RE: simply (was: Reading Humor - makes angry)

[Sanjay Srikonda <SSrikonda -at- invlink -dot- com>]

I write Help now for a very vertical market 401k defined-contribution
software package.  The audience I write for is very savvy on HOW the
business works, and how their job function is supposed to get things done.
I've yet to find a user who can "simply" print a statement.  

I never take into consideration that any user, no matter HOW savvy they may
be will know how to do anything at all.  While this may mean that I'm
overexplaining even the most basic functions, I imagine that the more savvy
ones will start from the Index or simply ignore the simple explanation and
find what they're looking for any way.  

On a personal anecdote, I had to refer to a manual for something that should
have been simple in concept to do, something I'd forgotten HOW to do because
I "simply" hadn't done it in so long, well, I was grateful to the manual for
being so pedantic and explaining the most minute and obvious detail to me.


But, that's IMHO and the way I work.

-----Original Message-----
From: Sharon Deitch [mailto:sharon -at- sintecmedia -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2000 11:14 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: simply (was: Reading Humor - makes angry)

I confess to using "simply" when the procedure is, in fact, simple for the
user to do.  I wouldn't use it in a troubleshooting guide, or even a
tutorial.  But in a reference manual, or somewhere else where I was
describing functionality (as in marketing text), I think it's acceptable.
The message (I hope!) it sends is that the software does the task in
question and requires minimal effort from the user.

Shalom from Jerusalem,
Sharon

Sharon Deitch
Technical Writer
SintecMedia
sharon -at- sintecmedia -dot- com

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