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Subject:RE: Displays versus Appears-Which One? From:"Michael West" <mike -dot- west -at- oz -dot- quest -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 18 Dec 2000 18:08:17 +1100
John Posada wrote:
> In the instructions, every procedure is
> followed by the result .... However, I AM
> interested in your thoughts.
My thoughts are that it is:
1. Unnecessary except when writing for novices
to tell them that when they click 'xyz' something
called 'xyz' will appear on the screen -- especially
when the next instruction ASSUMES the presence
of the 'xyz' thing.
2. Inconsistent with good structured writing
practice to insert things that are not instructions
into a list of instructions.
3. Better to recast the information in the form
of an instruction, thus serving the dual purposes
of guiding the user's expectation and guiding the
user's next action in a single, streamlined, beautifully
groomed, sentence.
T'anks fer askin!
--
Michael West
Technical Writer
Melbourne, Australia
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