't be the first Canadian to do so...
>
> So I was confusing "selecting" and "unselecting" options, vs "checking" and
> "clearing" check boxes.
>
> I don't know where I got "enabled" from.
>
> It should be pretty straightforward to use the adjectival forms:
>
> Options:
> - selected
> - not selected
>
> Check boxes:
> - checked
> - cleared
>
> BTW: If you document for Windows systems, they're "check boxes". If you
> document for Mac systems, they're "checkboxes".
>
> I guess that's why in general I choose to avoid writing about the controls
> because they would be different on every platform.
>
> -Tony
>
>
>
>
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