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Subject:RE: How to write for both mouse and touch screen From:"Bowes, Rebecca" <Rebecca-Bowes -at- IDEXX -dot- com> To:Diane C Williams <dcwilliams2 -at- cox -dot- net>, "Weissman, Jessica" <WeissmanJ -at- abacustech -dot- com> Date:Mon, 6 Jan 2014 16:37:28 +0000
Thanks for the MMOS reference, Diane. Very helpful, since I don't have my own copy.
I have to admit I don't really LIKE using two words with a slash because it seems cumbersome somehow. But maybe that's just because it's unfamiliar. And if MMOS is deeming it acceptable -- it may become familiar very soon.
I appreciate the input!
Rebecca
-----Original Message-----
From: Diane C Williams [mailto:dcwilliams2 -at- cox -dot- net]
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 10:57 AM
To: Weissman, Jessica
Cc: Bowes, Rebecca; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: How to write for both mouse and touch screen
MS Manual Of Style calls for that use: select for selecting text and click/tap for an action or choice from a list.
~~Diane Williams
> On Dec 20, 2013, at 5:00 PM, "Weissman, Jessica" <WeissmanJ -at- abacustech -dot- com> wrote:
>
> It's a tough issue.
>
> I'd just say "click", on the grounds that if people can manage to hit buttons on a phone and talk about it as "dialing" a number, they can tap something if told to click it.
>
> "Select" has a slightly different meaning. When I was documenting UIs I used "select" for picking something out of all the things you could pick, and "click" for taking action on something. Our users "select"ed one of the options, then clicked OK to make it happen. Or they "selected" a category. Sometimes a selection took effect immediately; a click always did.
>
> I'm fully aware that this is an imperfect and moderately inconsistent solution. But it worked. Users we tested our UI on had little trouble with it.
>
> - Jessica
>
>
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