There's a very simple solution to this tab/page/pane bit, and at the
same time the docs could be somewhat less verbose and shorter...
Simply tell the user what to do without continually bringing up the
words page or tab (or dialog box, etc., ad nauseum). It's quite obvious
that the user will be entering data or otherwise doing something in a
window/page/pane/dialog box that appears as a consequence of doing
something that preceded it. Why do the manuals have to repeat over and
over again that a such and such GUI component appears or that
such-and-such is on some GUI part? All this verbosity is B-O-R-I-N-G, is
tedious to enter for the writer, and it merely takes up space.
Just tell the user to click on the name of the label/tab w/o using tab
or another such term, especially when it's totally obvious.
Gary
Michele Zarri wrote:
On 4/19/07, Gary Schnabl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
A tab is but a tiny part of a page or pane. A better term would be a
tabbed page or a tabbed pane. It wouldn't hurt to consult the Wiki or
something. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_%28GUI%29
In a procedural step, one might select a page from a group of other
pages by selecting its tab. But, one doesn't enter data into the tab
because the tab is merely the tiny part of the page used for labelling
or for selecting it. Information is (and choices to be made are) located
on pages, not tabs.
It's really quite simple...
Gary
Hello Gary,
I guess both Paul and I know the difference between the meaning of the
words
tab and page, but the issue (if I can call it so) is more what the user
associates with the word in this context. In my experience, as
semantically
wrong as it can be, people happily say "Change the value in the xxx tab",
"Go to the xxx tab" and so on. It does not matter if what they really
mean
is page.
So the user guide should strive to get the procedures approachable for
the
average user and therefore I think that tab is a better choice.
Cheers,
Michele
