Using the conjunction OR in mutually exclusive options

Subject: Using the conjunction OR in mutually exclusive options
From: Donna McManus <donna -dot- mcmanus -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2011 15:48:06 -0400

All, I'm just gathering opinion. Feel free to opine away.

I am seeing the use of the conjunction OR in mutually exclusive options in
procedures. This is even given as an example in Microsoft's Manual of Style
(if you have the 3rd version, see p123):

To open a menu:
- Press Alt+the key for the underlined letter in the menu name
-or-
- Use the LEFT ARROW key or the RIGHT ARROW key to move to another menu

I'm more of the mind to write the procedure as:

Use one of two methods to open a menu:
- Press Alt+the key for the underlined letter in the menu name
- Use the LEFT ARROW key or the RIGHT ARROW key to move to another menu

What is your opinion? I can't quite put my finger on it, but it bugs me to
no end to have to be so explicit that we have to emphasize that two options
are mutually exclusive. Is this more for translation purposes that Microsoft
would recommend this?
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