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> I argue against the use of "select" for screen buttons for
> the very reasons you describe, Michael. "Select" means
> "move the focus to", not "activate". It follows, therefore,
> that selecting a button does not perform the action that the
> button initiates.
> In the user manuals I write at work, we "select" items from
> listboxes or options from radio buttons. To accept the
> change or initiate the action, we press the Enter key or the
> OK button.
I would say "selection" is the complete act of making a choice. This
may involve keypresses or mouse gestures, but in the end, you have
_selected_ something. If I remember rightly, the style guides* for
Windows and Motif both use the word "select" in that way. Moving the
focus is just a part of that action.
* There is a style guide for Motif in the first manual of the
OSF/Motif manual set, as I recall. The Windows guide is the _The
Windows Interface: An Application Design Guide_ which comes with
the Windows Software Developer's Kit. Neither of these are writing
guides, but they use terminology consistently enough for us to
guess what is intended.
> As long as we are explicit and consistent, our users will catch on! %-)
True!
Andrew Shires andrews -at- harlequin -dot- co -dot- uk
Technical Author andrews -at- harlequin -dot- com
