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.
Subject:Re: MS Manual of Style, disagreements with From:"Wayne J. Douglass" <wayned -at- VERITY -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 9 Jun 1997 09:54:18 -0700
At 08:34 AM 6/9/97 -0700, Yvonne DeGraw wrote:
>I now use the MS Manual of Style for most things. But I've found several
>places where I disagree. Here's my pet disagreement...
>
>MS says for menu commands, use one of these (File & Open are bold):
>
> On the File menu, click Open.
> From the File menu, choose Open.
>
>An alternative I've used and gotten excellent user feedback on is:
>
> Choose File-->Open.
>
>(File-->Open is bold and --> is a Wingding character or an image.)
>
The popular computer press (PC Computing, PC World, for example) uses a
variation on this style, which I happen to like as well even though our
house style at work doesn't recommend it. I always like seeing the Menu term
come first. One of our other writers prefers the option first (for example,
"Select Open from the File menu") which I always have to unpack into the
order I prefer.
--Wayne Douglass
=========================================================
Verity, Inc. mailto: wayned -at- verity -dot- com
894 Ross Drive Telephone: 408-542-2139
Sunnyvale, CA 94089 Facsimile: 408-542-2040
Connecting People with Information: http://www.verity.com
=========================================================
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html