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Subject:Momentarily press and then release? From:"Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 5 Dec 2000 09:49:59 -0500
Archimede Ziviello wonders <<Which is better? "Momentarily press and then
release the start button to ....." or "Bump the start button (without
starting engine) to.....">>
I'd suggest a combination of both, since they provide complementary
information. I assume from what you've written that the user needs to hold
down the start button briefly, but not for so long that the engine starts.
On that assumption, I'd go with "Press the start button, but release it
before the engine starts." If that's not obvious to the user, provide an
additional few words to explain how they'll know it's time to release the
button. For example: "When the starter light turns green, you have about 1
second to release the button."
"Technical writing... requires understanding the audience, understanding
what activities the user wants to accomplish, and translating the often
idiosyncratic and unplanned design into something that appears to make
sense."--Donald Norman, The Invisible Computer
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