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Re: Screen captures in multiple lanaguages or just in English? was, "RE: Examples of Minimalist Writing"
Subject:Re: Screen captures in multiple lanaguages or just in English? was, "RE: Examples of Minimalist Writing" From:Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com> To:beelia -at- pacbell -dot- net, Techwr-l <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Mon, 5 Oct 2009 09:41:27 -0700
Is there any situation where placing a picture of a button is more
useful than simply typing the text (which is much faster and cheaper
to translate)?
On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 9:27 AM, Leonard C. Porrello
<Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- soleratec -dot- com> wrote:
> Thanks for your message, Bee; it's particularly timely as I am looking
> into localizing my docs. The customer we are working with has their docs
> in several different languages and uses full screen captures (in all of
> the docs) from the English version of their application. We are
> considering using the same approach for our docs.
>
> I use full screen captures only to orient the reader. I do not use
> screen captures with call-outs or with graphically attached step-by-step
> directions. These would all remain in English in all versions of the
> docs. I also use screen captures of buttons and icons. The icons are
> easy as they don't contain words; the buttons present more of a problem
> since they feature text (e.g., OK, Cancel, Finish, etc.) and would have
> to be translated. I do not have any partial screen captures. ...
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