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Subject:Re: active vs. passive voice From:Janice Gelb <Janice -dot- Gelb -at- Sun -dot- COM> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:07:05 +1100
Leonard C. Porrello wrote:
> I'm with Nina, and Janice may be right. I don't have strong convictions
> one way or the other. It does seem to me that if the user didn't bother
> reading both sentences before executing the task, he probably won't go
> back to verify what happened against the text anyway. I'd argue, then,
> that if he is going to read both sentences at all, it will be before
> executing the task. Granted that, would you (Janice) still object to my
> grammar?
>
Yes, I would. Our style assumes that readers read along
with the bouncing ball:
4. Click Tools->Fring
["Right, did that"]
The Fring dialog box appears.
["OK, that worked"]
Before continuing to the next step, make sure that
you have disconnected the framajam."
[*whew* That was a close one!]
> I do like Janice's suggestion of front-loading warnings. At the same
> time, I worry that, being out of context, the reader may not take them
> in anyway.
>
They're only out of context if you assume that
the reader is reading them after performing the
step rather than before. Otherwise, they're leading
into the next action in the sequence.
-- Janice
***********************************************************
Janice Gelb | The only connection Sun has with
janice -dot- gelb -at- sun -dot- com | this message is the return address
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