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Subject:purpose of arrows --> (was Insert-->Arrow...) From:Holly Turner <hturner -at- ISS -dot- NET> Date:Tue, 4 Aug 1998 19:22:21 -0400
Several of you asked why we were considering arrows to represent actions in our procedures. We are not concerned with reducing word count. The purpose was to remove words that might get in the way of completing the procedure.
For instance, it's easier for me to pick out the menu items in this step:
1. Start-->Programs-->RoboHelp-->RoboHTML.
Than to find them in this one:
1. Open the Start menu, choose Programs, choose RoboHelp,
and then choose RoboHTML.
Those "extra" words sort of get in the way. They make me read the whole sentence (which is a bit awkward), when all I really need to know is the name of each menu item (and that the arrow means to choose it, of course!)
Thanks to all of you that have sent responses to the list and personally to me. We are still talking about which method will work best, and we're planning a little usability study of our own. I am leaning toward what several of you have suggested--Starting out with an action word, and then following up with the arrows. Example:
1. From the Start menu, choose Programs-->RoboHelp-->RoboHTML.
My main concern was that the user did not have a contextual frame of reference. This construction provides the frame of reference and is concise at the same time.
