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Are any of you software tech writers involved in assisting with the GUI of
your software (beyond finding typos)?
My previous experience was that programmers jealously guarded this arena and
wanted no input. However . . .
. . . I am finding quite a few issues at my current company and have made
noise (I do that). I'm not really getting anywhere other than a polite "yes,
take notes, we must have a meeting on that . . ." with one exception: I
pitched a minor fit because there are no guidelines for making minor GUI
changes, such as renaming buttons, tabs, etc., and adding and deleting
buttons and the like from the GUI. Part of my point was that even though
such changes did not affect the operation and stability of the software
function, such changes should be made a big deal to prevent just anyone from
casually making such changes. To help make my point, I noted the eight hours
of capturing screens that I had to re-do because one button was changed and
another added in (no function was added). I further suggested that the GUI
should become unchangeable, or set in stone, at some defined and *announced*
point prior to shipping--and I recommended that such a date be more than a
week before shipping <vbg>. Since then, I have been asked my opinion on two
last-minute changes to software I'm not yet documenting <vbg>. This seems to
be symptomatic of small software companies that boast a "flat" management
structure (rather than hierarchical). Thoughts and experiences in this area
are welcome.
Anyway, my point here is not to rant and rave but to ask: what do you think
is a reasonable limit on the number of words and characters used to label a
GUI feature, such as a button, tab, text field, etc? Can anyone offer a
reference tome on this (I couldn't find any info in the Windows Interface
Guidelines for Software Design, but might have missed it)? I'm thinking
along the lines of three words and 25 characters at most. Thoughts?
