On Wed, 2008-04-23 at 13:51 -0500, Shaun McCance wrote: > On Wed, 2008-04-23 at 14:21 -0400, Curtis Hovey wrote: > > On Wed, 2008-04-23 at 11:52 -0500, Shaun McCance wrote: > > > > ... > > > > > button > > > > ... > > > > > Correct: > > > Click the 'Theme Details' button. > > > Click 'Close'. > > > > > > Some buttons do not have labels. For these buttons, use > > > either the tooltip or the accessible name as the label > > > when referring to the button. If possible, insert the > > > icon after the label in parentheses. > > > > > > Correct: > > > Click the 'Attach a file' (#) button on the toolbar. > > > > > > The word "button" can also be used to refer to mechanical > > > buttons. Use the verb "press" for mechanical buttons. > > > > > > Correct: > > > Press the reset button on your computer. > > > Press the left mouse button. > > > > > > Incorrect: > > > Click the left mouse button. > > > > These examples touch upon a subject that has pained me for a decade now. > > What are the correct verbs to describe how to use a button? This may > > apply to a hyperlink too. > > > > The 'click' is associated with the mouse, and we are avoiding the mouse > > in our documentation. 'Click' is also considered bad form when > > describing Web UI. I'm certain I have never 'clicked' a real button. I > > have 'pushed', 'pressed', 'sat upon', and 'kicked' buttons, but never > > 'clicked' > > > > I use 'press' sometimes in documentation, but I attribute that to my > > heavy keyboard usage. Are we using 'clicked' in these examples to infer > > the use of the mouse? > > Every style guide I know of says you click a button, even > though you press a mechanical button. Sure, keyboard users > don't really click. But we use mouse-centric terminalogy > all over the place: double click, right click, drag, etc. Granted. > I suppose we could use "activate" as a technology-neutral > verb, but that just strikes me as overly pedantic. People > know (or will quickly learn) the word "click". Keyboard > users, I think, are bright enough to know that, for them, > click means "tab tab tab space" or "use the accelerator". 'Activate' is so neutral that I'd describe the term as ambient. It really conveying how to use the button. I suppose my dislike of the term is that it is describing a consequence of using the button rather than stating that the button should be used. I does not sound natural to me after 25 years. I can 'choose' an option from a menu, a list, or a list of radio buttons, but I do not choose the 'Cancel' button. > Most instructions we give people assume the most common > way of performing an action, even though various other > methods exist. > > Plus, the computer industry pretty much made up the verb > "click", so there's no reason we can't just all agree > that it means whatever it needs to mean to be correct. <sign>. At least we are consistent. /me shuts up and looks for a TARDIS to fix this lexical problem. -- __C U R T I S C. H O V E Y_______ Guilty of stealing everything I am.
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