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RE: Subject: RE: Example of effective tech writing
Subject:RE: Subject: RE: Example of effective tech writing From:kanerb -at- concentric -dot- net To:"Jennifer laiks" <jlaiks -at- prioritycall -dot- com>, "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 22 Mar 2000 08:41:05 -0700
Definitely.
I wouldn't have written it that way myself, but I thought it was cute.
Illustrations are always better...except in one case, which happened to me.
I was to document a tape backup drive, made by another company, that we were
marketing along with our tape backup software. The first thing I did was
install this internal tape drive myself, not by reading the instructions but
by following the diagram that showed how the connectors should be attached.
When I turned my computer back on, it got fried. Why? The drawing showed the
connector going on upside down. Unfortunately, it was a type of connector
that actually could be plugged in either way. I contacted the co. that
produced the machine and in a few days, they acknowledged that it did show
the connector going on the wrong way. So I went into Adobe Illustrator,
changed the drawing, then used it in my docs.
Beth Kane
Senior Communications Specialist
PersonalGenie Inc.
Tucson, Arizona
kanerb -at- concentric -dot- net
-----Original Message-----
I think you have a good point, but I'm curious if the informal language
would confuse the many people in the tech industry in the US who come from
other countries. I think an illustration would be much clearer than a
cultural reference or a colloquialism.
