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"Select" vs "Click" and Voice Recognition (was Re: -No Subject-)
Subject:"Select" vs "Click" and Voice Recognition (was Re: -No Subject-) From:David Jones/KSBEISD <David_Jones/KSBEISD -dot- KSBEISD -at- DATAHUB -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 9 Aug 1996 08:23:19 HST
Except that I don't "click" buttons ... Because of mouse-caused RSI, I use a
graphics tablet. So I "tap" buttons. I personally prefer "select," because that
leaves the precise method up to the user, and however they've been trained to
use their GUI. Some are trained to do everything with their pointing device,
others were trained to use the Alt/Command keys and the menus, etc. Future
computers will include voice recognition (check out the Merlin beta of OS/2,
and MS' usual "We'll have it, just wait long enough" announcements). How will
we word instructions then?
FWIW.
David Jones, Technical Writer
David_Jones/KSBEISD -dot- KSBEISD -at- Datahub -dot- com
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>The situation is this. The manual is describing a reset of a piece of
>hardware. The process is to press one button labelled "Reset" and then to
>press a second button labelled "Init." Should the sentence go:
>Press the "Reset" and then the "Init" buttons.
> or
>Press the "Reset" and then the "Init" button.
> or
>Press the "Reset" button, and then the "Init" button.
If this is a software product, the answer is none of the above.
In proper GUI terms you do not "press" buttons, you click them.
Also, you do not need to use the word "button" because the term
"click" already implies a GUI button.
The proper phrasing would be:
Click Reset then click Init.
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