RE: Word list and select/click/tap/press/choose

My views are:

‘select’ and ‘choose’ should be used when picking from a group of options, such as a radio button set or a combobox.

‘press’ should be used in relation to keyboard interactions, such as “press the spacebar”.

For links and buttons, I use the word ‘operate’ because it is independent of the method of operation. Some people use ‘activate’, but that doesn’t seem right to me.

I only use ‘click’ or ‘tap’ if that is the specific method of operation that must be used.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd


From: Niklas Pivic <niklas.pivic@tink.com>
Sent: 15 September 2021 13:18
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Word list and select/click/tap/press/choose

Hi there!

I have two questions:

1. Does WAI have a word list similar to what ASD-STE100<https://asd-ste100.org> (Simplified Technical English) use?
2. For computer terms: do you think 'select' should be used instead of more specific ones like click, tap, press, and choose?

My second question is pretty biased; I like 'select' as it's fairly universal. To me, 'click' is only for computer mice, 'tap' and 'press' are for mobile devices, and 'choose' feels...fluffy.

Thanks!

Best regards,
Niklas Pivic