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Re: Choosing a menu option "From the Create menu, choose Message
Subject:Re: Choosing a menu option "From the Create menu, choose Message From:Chuck Martin <cmartin -at- SEEKERSOFT -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 18 Aug 1997 11:29:35 -0700
>At 08:55 AM 8/18/97 -0400, you wrote:
>> Okay. I've been following this thread and have yet to see my solution
>> posted. My rule of thumb is to tell users exactly what they need to
>> do. For example: "From the Create menu, click on Message." The key
>> word here is "click on." It leaves no doubt about HOW to choose the
>> command in the menu. I know that most users are well aware of how to
>> choose a command in a menu, but I make it absolutely clear just in
>> case.
What do users without a mouse (or other pointing device) do? They can't click.
The Windows guidelines for software design state that software must be
designed so that people without mice can still use the software. (No such
rules exist for Mac software.) Therefore, to use "choose" measn that users
can access the menu command through their own typical means, not only by
clicking with a mouse.
As a slight side note, the Microsoft Manual of Style differentiates between
the use of "choose' and "select" for use with specific objects.
--
"You don't look American"
"Everyone looks American, because Americans are from everywhere"
- Doonesbury
Chuck Martin
Technical Writer, Seeker Software, Inc | Personal
cmartin -at- seekersoft -dot- com | writer -at- grin -dot- net
www.seekersoft.com | www.grin.net/~writer
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