Re: Menu guidelines updated



When I have spoke with novice computer users and used the word 'disk' they invariably think of the floppy disk only. When I ask where is your file saved - they say "in the computer's memory".

I like the idea of "last saved" - perhaps "Open last saved" under the File menu.

Jon


James M. Cape wrote:

On 03 Aug 2001 06:43:01 -0500, James M. Cape wrote:

On 03 Aug 2001 03:52:17 -0700, Seth Nickell wrote:

"Reload from Disk" is also very descriptive, but it's usually better to
avoid mentioning physical parts of the system like "disks"-- the user
may have no idea their document is actually being stored on a disk, it
may just be somewhere "in the computer" or "on the network" as far as
they're concerned.  And in the case of Linux-based PDAs, for example,
your documents aren't really being stored on a disk in the conventional
sense anyway  :o)

"Reload from disk" in my mind fails to capture that your current changes
will be lost in favour of what was last saved. That the data is on disk
or otherwise is somewhat irrelevant.

-Seth

"Reload From Saved"?

I smell another opportunity for a user test :-)


I know, I know, not Emily Post to reply to one's own message, but I just
had an idea. Why call it revert or reload, or anything similar at all. I
just thought about what an average MS Word user would do if I handed
them a sheet that said

1. "Open the document, type <lots of text here>"
2. Now, make the document the same as when you opened it

I instantly imagined what most users would do:
Go to "Edit"/"Undo", repeating this until it was the same as when they
opened it. So why not put it in Edit? "Undo until last saved" or
something?

Just a thought :-)

   Jim Cape
   http://www.ignore-your.tv

   If the United States Government spent as much on education
   as it did on the military, every student could fail in a
   solid gold desk.


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