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RE: Do you include a sentence identifying the dialog name?
Subject:RE: Do you include a sentence identifying the dialog name? From:Sue Ahrenhold <SAhrenhold -at- IpdSolution -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 8 Feb 2002 12:27:13 -0500
DITTO Steve's comment. That is the one thing that drives to to distraction
in any help system. PaintShop Pro, which is one of my favorite tools, is
guilty of this. What leaving this info out is that we're not helping the
person who KNOWS the function is there, but
can't remember how the hell to get there!
<rant> Okay, so I'm not as young as I used to be, butI have a lot more
important things in my brain than the directions to every dialog box I use
in every program I work with. Like the time of my daughter's play tonight,
so I'll remember to leave on time.</rant>
That said, I kind of like one sentence:
Open the Password dialog box by selecting Database->Password [insert index
code here].
------------------------------------------
Actually, the most important thing that you are doing is saying how to
access the dialog box in the first place (Choose Database->Password). I
can't begin to tell you how much (semi-useless) documentation I've seen
(especially online help) where you are told how to use the dialog, but not
how to find the damn thing to begin with! Drives me crazy!
>Let's say we have a dialog named "Change Password". In our procedures,
>we insert a numbered step consisting of two sentences: "Choose Database
>-> Password. The Change Password dialog appears.", followed by a picture
>of the dialog. In the second sentence, there's an index marker for the
>dialog name.=20
>
>The discussion is this: We're thinking of ways to improve our text, both
>to ensure the English is as good as possible, and to minimize
>translation costs. So there are several choices:
>
>* keep the status quo
>* delete the second sentence (if we did this, we'd have to move
>the index marker elsewhere)
>* change the second sentence to "The following dialog appears." =20
>
>Just curious to see if the readers on this list have strong feelings on
>this topic.=20
>
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