[Sigia-l] most understandable phrasing

[Anders]

--- Stephanie Berger <drbambiberger at msn.com> wrote:

> 2.  I am looking for information regarding how best
> to describe/phrase a 
> request to users for their credit card security code
> found on the back of 
> the credit card (or on front in case of AmEx), as my
> colleagues fear that 
> users will impart a pin number accidentally. They'd
> prefer to avoid using an 
> image description showing where this number resides.

What's wrong with an image description?  This has
become fairly standard to communicate these
instructions, specifically because a text-only
instruction will likely need to be lenghty, which is a
death sentence for instructions on the web.


> 
> 3. What phrasing do you use for “html email” and
> “plain text email”?  

I think Yahoo's phrasing is best: "Plain" and "Color
and Graphics" since it focuses on the features
available to the use rather than on the underlying
technology, generally a good principle to follow.

> 
> 4. Where do you go when you are unsure how to phrase
> something on the web 
> and you need it ASAP?
I usually look first at how others are phrasing it on
the web and then see if I can maybe improve on what
I've found.  In some future world, perhaps there will
be standard phrases for common activities on the web...