Action Verbs
Standard Action Verbs for Web Apps
- Navigate: use when moving around a page or going to a feature (e.g., "Navigate to the Settings icon").
- Search for: use in conjunction with another action (e.g., "Search for an applicant" or "Search for and select an applicant").
- Select: use when interacting with an item in a list (e.g., "Select Yes from the Payment Received drop-down"), radio button, or checkbox.
- Click: use when interacting with a button, menu, tab, or panel (e.g., "Click the Settings menu"). Always omit "on" when using this action (e.g., "Click the Applicant panel" instead of "Click on the Applicant panel").
- Enter: use when inputting content in a text field (e.g., "Enter a title for the feature").
- Drag or Drag and drop: use when moving an item from one location to another (e.g., "Drag the item to set a sort order" or "Drag and drop the field into the export").
- Add: primarily for Time2Track; use with directions that involve a user adding information to Time2Track such as activities, faculty, supervisors, etc. (e.g., "add an activity" instead of "log an activity").
- Create: use an introduction to a set of steps. Alternatively, if running a training, use to direct users to a multi-step process.
Standard Action Verbs for Mobile Apps
These are borrowed from the Apple Style Guide.
- Tap: quickly touch and release to select a control or item; equivalent to clicking on a Mac (e.g., Tap the song you want to play).
- Drag: move one finger across the screen or trackpad to scroll through items, drag items or controls, or pan around items (e.g., Drag to scroll through your list of songs, Drag the slider to adjust the brightness, Drag to see other parts of the map).
- Swipe: quickly slide one or more fingers across the screen or trackpad to reveal controls or to scroll through documents, lists, or groups of items. Implies a less controlled motion than dragging (e.g., Swipe over the note and tap Delete, Swipe left or right to move between dates).
- Pinch: move two fingers together or apart to zoom out or in (e.g., Pinch to zoom in on the page).
- Rotate: use two fingers to rotate images and other items (e.g., Rotate to change the photo’s orientation).
- Touch and hold: touch the screen or trackpad and hold until something happens (for example, the view is magnified, an item becomes editable, or a control appears) (e.g., Touch and hold a book, and then drag it to a new position on the bookshelf, Touch and hold a location on the map).
