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Re: Screenshots: Clearest way to indicate button/link/tab to click?
Subject:Re: Screenshots: Clearest way to indicate button/link/tab to click? From:Steven Brown <stevenabrown -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 3 Nov 2005 06:08:30 -0800 (PST)
Jennifer,
I'll play devil's advocate for a moment and question
the need for big red arrows in general. Since Bonnie
posted a link to her site, and because I respect her
contributions to this group, I'll use her sample as an
illustration.
In step 3, given that the dialog is relatively simple,
would it be unclear to omit the screenshot entirely
and rewrite the text like this?
"On the General tab, click the Configure button."
I like Bonnie's attempt to orient the reader in step 4
("At the bottom of the dialog box...), so maybe step 3
could read:
"On the General tab, click the Configure button at the
bottom of the screen."
What I try to do is use fewer screenshots and use
callouts to highlight important areas of the UI. I
haven't fully explored the technique, but you could
use numbered callouts to correlate the UI elements to
a procedure or numbered list.
Here's an example (which will give Bonnie a chance to
critique my humble contribution to the profession).
My approach isn't perfect, and it's probably not
suitable for all situations, but I think (hope) it
makes my procedures somewhat easier to read and
ultimately more helpful to the reader. (I'd be
interested in receiving constructive feedback to my
sample.)
Steven Brown
Technical Writer
--- "Jennifer C. Bennett" <fritillary -at- gmail -dot- com>
wrote:
> In a screenshot, which is the clearest way to
> indicate a link/button/tab?
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