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Subject:Re: "The dialog box will appear" From:"Wayne J. Douglass" <wayned -at- VERITY -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 21 Mar 1997 12:31:05 -0800
At 01:17 PM 3/21/97 -0600, Geoff Hart wrote:
> At the time, there was a slight majority in favor of
> "appears", but I'd like to revisit this debate and get some
> more feedback on the issue. Are we choosing one over the
> other based on urban legend, or based on established,
> successful techniques? I'm particularly interested in
> feedback based on usability studies or published cognitive
> psychology work... "facts", not just personal preferences.
> (Please provide references, if any!)
I would be interested in any "usability studies or published cognitive
psychology work" myself - especially any methodolgy that would try to prove
that this nit makes a difference one way or the other.
This issue, like so many others, is an arbitrary style question. I find it
hard to believe that readers would pause over either construction because
it's confusing. The only rationale I have ever heard for deprecating "will"
is that the operations of hardware or software don't have a will. They only
do what they're designed to do in an "eternal present."
--Wayne Douglass
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