Do you "hit" or "press" a button?
I am currently writing an user manual for a software tool, providing step-by-step usage instructions. I am aware that pressing a button is a perfectly fine expression. However, I'm trying to find synonyms for the term.
Hitting the button came to my mind, but this is something I more or less associate with, say, hitting the answer button on a game show. That is to say, a fast, maybe almost violent motion. Is this applicable to the simple (non-violent) clicking of a mouse button?
To clarify the question in terms of platform and OS: The software is designed solely for PCs and (so far) exclusively for Microsoft Windows.
Apart from that, I'd be happy about any suggestions of further synonyms for the term, if you know any.
When it comes to software, you always click, "hitting" and "pressing" are physical actions,but software is strictly virtual, so you always "click!" a button in a software.
You may Press or hit a key but always click a button on the software.
So in your software manual, when you are specifying physical actions, like maybe, using the keyboard, then "press" or "hit", both can be appropriate eg. press the Enter key or hit the Enter key.
But in a software I feel click or select feels most appropriate eg. click the Refresh button or Select refresh
According to the Microsoft Manual of Style (4th Edition), the correct term is click.
Click: Use for commands, command buttons, option buttons, and options in a list, gallery, or palette.
Since this question specifies that the documentation is for Windows, I would consider the MS Manual of Style authoritative in this situation.
Language lags behind technology.
I find it interesting to see that languages do not always keep pace with technological advances: for instance, you can still say
turn on the light
and
switch on the light
when the device enabling you to do so has long ceased to be something you turn or some kind of see-sawing switch, or an up-or-down switch, but a button you press, so
*press on the light
would be the appropriate verb, if we really wanted to describe what is actually happening.