Re: Tab and Subtab?

Subject: Re: Tab and Subtab?
From: "Michael West" <mike -dot- west -at- bigpond -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2010 00:09:35 +1000

Chris wrote:



> It's terminology that's pretty core to our ui..not sure

> if it would work for you guys, but that is the syntax I

> would use. "Click the Suppliers View and select the
> Contacts Subview."





This seems to me a very good example of language pollution by unnecessary
coinage.



It's something technical people seem to enjoy, because (1) they think
they're so clever that the English language needs to be modified to
accommodate their brilliance, and (2) their understanding of how language
actually works is often tenuous.



If the developers have actually put something on the screen that reads
"Contacts Subview", then as the tech writer you have little choice in the
matter. If that's what a user has to click, then so be it - that's how you
have to describe it. But why, I would ask, did they feel the need to invent
a new word for something as ordinary as that? Why not "View Supplier
Contacts"?



Ego problems combined with ignorance - that would be my guess.



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Michael West

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