Designing buttons in a user guide

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A member of the Write the Docs Slack community asked for advice on designing buttons in a user guide. Her three options were:

  1. Quotes (e.g., Click “OK”)
  2. Brackets (e.g., Click [OK])
  3. Bold font (e.g., Click OK)

Everyone who responded advised the writer to use option three. This also corresponds to Microsoft Style Guide’s short article about the button. Microsoft Style Guide goes further and suggests we avoid using the word button in our writing, but if it’s necessary to add the word for clarity, button should be lowercase.