Re: Captions for screen shots

["Taylor, Steve" <steve -dot- taylor -at- ALLEGIANCETELECOM -dot- COM>]

We had a rule of thumb in newspaper design that a caption (called a cutline
in newspaper lingo) should never be more than 1/3 the depth of the photo.
That may be a little excessive for technical documentation. How about 1/4?
Generally, I tend to make my captions on screen shots and technical drawings
a short lead-in with a description, such as:

Figure 1: The Main Menu is accessed with the XYZ button.

Anything else can be described in the text.

------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Taylor
Consultant for Technical Directions, Inc.
On location at:
Allegiance Telecom, Inc.
Dallas, TX
(214) 853-7182
steve -dot- taylor -at- allegiancetelecom -dot- com
http://www.alegiancetele.com
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mary McWilliams Johnson [SMTP:mary -at- SUPERCONNECT -dot- COM]
> Sent: Thursday, July 02, 1998 11:45 PM
> To:   TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject:      Re: Captions for screen shots
>
> Gee, Dick, I can't agree with your elaborate "captions." I'm sure
> everything you've written after the four-word label,  could easily be
> included in the text without losing any punch at all. From a formatting
> standpoint, long captions look funny (IMHO).
>
> Cordially,
>
>              =
>  ------------------------------=BA><=BA------------------------------
>                                  Mary McWilliams Johnson
>                                McJohnson Communications
>                                   Documentation Specialist
>                 Web Site Design, Development and Graphics
>                                   www.superconnect.com
>              =
>  ------------------------------=BA><=BA------------------------------
>
>
>
> At 05:59 PM 7/2/98 -0400, D. Margulis wrote:
> >Amy G. Peacock wrote:
> >>
> >> I have a doc with a number of screen shots in it. As I was editing it
> >> last night a thought occurred to me.
> >>
> >> For the captions for screen shots do you prefer to:
> >>
> >> 1) Describe the picture - what it is. As in, The Order Editing Form.
> >> 2) Describe what it does. As in, "Use the Order Editing form to change
> >>    your order."
> >> 3) Describe what the user is doing or should do when they see the
> >>    screen shot. As in. As in, "Viewing the Order Editing Form."
> >> 4) No captions at all.
> >>
> >> Amy Peacock
> >
> >
> >Amy,
> >
> >You are asking for personal preferences, so here are mine.
> >
> >[First, just to clarify terms, I am assuming that you are referring to
> >the legend, which we usually place below or to the side of a figure, and
> >which most people now call a caption. Right? A caption--the root word
> >means head, as in captain, chief, chef, kopf, etc.--is traditionally a
> >small headline that sits immediately above an illustration. But I
> >digress.]
> >
> >When I have the freedom to set the style for a publication, which I
> >usually do these days, I like to write long, informative legends, a la
> >Scientific American. In order to facilitate a short form in the list of
> >figures, I try always to begin with a brief fragment.
> >
> >So the result is something like this:
> >
> >Figure 3-7  The Order Editing form. [that's the end of the LOF listing]
> >Use the Order Editing form to change an order that has already been
> >submitted but that has not yet been filled. Use this form when a
> >customer calls to change an order or when the system returns an order to
> >you for corrections. Be sure to double-check your work, because once you
> >release the form it will return to its original position in the
> >processing queue and may be processed immediately. Note especially the
> >fields in the shaded box. These must be complete and accurate in order
> >to prevent further delays in filling the order.
> >
> >I also use callouts freely where I think they add clarity; but while the
> >legend may refer to the callouts, it does not duplicate them.
> >
> >Just my .02
> >
> >Dick Margulis
> >
> >
>
> ~
>