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Infinitive or command form

de Oŝo-Jabe, 2009-septembro-25

Mesaĝoj: 35

Lingvo: English

Oŝo-Jabe (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-25 22:52:25

Is there consensus on whether web-forms and buttons should use the infinitive or command form?

Like, should a button say "respondi" or "respondu"?

Miland (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-26 01:22:02

I would say that if one strongly wants the reader to do something, the imperative should be used. However if the matter is not so important, the infinitive may be suitable.

tommjames (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-26 10:20:10

If I recall correctly, the Esperanto version of Firefox (possibly the most prominent application that uses Esperanto at the moment) uses infinitive convention across the board for all option buttons and command buttons. Some other programs use imperative but of all the Esperanto programs and webpages I've seen neither method appeared to be significantly more popular.

I used infinitive form in my own program Tajpi just to follow Firefox and because I personally find the infinitive form more elegant.

ceigered (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-26 14:43:31

The -u form to me is more like commanding and telling the user what to do, therefore if you have two buttons (let's say, 'delete' and 'save' (forigi and savi if I'm correct?)), with the labels 'forigu' and 'savu', it's almost like giving the user two contradicting commands. Where as, if you use the -i form, it's giving them the choice of which button to press - it's almost like telling the user 'press here if you want to save' rather than 'Press here and save!'.

Therefore laux mia vidpunkto I'd say the infinitive is good for when ever you want to give the user a choice - meaning whenever you have multiple button-elements involved on a dialogue/on the screen (that way it's not drawing immediate attention to one button, which would defeat the purpose of giving them a choice anyway lango.gif), but when there is only one button, e.g. a dialogue saying that the program needs to close now (with only one option given being 'close now') then the imperative might be suitable.

I think the main crux of my point is that you have think about what you want your user to think or feel when they see their options.

Of course, where this theory gets me stuck is when you have a dialogue come up telling someone what to do - e.g. "If you want to save (se vi/oni volas savi), press here (klaku tie cxi)" - would that be right?

Miland (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-26 15:10:23

ceigered:.. when you have a dialogue come up telling someone what to do - e.g. "If you want to save (se vi/oni volas savi), press here (klaku tie cxi)" - would that be right?
Sounds all right to me.

ceigered (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-26 15:19:08

Miland:
ceigered:.. when you have a dialogue come up telling someone what to do - e.g. "If you want to save (se vi/oni volas savi), press here (klaku tie cxi)" - would that be right?
Sounds all right to me.
Cheers for the help ridulo.gif

horsto (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-26 16:21:01

ceigered:The -u form to me is more like commanding and telling the user what to do, therefore if you have two buttons (let's say, 'delete' and 'save' (forigi and savi if I'm correct?)), with the labels 'forigu' and 'savu', it's almost like giving the user two contradicting commands.
Yes, the -u form is like commanding, but the command is not directed at the user, estas male, the user commands the computer to save or delete (savu aŭ forigu).

Rogir (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-26 20:13:50

Then again, the esperanto translation of Firefox is very bad. Does anyone know who are in their translation team?

mnlg (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-26 20:35:27

I am partial to the imperative (-u). I think it is more effective.

Technically, a menu command labeled 'Save' in English would be an imperative too; otherwise it would need to be "To Save", right?

Momomomomo (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-26 21:11:05

Does anyone know languages that, unlike english, have different verb forms for imperative and infinitive do? Cause surely it would be best to base EO website/programs on that.

p.s. I had a look see what Lernu!(eo version) does and found "Sendi mesaĝon", "Legi la forumojn" and a lot of other infinatives but also on the home page "Subtenu lernu!" and "Informu amikon pri lernu!" so apparently being a little imposing with self-promotion.

p.p.s.
mnlg:Technically, a menu command labeled 'Save' in English would be an imperative too; otherwise it would need to be "To Save", right?
Meh, I think we english speakers are just too lazy to put "to" on the font of everything

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