Subject: How about "Save Copy As..." ?
From: Emswiler, Mike (mikee@protrader.com)
Date: Thu Aug 23 2001 - 13:40:08 CDT
Just my $0.02 worth:
It seems to me that it should be "Save Copy As..." instead of "Save Copy",
and that "Import/Open Copy..." should just be combined into the normal
"Open..." feature.
As a user, I would expect "Open" to open any file format if it could
automatically be determined, and prompt me (perhaps with a preview of the
contents) if it cannot determine the format. If additional UI is presented
as a result of it being a non-native format, that's okay with me.
Thanks,
MikeE
-----Original Message-----
From: Nils Barth [mailto:nils_barth@post.harvard.edu]
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2001 1:04 PM
To: rob.campbell@att.net
Cc: abiword-dev@abisource.com; abiword-user@abisource.com
Subject: Re: Suggestion: Change "Export..." to "Save Copy..."
On 2001-08-23-14:08, rob.campbell@att.net wrote:
> You have it right, with the addition that both functions
> allow the file to be saved in a different format. In
> the case of "Save As...", the format of the working
> document changes. So if I "Save As..." TEST.ABW to
> TEST.RTF, the next time I use plain old "Save", it will
> also save as RTF. In the case of "Export...", the
> format of the working document does not change.
>
> I still prefer the clarity of "Save
> Copy...". "Export..." is confusing to some users, and I
> doubt they are of the church secretary variety. The
> only advantage that "Export..." has is that there is a
> parallel "Import..." command. And I don't see why that
> couldn't be changed to "Open Copy...".
Could I second this?
I mentioned this before (suggesting one change `Export/Import...' to
`Export/Import Copy...'), and `Save Copy.../Open Copy...' seem more
transparent.
Saying "We'll just have good documentation" is a cop-out -- functions
should have clear names if possible: documentation is support for
good design, not replacement.
If obscure names didn't matter, we could call these functions `Z:Z:Z:'
and `QMQMQM', and have people look it up in the documentation.
That is, `Open Copy...' `Save Copy...' give the user a very good idea
of what the menuitem will do, one which can be
confirmed/clarified/supported by the documentation, while
`Import'/`Export' are unclear and require that one guess, and then
check out the help system.
For the record, I had to experiment with the `Import' function in
order to figure what it did.
-- -nils
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