RE: Describing menu paths

["Haas, Guy" <ghaas -at- selectica -dot- com>]

Steve Shepard [mailto:STEVES -at- YARDI -dot- com] asks:

>This jumps off my earlier question about GUI element names.
>
>How do you describe a menu command in your docs?
>
>We used to do the ">" shortcut method: Format>Style>Heading 1
>
>Now we describe the menu in English: From the Format menu, 
>choose Style, then Heading 1.
>
>Any thoughts? Anyone use other ways to describe menus? 

The sequence can be a usability issue.  Some vendors
phrase it from the particular up to the general:
   Choose Heading 1 from the Style option on the Format menu.

Others mandate that it be in the order you showed, because
that is the order the user encounters the choices in.

Also, the ">" is common, but some use a solid, right-pointing
triangle.  A minority use the "pipe" symbol ("|").

As a user, I prefer your sequence, and don't care much about
which icon is used.

--Guy K. Haas         gkhaas -at- usa -dot- net
  Software Exegete in Silicon Valley

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