atw: Re: Terminology for wizards

Microsoft's Manual of Style has been very useful, but I recently wrote
help for a touchscreen system, which is not covered in the style guide.
Tap and double-tap were easy, but the style of the interface made
precise instructions a bit harder. Unlike the good old days of dialog
boxes, most of the panes/panels/toolbars/whatevers were not named. In
places it had a central pane with multiple secondary panes opening
around it in any direction. It was fun.
 
cheers
Kath

________________________________

From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
jarris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, 10 July 2009 3:00 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Terminology for wizards



Sorry, I should have mentioned the edition. The quote was from the Third
Edition, Part 2 Usage Dictionary, under 'wizard' on page 374. Couldn't
find any mention of wizard pages anywhere else in the book.

As far as I know, the Third Edition was the last one published. I'm
hoping for a newer edition to cover the new Windows UI but have not been
able to ascertain whether there is one planned. Can anyone enlighten me
on this?

Cheers,
Jennifer


On Fri 10/07/09 1:46 PM , Howard Silcock howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx sent:


        Thank you to everyone who posted suggestions about this. I still
haven't made a final decision, but your advice will help me to do so. 
         
        I am torn between 'window' and 'page'. I was very interested in
Jennifer's post saying that the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical
Publications recommends 'page'. I must be using a different version, as
I scanned through it and couldn't find anything relevant.
         
        Howard


         
        2009/7/10 Ronald Tierney <ronald.tierney@xxxxxxxx>
        

                This is a pertinent question for me, as I'm documenting
wizards/assistants at the moment. There's a recommendation in our Style
Guide that we use 'page' to describe the individual
windows/screens/steps of the wizard, but this is not yet set in stone:

                 

                pages vs. windows

                <> Assistants, wizards and installers are made up of
pages (not windows). You click Next to

                go to the next page of the assistant, wizard or
installer.

                 

                'Page' makes sense if clicking next doesn't open an
entirely new window, but just some content and selection options change
(just like a book remains physically the same, but the content changes
from page to page). If the pages were numbered, I'd be inclined to argue
for 'step' or 'task' (ours aren't numbered). We also use 'Assistant',
rather than wizard, as this is both the product text term and is more
descriptive than the enigmatic 'wizard'. 

                 

                Ron Tierney
                Technical Writer
                MYOB Australia
                E  ronald.tierney@xxxxxxxx
<mailto:firstname.lastname@xxxxxxxx> 
                P  +613 9222 9992 ext 7545
                
                myob.com.au <http://myob.com.au/> 

                12 Wesley Court, Burwood East VIC 3151

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