Ellipsis in gadget and menu labels

[trixie]

@nbache

Sounds like a fine compromise to me . Thanks!

This is the current wording from my article, which will eventually end up in the updated Style Guide:

"Commands the execution of which requires the user to provide further information should always indicate this with an ellipsis at the end of the label. Also, if the programmer wants to specifically indicate that there will be an opportunity to cancel (for instance, in delete-type operations), the ellipsis can be used. The user may feel safer clicking on unfamiliar commands if he/she knows they just bring up a requester."

[nbache]

"Commands the execution of which requires the user to provide further information should always indicate this with an ellipsis at the end of the label. Also, if the programmer wants to specifically indicate that there will be an opportunity to cancel (for instance, in delete-type operations), the ellipsis can be used. The user may feel safer clicking on unfamiliar commands if he/she knows they just bring up a requester."

Looks fine to me.

You may need a couple of commas (or maybe a different sentence structure altogether?) at the start, e.g. "Commands, the execution of which requires the user to provide further information, should ...".

Edit: Maybe somthing like: "Commands which will request further information from the user when executed, should ..."?

Maybe someone with native English skills could make a suggestion about how to make it easier to read?

But as for the meaning: Thumbs up!

Best regards,

Niels

[trixie]

@nbache

You may need a couple of commas (or maybe a different sentence structure altogether?) at the start, e.g. "Commands, the execution of which requires the user to provide further information, should ...".

That would be incorrect syntactically. "the execution of which..." is a restrictive relative clause so it cannot be surrounded by commas. Anyway, I chose a different wording now:

"Commands that require the user to provide further information before they execute should always indicate this with an ellipsis at the end of the label."

Better I suppose?

[nbache]

That would be incorrect syntactically. "the execution of which..." is a restrictive relative clause so it cannot be surrounded by commas.

In English? Hmm, you might be right, but it sure looked strange to me.

Anyway, I chose a different wording now:

"Commands that require the user to provide further information before they execute should always indicate this with an ellipsis at the end of the label."

Better I suppose?

Definitely .

Best regards,

Niels

[xenic]

That would be incorrect syntactically. "the execution of which..." is a restrictive relative clause so it cannot be surrounded by commas. Anyway, I chose a different wording now:

"Commands that require the user to provide further information before they execute should always indicate this with an ellipsis at the end of the label."

There are probably dozens of ways to convey your meaning but here is my version:

Commands requiring further information before executing should always be terminated with an ellipsis.