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Subject:Insert --> Arrow --> For Action. From:Holly Turner <hturner -at- ISS -dot- NET> Date:Fri, 31 Jul 1998 13:22:23 -0400
This is posted to Techwr-L and to WinHlp-L.
One of the writers in our department has suggested that we use an arrow symbol in our procedures to guide users through menus and commands.
EXAMPLE
Instead of writing...
1. From the File menu, choose New, and then choose Mail Message
We would write...
1. File --> New --> Mail Message.
Our audience is system administrators and other techie types, however in a year or so, we estimate that our audience will become more mainstream. I don't think that a system administrator would be terribly confused by the arrows, and perhaps they are more efficient after the user of the document becomes familiar with them. However, the arrows seem awkward to me.
Does anyone know of usability studies on this subject? What are your experiences (specifically with more advanced, computer-savvy users)?
