atw: Ellipsis
- From: "Petra Liverani" <petsky@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 09:43:33 +1100
> Anyway, does anyone know of the significance of using an elipses ( ...) I
> have seen them at the end of menu items, tooltips, popup windows and
dialog
> boxes. There does not seem to be any consistency about its usage. Some
> terms such as Save ... or New ... use it while others such as Sort don't.
> It seems to be especially popular by programers when naming popup windows
> and dialog boxes. I find that they do not add anything to the
documentation
> but added clutter. Did you include them when naming menu items and
windows
> or leave them out? Should we get rid of them altogether?
Hi Ilana,
The ellipsis indicates that clicking the item will take you to a dialog box.
No ellipsis indicates clicking the button will actually perform the
function. The ellipsis performs the function of letting you know that simply
clicking the item is not going to do anything and another step is required
before a function is performed. If they're not sure what they're doing it
can make the user feel safe that they won't perform a function by simply
clicking the button. I have worked on a system (Documentum) where the
ellipsis was not used like this and I found it a bit disconcerting but when
I mentioned it out to other people they hadn't noticed and it didn't bother
them.
Regards,
Petra
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