Links and attachments continued?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Ilana Cohney provided more details about "linking" in her software: <<Each
module has a number of fields that can reference/link to/connect to one or
more records in another module.  The user presses a button which opens the
"linked" module, searches for the correct records and then presses an Add
buton in the "linked module".  Then a link/connection is made and a brief
summary/title of the record is pasted into the "linking" field in the source
module.>>

Although this is undoubtedly a link of sorts from the standpoint of the
programmers, it's a "lookup" from the standpoint of the user. After all,
what are they doing if not looking up information stored elsewhere? You
mentioned that the summary information can only be edited and saved from its
own module, and that any changes in that module are automatically updated
in any "linked" records. This means the you'll need to explain this as part
of the operating context for the software. Try something like the following:

"When you use the Lookup function to add data from elsewhere to your current
screen, the software will subsequently use the most up to date value for the
added data. To change that data, you must edit it... [wherever]"

Once you've explained the context, you can turn around the problem and
concentrate on what the user is doing (rather than how the software is doing
it). That's a much simpler problem to solve. For example, let's use the task
of budget preparation as an example:

<<I need the correct terminology to describe: 1.  The "source" module in
which the link/connection is made.>>

Don't refer to the source module at all, other than in general terms.
"You're currently budgeting for 2004. From the 2004 budget, look up the 2003
travel expenses by selecting the Travel Expense field and clicking the
Lookup button."

<<2.  The field in the source module in which the data from the
linked/connected/referenced records are pasted.>>

Again, concentrate on the task: "Clicking the Add button copies the 2003
Travel Expenses into the 2004 budget. If these expenses are changed as a
result of the Enron audit, your 2004 budget will automatically update to
reflect the correct values."

<<3.  The "target" module from which the records are linked/referenced. The
correct direction of the  linking/connecting/referencing needs to be clear
to the user>>

Again, if you explain this in terms of the task (you're doing A, but need to
look up information in B), you can avoid discussing the underlying
technology.

<<4.  A term that describes how the connection is made that also implies the
direction of the linking, ie. the source module attaches to the target
module, the target module ???attaches back to the source module.>>

Again, this is probably less necessary than you might think. If the current
context is clear ("2004 budget"), then all the user needs to know is that
they're doing a lookup and that the data will be updated.

--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada 

"I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my
telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my
telephone."--Bjarne Stronstrup (originator of C++ programming language)

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