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Subject:Re: Use of the word "the" in figure captions From:"Huber, Mike" <mrhuber -at- SOFTWARE -dot- ROCKWELL -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 13 Jul 1998 15:08:29 -0400
Well, if you suspect it makes enough difference to be worth it, hie ye to ye
olde Usabilitie Laboratorie.
Short of that, nab a couple of books of your shelf, and see what works.
"ForeHelp 2.95" - uses no captions.
"Visual Basic Getting Started" (for version 5.0) - Uses "The" sometimes.
Some captions are in more of an active descriptive style. E.g. "Visual Basic
activates the Internet"
"Mastering Windows 95 Help" (Blue Sky Software) - "The" appears in captions
rarely. Some pictures have a full sentence or two, others a fragment
followed by a period. Some have no captions.
"Microsoft Jet Database Engine Programmer's Guide" - Lots of "the" but not
absolutely every caption.
These are examples picked on the basis of being reasonably easy to grab from
where I sit, not any judgement on the merits of the caption styles.
The Microsoft Manual of Style says there are two kinds of captions, "Title"
and "Descriptive." Title captions should be concise, use initial cap style,
and no end punctuation. I would assume that means, usually, no "the."
My own work rarely includes captions. Most of the time, I'm showing a screen
object that includes text, so the caption is kind of built-in. And I often
use callouts. I very rarely have to refer to art - it's almost always right
next to the text that talks about it.
---
Office:
mike -dot- huber -at- software -dot- rockwell -dot- com
Home:
nax -at- execpc -dot- com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Barb Ostapina [SMTP:Barb -dot- Ostapina -at- METROMAIL -dot- COM]
> Sent: Monday, July 13, 1998 12:58 PM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject: Re: Use of the word "the" in figure captions
>
> Kathy Stanzler wrote:
>
> > There's a difference of opinion between myself and my supervisor over
> > the use of the word "The" in figure captions, as in "The such-and-such
> > dialog box." He wants the word "the" removed, I think it should stay.
> > I
> > looked it up in the MS Manual of Style and found support for my
> > opinion.
> > I would appreciate other opinions on this.
> >
> >
> I, like others on this list, do not use "the" in captions. But, once
> again,
> it seems that anything goes as long as you're consistent.
> I recommend that if your boss wants it out, take it out. You have to pick
> your battles in this world, and this one hardly seems
> worth the fight.
> --B
> barb -dot- ostapina -at- metromail -dot- com
> ...speaking only for myself.
>
> ~
>
