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Subject:p.c. way to say "crashing" -Reply From:Lisa Comeau <COMEAUL -at- CSA -dot- CA> Date:Thu, 4 Jun 1998 11:44:29 -0400
>>> Lizak Kristin <LizakKristin -at- JDCORP -dot- DEERE -dot- COM> 06/04/98 09:48am >>>
...Marketing wants me to rewrite a sentence that refers
to your software program crashing...and they don't like "program quits responding."... and we are looking for a tactful (i.e. "flowery") way to refer to when their program fizzles out.
Depending on what the program does when it "crashes" or "fizzles out", you could always place a note next to the section describing the user's action when this occurs that says something along the lines of
"In the event that the mouse pointer fails to move, press CTRL+ALT+DEL to reboot"
OR
"Should your GroupWise account fail to recognise your password, choose File...Close and then restart the program"
This way you are putting the emphasis on the solution rather than the fact that it has crashed, and the user has a course of action. In my experience, if a user feels like (s)he is doing something, (s)he is less likely to get irritated at the crash and blame the software developer and/or manual writer.
Lisa Comeau
IS Super-User/Trainer
Certification and Testing Division
Canadian Standards Association
Rexdale, ON
comeaul -at- csa -dot- ca
