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Subject:Re: GUI names: forms vs. windows From:Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 24 Oct 2000 12:21:09 -0700
Steve Hussey wrote:
>
> > Also, its writers usually
> > have very sensible suggestions, such as using "drop-down list"
> > instead of "combo box" in end user documentation.
>
> Well for one thing a drop down list is a different type of object to a combo
> box (they have subtlely different purposes).
Technically, you may be right, but the point is that "drop-down
list" is preferable for end user documentation because it is more
descriptive of what the user sees. For programmers, "combo box" is
more useful because programmers are more interested in the contents
than in the look of the object.
To insist on "combo box" in all instances would be needlessly
pedantic. It would only confuse things by introducing an element
into the discussion that wasn't immediately self-explanatory. As I
suggested in my original post, this seems a very sensible
distinction to make.
--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
Contributing Editor, Maximum Linux
604.421.7189 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com
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