Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote:
On 10/31/05, Timwi timwi@gmx.net wrote:
[...]. Maybe "click 'Save'" would be best.
Please don't ever tell people to click something in MediaWiki messages, not everybody browses with a mousepointer, say something like "follow the link" or "submit the form" etc.
I used to think that way too, but I've come to realise that people who don't use the mouse usually still understand what is meant by "click the button", while the people who *do* use mouse pointers - presumably on the order of 99% of people - wouldn't understand any other phrasing as clearly. Note that the word "click" doesn't actually imply a mouse; when you press Enter or Right-Arrow in lynx, you could just as well refer to that as "clicking a link".
So why doesn't lynx refer to it as "clicking"? Well, I think the main reason this opposition to the terminology "click" has developed, is that the people who use the keyboard by choice (rather than due to disability) tend to think of themselves as more competent computer users, and therefore tend to regard the mouse users as inferior. As a result, the suggestion to "click" something feels subtly condescending to them, so they get offended at it. I find this pattern of behaviour quite anti-social, so I don't want to reinforce it.
Timwi