Future tense (long-ish)/using "you"

[Peggy Thomson <Peggy_Thompson -at- CCMAIL -dot- OSTI -dot- GOV>]

 Regarding present and future tense in computer documentation
 (hey--glad I started this thread!), Geoff Hart's sample sentence
 reads:

     After you select PRINT, your document will be sent to the
     printer.

 You can easily cast that in present tense:

     After you select PRINT, your document is sent to the
     printer.

 But Geoff asked, "Are we oversimplifying by arguing for blanket
 present tense?" I now think there's an argument for, AS MUCH AS
 POSSIBLE, KEEPING EVERYTHING IN THE PRESENT TENSE--ease,
 simplicity, grace, economy of style. If more information is
 needed in the case of the above sentence, add it like this:

     The yellow indicator light flashes to let you know printing
     is about to begin. If the print job cannot complete, an
     error messages appears in the indicator window on the front
     of the printer.

 Geoff said something about present tense just FEELING wrong,
 sometimes, and that feeling has plagued me, too, as it does with
 his sample sentence. But here's a fix that pleases my ear:

     [When] you press PRINT, your document is sent to the
     printer.

 "After" makes me think in a linear, chronological, future-tense
 fashion--"AFTER you do this, this WILL HAPPEN." "When" keeps all
 the future tense stuff hanging together.

 I will therefore argue that you can gracefully recast most
 instruction in the present tense (a reversal of my previous
 position where I often found the future tense very inelegant).


 **MY CHALLENGE TO YOU--PLEASE ENUMERATE THE EXCEPTIONS**
 Can you submit examples of instructions or procedures that
 should not be cast in the present tense, when the rest of the
 document is written in present tense? I want to be able to
 codify the exceptions for our writers.

 ***

 USING YOU IN DOCUMENTATION: We do it freely here, in our
 computer manuals, after a concerted lobby against "the user
 this" and "the user that." It's friendly, informal, direct, and
 clear. Go for it!






 [Ignore the passive voice... the real issue is: When? Then
      there's: How will I know when I succeed? How do I know if
 there's a
      problem that will delay printing? Which printer?]
  Am I really missing something here, or are we just
 overgeneralizing by
      blanketly condemning all use of future tense?