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> In the case of windows opening, telling somebody that an action opens a
> window, when procedures frequently result in new windows, states the obvious
> and expected result of an action, so the mention of the action, "a window
> opens," is unnecessary.
Where [button + window] is a matched set, they're like [horse and
carriage], or [soup and sandwich].
Could I generalize these pairs as just button in the documentation,or
horse at the livery stable, or soup when ordering at the cafe, and still
be understood correctly? No, of course not, though it might be easier
for me to refer to them that way because I'm exhausted or something.
> If the occurrence of a window is rare in the application, then it should be
> addressed, but if nearly every widget is a window, then nearly every action
> to begin a procedure will include, "and a window opens." Isn't that
> repetitive?
The case where I'm tempted to agree with you is when the UI developer
has created a tedious interface. For example, a procedure that requires
me to click OK a bunch of times in a row to get out of nested dialog
boxes--it tempts me to write:
xx.) OK your way out.
The designer/developers whose products I've done this to seem OK with
it. I think they see it as helping by not underscoring the tedious
design with tedious instructions. Still, that solution doesn't judge
mentioning anything as unnecessary--the steps where the dialogs were
introduced still include their appearance as a statement of the result.
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