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Subject:RE: What do you call the Three Dots? From:"Wright, Lynne" <Lynne -dot- Wright -at- Kronos -dot- com> To:"Cardimon, Craig" <ccardimon -at- M-S-G -dot- com>, "'al -at- geistarts -dot- com'" <al -at- geistarts -dot- com>, 'Robert Lauriston' <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>, "'TECHWR-L Writing'" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Mon, 16 Oct 2017 18:00:44 +0000
I know that the first time I was instructed to "select x from the More menu" I was lost, because I didn't know that the ellipses = More; I was looking for a menu labelled "More").
So it depends on your audience: an ellipses is pretty standard in responsive apps, so calling it More is probably fine for a young audience used to doing everything on their cellphones. If your users may include people who aren't particularly app-savvy, you might want to say "Select x from the More (...) menu.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=kronos -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=kronos -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Cardimon, Craig
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2017 1:54 PM
To: 'al -at- geistarts -dot- com' <al -at- geistarts -dot- com>; 'Robert Lauriston' <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>; 'TECHWR-L Writing' <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Subject: RE: What do you call the Three Dots?
So you would recommend calling it the More button, Al?
That would separate the grammatical ellipsis from what happens when you click it: You get more to choose from.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+ccardimon=m-s-g -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+ccardimon=m-s-g -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Al Geist
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2017 1:49 PM
To: 'Robert Lauriston' <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>; 'TECHWR-L Writing' <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Subject: RE: What do you call the Three Dots?
I think you need to separate the symbol from the function. The three dots are called an "ellipsis" and they are often used to indicate there is more if you click the button (hence the More button).
Al Geist-Geist Arts
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-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+al=geistarts -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+al=geistarts -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Robert Lauriston
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2017 12:04 PM
To: TECHWR-L Writing
Subject: Re: What do you call the Three Dots?
If it has a tooltip, call it that. Otherwise, I'd use <b>...</b>. I don't think many people know the name of the punctuation mark.
On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 8:26 AM, Cardimon, Craig <ccardimon -at- m-s-g -dot- com>
wrote:
> I used to call the three dots element the Ellipsis Button.
>
> However, I see other technical and UX writers are calling this element
> the
More Button.
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