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Subject:RE: Chicken or the Egg From:"walden miller" <wmiller -at- vidiom -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 18 May 2004 14:28:56 -0600
On the one hand, you should do whatever your style guide dictates.
On the other hand, I think the sequence is contextual
I prefer intention, action, location for most explanatory situations.
For example,
To open the cross-reference dialog, select "Cross-Reference" from the
Special menu.
For tutorial situations, I prefer action, location, intention.
For example:
Select "Cross-Reference" from the Special menu to open the cross-reference
dialog.
<picture of dialog>
Finally, when I want to introduce a list of actions all executed in a
dialog, I use a slightly different approach:
Header introducing task
Intention paragraph
1. Open dialog step
<picture of dialog>
2. In the dialog, set the following vaules:
- lsdflsdfjlsdjf in the lsdkjflskdfj field
- lsdflsdfjlsdjf in the lsdkjflskdfj field
- lsdflsdfjlsdjf in the lsdkjflskdfj field
...
3. Click OK to accept all values set in the dialog.
I have seen all of these and more used effectively. Again, style guides
should dictate the consistency of your approach. If you are writing the
style guide, then you can either choose an approach OR research the topic OR
query this list (and then choose an approach).
I seem to remember a lot of conflicting evidence on how users read direction
(grad school was a decade ago), but it boiled down to including the three
items: action, location, and intention.
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