Controls: General rules

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When writing the steps of procedures, you often need to refer to a particular user interface control and to tell the users exactly what to do.

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Watch the order

Make it easy for the readers to follow your instructions step by step. Match the order of words with the sequence of steps that users must take to identify an object: When possible, first name the control, and then tell the reader what to do with the control.

No:

Click Save in the Options window.

Yes:

In the Options window, click Save.
(Readers must first find the “Options” window, and then find and click the “Save” button.)

Referring to a control

To refer to a particular control, quote its exact label text (including capitalization). If there are three periods at the end of a menu item’s name (an ellipsis), don’t include these periods.

Yes:

From the menu, choose File > Save As.

If an interface element doesn’t have any label, find an appropriate name yourself, and use this name consistently. Capitalize the name. For example, if there’s a button with a symbol that shows a magnifying glass, you could call it the “Search” button.

Yes:

Click the Search button.

In user documentation, avoid using the full technical names of user interface controls. Instead, refer to an element by its caption and a more common name such as list instead of drop-down list.

Yes:

In user documentation:
In the Font size list, select Large fonts.

Yes:

In developer documentation:
Add a drop-down list box to the form.

Selecting, choosing

Use select to refer to the action that users perform when they select among multiple options or objects.
Don’t use: choose, activate, mark

Exception: Use choose when referring to menu items (see Controls: Menus – Ribbons – Toolbars).

No:

Choose a name in the list of users.

Yes:

Select a name in the list of users.

Yes:

From the File menu, choose Print.

Also use select when users highlight text for editing. Selected text is highlighted.
Don’t use: mark, inverted

No:

Mark the text that you want to copy.

Yes:

Select the text that you want to copy.

Things that aren’t selected are unselected.
Don’t use: deselected, dehighlighted

You cancel a selection in general. You clear a check box in particular.
Don’t use: deselect, unmark

Enabling, disabling, activating

Use the terms enable, enabled, disable, and disabled only in developer documentation.

In user documentation, use turn on, turn off as general terms. If you’re talking about a particular control, use the specific term for that particular control. For example, use select or clear when talking about a check box.

No:

Disable your virus protection software.

Yes:

Turn off your virus protection software.

Yes:

Clear the Make backup check box.

No:

Make sure that the check box is enabled.

Yes:

Make sure that the check box is selected.

Unavailable items

In user documentation, refer to unavailable items as unavailable. In developer documentation, use disabled.

To describe the appearance of an unavailable item, use dimmed.

Don’t use: grayed, shaded (shaded is used when there’s a mixture of settings for a selection in a group of options)

Yes:

When working on a text document, image editing functions are unavailable.

Yes:

The command isn’t available because no picture is selected.

Yes:

Some commands may appear dimmed if they’re unavailable in your version.

Presets, defaults

In user documentation, use preset. In developer documentation, use default. See also regular / standard / default / preset.

Tip:
Often, the best solution is to avoid the words preset or default altogether.

Yes:

The preset format is HTML.

Top:

If you don’t select a format, the program saves as HTML.


Controls: Menus, Ribbons, Toolbars

Controls: Tabs, Groups

Controls: Buttons, Command links

Controls: Check boxes, Options

Controls: Fields, Boxes, Sliders

Controls: Lists

Controls: Taskbar, Status bars

Windows, messages

Mouse, touchscreen

Scrolling, zooming

Resizing, aligning

Deleting, cutting, pasting