Re: Order of menu commands.

Subject: Re: Order of menu commands.
From: "Pro TechWriter" <pro -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "Bill Swallow" <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2007 09:57:16 -0500

Umm. this is what I found in the Microsoft Manual of Technical Style
(looked it up this week so I could use it):

On the Admin menu, click Scheduling, then *point to* Room Maintenance.

:-D

I like this because it's fairly simple and works well in most documentation.

However, if the documentation was going to be space-challenged (like a
quick reference card or sheet that went into a packaged product like
the door lockset I installed last weekend), I would use the > or a ->
between the menu items, to save space.

Honestly, I think it depends a whole lot on your audience which
convention you would use. The symbols are great for an engineering or
technical audience, and they appreciate brevity ;-) I tend to spell
things out more for "regular" technology-challenged users.

What do ya'll think? Does the audience matter?

PT

On 12/7/07, Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> And of course to use the Microsoft convention...
>
> On the Admin menu, click Scheduling, then click Room Maintenance.
>
> On Dec 7, 2007 8:17 AM, Will Sansbury <wsansbury -at- alpha -dot- ipswitch -dot- com> wrote:
> > Our approach is to document everything that can be done in one simple path
> > without interruption in one line.
> >
> > For example, we would write:
> > Click Start > Programs > Accessories > Notepad. The Notepad applications
> > appears.
>
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Follow-Ups:

References:
Order of menu commands.: From: Zen C
RE: Order of menu commands.: From: Will Sansbury
Re: Order of menu commands.: From: Bill Swallow

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