Barbara Duprey wrote: > > I have another problem with the enabled/disabled terminology -- I think it > can easily be > misunderstood as modifiable/unmodifiable (available/"grayed out"). This > terminology is not in common > use and I think it would be more confusing than helpful. Often "click" > would be a reasonable > substitute, but I have no problem with "select" and definitely prefer it > for options in a list, for > example. >
"select" is a synonym for "choose" and would be applicable for a drop-down combo-box or a set of radio buttons. But for checking/unchecking a check box, it is simply the wrong word. You are not selecting one option from all of them on the page; you are individually turning each option on or off. I agree, "disabled" is used for graying out a menu item, at least in the Win32 API. Popular use is just "grayed out" though. "clicking" a check box does not mean "ensure it is checked." The action of clicking it will probably toggle it. It is correct to click a button, though. How about "check"? Well, as a verb it means "hinder or restrain" so un-checking the Foo option will check the operation of Foo. Or it means "inspect" which will find out what it is; so you want to check your margin settings when setting up the page. So, don't use "check" to mean "mark" as a verb, in this context. The text in the document that you indicate by swiping the mouse is "The Selection", and you select some text before hitting the "bold" tool, for example. Selecting a named item from a combo-box is acceptable usage. I think we should focus on explaining what the various options indicate, rather than directing the user to click on them or saying that the effect would happen if the user enabled them. That is to be understood: just state the effect itself! I just went to another program at random: the context help for the Options page on Firefox reads, "When this option is enabled, Firefox will..." On Notepad++, "Check the option to ..." On XYplorer, some don't use a state or verb, just lists the meaning without preamble. Others use check/uncheck. 7-zip: on the file manager options, most of the time doesn't use any preamble. E.g. "Displays gridlines around items and subitems." Some uses of "select". The rest use "enabled". Foxit reader: on the printing help, "select" is followed by " from a list". No preamble for options explanations, but they are mostly radio buttons. So, I think there is lots of competition against "select" to mean "mark on". --John -- View this message in context: http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Terminology-selecting-is-not-enough-tp2507713p2524076.html Sent from the Documentation mailing list archive at Nabble.com. -- Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to documentation+h...@libreoffice.org List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/www/documentation/ *** All posts to this list are publicly archived for eternity ***
