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Subject:Re: the in captions? From:"Huber, Mike" <mrhuber -at- SOFTWARE -dot- ROCKWELL -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 14 Jul 1998 09:02:59 -0400
"The File dialog box" implies that there is just one, and this is it. "File
dialog box" does not make that implication. Without the "the," this is just
one of a class of objects called "File dialog box." There may only be one
instance of the class, but we are still talking about a potentially larger
group.
This particular example is kind of interesting in this regard. In Microsoft
Windows, there is a built in file dialog that can be called, instead of each
program building one from scratch. From the programming perspective, it's
"the File dialog." There is only one. But there are some parameters that the
programmer sets for each specific situation, that make it act a little
differently. For example, the kind of files that it displays, the text at
the top, and whether to allow the user to specify a new file name (for a
Save operation) or require the user to select an existing file (for an Open
operation). Furthermore, the user is attempting to accomplish different
tasks, so perhaps from the user's perspective it should be "a File dialog."
It depends.
---
Office:
mike -dot- huber -at- software -dot- rockwell -dot- com
Home:
nax -at- execpc -dot- com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Janice Gelb [SMTP:janiceg -at- MARVIN -dot- ENG -dot- SUN -dot- COM]
> Sent: Monday, July 13, 1998 7:24 PM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject: Re: the in captions?
>
> Max Wyss wrote:
> >
> > Agreed, if there are several File dialog boxes the "the" does not get
> much
> > more specific. However, the "File dialog box" would stand for "A File
> > dialog box", where I understand it to be an example for a File dialog
> box,
> > and where it does not matter that much whether the illustration
> completely
> > fits the description in the surrounding text.
> >
> > The caption text is the context for the illustration, but it still
> depends
> > on the context where the illustration (with the caption) is placed
> within
> > the document.
> >
>
> I still don't understand the distinction here -- what makes
> "The File dialog box" more distinct than "File dialog box"
> when both are appearing as a caption directly under the
> illustration of a file dialog box? What would the
> surrounding text have in it that would make a difference?
>
