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Re: Open vs Appear, Yet Again (was: "RE: WG: Newbie question - GUI terminology")

Subject: Re: Open vs Appear, Yet Again (was: "RE: WG: Newbie question - GUI terminology")
From: Janice Gelb <janice -dot- gelb -at- sun -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 10:16:52 +1000

Jeff Cross wrote:


What about "displays" used as an intransitive verb, in place of
"appears" or "opens"? (As in, "The Add Participant window displays.")

Not only do I agree with Susan about problems with
it as an intransitive verb, but we also avoid this
usage due to possible confusion because "display" is
commonly also used as a noun. Localization isn't
happy when we use a word as both a verb and a noun.

As for "opens," I've been trying to pin down why it
bothers me and I haven't been able to come up with
a grammar-related explanation. Somehow, although I
have no problem with something like "Choosing
Print from the File menu opens the Print dialog
box," the phrase "The Print dialog box opens" seems
awkward to me.

-- Janice

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RE: Open vs Appear, Yet Again (was: "RE: WG: Newbie question - GUI terminology"): From: Jeff Cross

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