UI text that refers to UI labels/controls - Correct usage

ello,

My question is slightly outside the realm of this forum, but it's the closest.

What is the correct usage and format when referring to a UI control label?

Do I bold (or not) the name of the control in the UI string? For instance,
say I have a control label called "Settings." In the UI text that describes
the procedure that involves the control, do I write:

"To configure your system, click <bold>Settings.</bold>"

or

"To configure your system, click Settings."

In XP the UI procedure text that refers to the control is not bold. Is there
a style for Vista? Again, keep in mind that I'm not asking about the control
label style, but the UI procedure string that refers to the control.

Thanks.

Ahh, I've done a little experiment...

Check this out... it's an earlier build, but it's still the same layout in
5342. I wrote a standard little app. but designed for XP, and look how well
it comes out in Vista... it's as if it knows exactly what to do!
http://www.vistabase.co.uk/welcome.p...ns/currentapps

--
Zack Whittaker
» ZackNET Enterprises: www.zacknet.co.uk
» MSBlog on ResDev: www.msblog.org
» Vista Knowledge Base: www.vistabase.co.uk
» This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
rights. All opinions expressed are those of myself unless stated so, and not
of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
that up!


--- Original message follows ---
"phoy" <phoy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7D77B463-2154-4A10-AE3E-D445549AA412@microsoft.com...
> ello,
>
> My question is slightly outside the realm of this forum, but it's the
> closest.
>
> What is the correct usage and format when referring to a UI control label?
>
> Do I bold (or not) the name of the control in the UI string? For instance,
> say I have a control label called "Settings." In the UI text that
> describes
> the procedure that involves the control, do I write:
>
> "To configure your system, click <bold>Settings.</bold>"
>
> or
>
> "To configure your system, click Settings."
>
> In XP the UI procedure text that refers to the control is not bold. Is
> there
> a style for Vista? Again, keep in mind that I'm not asking about the
> control
> label style, but the UI procedure string that refers to the control.
>
> Thanks.

Thanks, Zack, for the reply, but I couldn't see where the link addressed my
question.

Thanks,
Paul

------

"Zack Whittaker (R2 Mentor)" wrote:

> Ahh, I've done a little experiment...
>
> Check this out... it's an earlier build, but it's still the same layout in
> 5342. I wrote a standard little app. but designed for XP, and look how well
> it comes out in Vista... it's as if it knows exactly what to do!
> http://www.vistabase.co.uk/welcome.p...ns/currentapps
>
> --
> Zack Whittaker
> » ZackNET Enterprises: www.zacknet.co.uk
> » MSBlog on ResDev: www.msblog.org
> » Vista Knowledge Base: www.vistabase.co.uk
> » This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights. All opinions expressed are those of myself unless stated so, and not
> of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
> that up!
>
>
> --- Original message follows ---
> "phoy" <phoy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:7D77B463-2154-4A10-AE3E-D445549AA412@microsoft.com...
> > ello,
> >
> > My question is slightly outside the realm of this forum, but it's the
> > closest.
> >
> > What is the correct usage and format when referring to a UI control label?
> >
> > Do I bold (or not) the name of the control in the UI string? For instance,
> > say I have a control label called "Settings." In the UI text that
> > describes
> > the procedure that involves the control, do I write:
> >
> > "To configure your system, click <bold>Settings.</bold>"
> >
> > or
> >
> > "To configure your system, click Settings."
> >
> > In XP the UI procedure text that refers to the control is not bold. Is
> > there
> > a style for Vista? Again, keep in mind that I'm not asking about the
> > control
> > label style, but the UI procedure string that refers to the control.
> >
> > Thanks.
>
>
>

Sorry... if you design it as if it was an XP application... when transported
onto Vista, it should take the theme settings automatically )

--
Zack Whittaker
» ZackNET Enterprises: www.zacknet.co.uk
» MSBlog on ResDev: www.msblog.org
» Vista Knowledge Base: www.vistabase.co.uk
» This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
rights. All opinions expressed are those of myself unless stated so, and not
of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
that up!


--- Original message follows ---
"phoy" <phoy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F080DD0B-90EC-4023-911D-9BEC93FB5539@microsoft.com...
> Thanks, Zack, for the reply, but I couldn't see where the link addressed
> my
> question.
>
> Thanks,
> Paul
>
> ------
>
> "Zack Whittaker (R2 Mentor)" wrote:
>
>> Ahh, I've done a little experiment...
>>
>> Check this out... it's an earlier build, but it's still the same layout
>> in
>> 5342. I wrote a standard little app. but designed for XP, and look how
>> well
>> it comes out in Vista... it's as if it knows exactly what to do!
>> http://www.vistabase.co.uk/welcome.p...ns/currentapps
>>
>> --
>> Zack Whittaker
>> » ZackNET Enterprises: www.zacknet.co.uk
>> » MSBlog on ResDev: www.msblog.org
>> » Vista Knowledge Base: www.vistabase.co.uk
>> » This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
>> rights. All opinions expressed are those of myself unless stated so, and
>> not
>> of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
>> that up!
>>
>>
>> --- Original message follows ---
>> "phoy" <phoy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:7D77B463-2154-4A10-AE3E-D445549AA412@microsoft.com...
>> > ello,
>> >
>> > My question is slightly outside the realm of this forum, but it's the
>> > closest.
>> >
>> > What is the correct usage and format when referring to a UI control
>> > label?
>> >
>> > Do I bold (or not) the name of the control in the UI string? For
>> > instance,
>> > say I have a control label called "Settings." In the UI text that
>> > describes
>> > the procedure that involves the control, do I write:
>> >
>> > "To configure your system, click <bold>Settings.</bold>"
>> >
>> > or
>> >
>> > "To configure your system, click Settings."
>> >
>> > In XP the UI procedure text that refers to the control is not bold. Is
>> > there
>> > a style for Vista? Again, keep in mind that I'm not asking about the
>> > control
>> > label style, but the UI procedure string that refers to the control.
>> >
>> > Thanks.
>>
>>
>>

My guess would be no. One reference to a control I could find, from a
cursory glance thru the XP UI, was "click Customize" in the Regional
Settings Control Panel applet. That text is unbolded in the Vista version as
well. Many of Vista's dialogs are still layed out in the XP style so I doubt
there would be a change there. And I think the idea behind the task oriented
"Vista" style UI's like the new Control Panel would discourage phrases
refering to controls anyways. I think instead you would just have a
"Configure Settings" link somewhere off in the margins of the dialog.

In case you weren't aware, the (incomplete) Vista UX Guidelines are
available here :
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/?u...asp?frame=true



"phoy" <phoy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7D77B463-2154-4A10-AE3E-D445549AA412@microsoft.com...
> ello,
>
> My question is slightly outside the realm of this forum, but it's the
> closest.
>
> What is the correct usage and format when referring to a UI control label?
>
> Do I bold (or not) the name of the control in the UI string? For instance,
> say I have a control label called "Settings." In the UI text that
> describes
> the procedure that involves the control, do I write:
>
> "To configure your system, click <bold>Settings.</bold>"
>
> or
>
> "To configure your system, click Settings."
>
> In XP the UI procedure text that refers to the control is not bold. Is
> there
> a style for Vista? Again, keep in mind that I'm not asking about the
> control
> label style, but the UI procedure string that refers to the control.
>
> Thanks.

I see that you got the opposite answer over in the web forums*. Note that
answer was for documentation, not for text in the UI itself. Which one were
you referring to?

* http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/Sho...24248&SiteID=1