Re: "You may click" vs. "Click"

["D. Citron" <dcitron -at- GATE -dot- NET>]

Peggy_Thompson -at- ccmail -dot- osti -dot- gov wrote:
:  When writing instructional materials, I assume all of you write
:  in the second person: "At the prompt, type blah blah blah..."
:  But do you ever write, "At the prompt, YOU MAY type blah blah to
:  access the system"?
:  I never add the "you may's." But an editor friend of mine said
:  this has become a BIG issue in her office; she wondered what
:  others are doing.

I would NEVER do that. Your audience is generally in a hurry. "You may"
adds nothing in usability or understandability. It does, however, waste
the reader's time, not to mention trees and soybeans. Maybe even disk
space. I'd hate to see a distribution disk set require adding a disk
because the on-line help wasn't concise enough.

Then again, since my newspaper days, I have always written as "tight" as
I can. Be concise!

 "Live long and prosper -- without government interference!"
     ...Mr. Spock, before the NBC censors got to him, stardate 1966

 David H. Citron .................................... dcitron -at- gate -dot- net
 Tech Writer/Journalist/Copywriter -- Contract/Freelance/Telecommuting
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