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Subject:the great display debate From:Cheng Derek <CDerek -at- GATE-HAL -dot- PSD -dot- SYMBOL -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 10 May 1994 11:20:28 EDT
I guess its time for my two-pence worth.
The only time I use 'display' is during a procedure or the end of a
paragraph when I'm point some form of a figure.
I usually go with something like this.
1. xxx
2. xxx
3. Press <1>. The system displays:
(a nice and beautifully designed screen example goes here)
4. xxx
I tend to think of the screen example itself is the object of the
transitive verb 'displays.' The sentence is definitely active and concise
and uses no forms of 'to be.' We have to remember that in technical
documentation, the rules of english grammar can flutter just a bit.
My manager likes 'The system displays the following:' which is fine, but
I contend that the colon means 'the following.'
~ ^ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
@ @ "The courtroom is a crucible. It it, we burn away at
^ irrelevancies until we are left with one thing:
( \___/ ) the truth, for all time."
- Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
cderek -at- psd -dot- symbol -dot- com
