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Whether or not I use captions on screen shots depends on the type of
documentation I am creating. For user documentation, I try to embed my
screen shots into a paragraph that talks about it. I really hate seeing
user guides that say "the following screen will be displayed", or "this is
the window that will be displayed" or anything like that. Because I am
"talking" to the screen shot, I do not use captions.
In Reference and Technical manuals, I usually have the screen shots on
their own line or paragraph. I use captions such as "Order Editing
Window". One of the reasons I do this is because I include a screen shot
index at the back of the manual.
Just how I do things.
Suzette Seveny
Markham, Ontario, Canada
sseveny -at- petvalu -dot- com or suzette -at- yesic -dot- com
Amy G. Peacock wrote:
> I have a doc with a number of screen shots in it. As I was editing it
> last night a thought occurred to me.
>
> For the captions for screen shots do you prefer to:
>
> 1) Describe the picture - what it is. As in, The Order Editing Form.
> 2) Describe what it does. As in, "Use the Order Editing form to change
> your order."
> 3) Describe what the user is doing or should do when they see the
> screen shot. As in. As in, "Viewing the Order Editing Form."
> 4) No captions at all.
>
