Re: SUMMARY: Choosing a menu option

["Huber, Mike" <mrhuber -at- SOFTWARE -dot- ROCKWELL -dot- COM>]

Decipherable isn't good enough. Sure, they could figure it out, but I
want to make it so easy for my readers that they forget they even read
it. Heck, %99 of what I write, the reader could figure out by playing
with the software long enough. The value I add is in making it easy.

My preference is for the "File | Open" format, but it's more important
(in this case) to be consistent than to be right, so I do what the rest
of my company does, which is what the MMoS says: "On the File menu,
click Open."

Mike Huber
mike -dot- huber -at- software -dot- rockwell -dot- com

>-----Original Message-----
>From:  James Lockard [SMTP:norton -at- mcs -dot- net]
>
>I'm surprised so many technical writers dismiss the "Choose Message from
>the Create menu" format based soley on the word sequence. Are our
>readers really so simple that they cannot determine the order that short
>sentence conveys? I hope not. IMHO, the format, "Choose X from the Y
>menu," is the most clear and direct way to convey the thought. If your
>audience is going to get tripped up by the word sequence, perhaps,
>"Choose [menu title]>[menu item]" would be a better option.
>

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