TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
>On Aug 6, 10:37am, Meredith Townley wrote:
>> Subject: Naming conventions
>> There has been a small debate in the office over how "screens" should be =
>> referenced in the documentation. I'm curious as to what others call =
>> what I refer to as screens. The debate includes calling them screens, =
>> dialogs, and windows. What is the norm or proper term and are the three =
>> terms above the same?
>Ooh, this is a big one with me, just because *so many* software manuals refer
>to those things as "dialog boxes". I have no idea what the origin or logic
>behind that phrase is, but most users (yes, including me) seem generally
>confused by it. I would be interested to find out more...
The intention or logic behind it likely has to do with the fact that dialogue
boxes often provide a text prompt (a statement or query) and require a response
before the normal sequence of events can continue--sort of like a
question-answer interaction (or dialogue) between people. A bit anthropomorphic
and fallacious, maybe, but the analogy is *somewhat* parallel. Maybe we need a
new term that doesn't rely on this type of fallacy.
Bill Burns
Assembly Training and Documentation Supervisor
WBURNS -at- MICRON -dot- COM
TECHWR-L List Information
To send a message about technical communication to 2500+ list readers,
E-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send administrative commands
ALL other questions or problems concerning the list
should go to the listowner, Eric Ray, at ejray -at- ionet -dot- net -dot-
