tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Dec 04 04:30:36 1995

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Re: Colors? What colors?

• From: [email protected] (Alan Anderson)
• Subject: Re: Colors? What colors?
• Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 07:31:07 -0500

I wrote:
>We mustn't forget that {qIj}, {Doq}, and {SuD} are VERBS, not nouns.
>Perhaps the menu items should be {qIjmoH}, {DoqmoH}, etc.?

peHruS writes:
>I have no problem using single-word verbs in a computer menu.  I see a lot of
>it in English.
>
>Cancel.

A verb like "Cancel" is an action done by the person choosing from the menu.
Open, Print, Undo, Find, Resend, Empty Trash... they're all like that.  Put
an imperative "you" as the subject and they become complete sentences.  Now
try it with "be black" or "be big" -- the pattern is broken.  These simple
verbs apply to the selection, not to the user.  Change them to "make black"
("cause to be black") and "make large" ("cause to be large") and the pattern
of user-as-subject is restored.

A lot of what I do for a living is user-interface stuff.  I've spent a lot
of time dealing with issues like consistency within a menu structure.  I'm
not just speaking off-the-cuff here.  This is something I've put some real
thought into.

-- ghunchu'wI'               batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj

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