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Subject:Re: They don't need our stinkin' manuals? From:Jo Francis Byrd <jbyrd -at- byrdwrites -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 27 Dec 2000 14:20:34 -0600
It's ironic that so many of us who write instructions for a living rebel at reading
directions ourselves, and grumble and grouse when are forced to consult them as a
last resort. When we do consult them, snarling and surly, we want to find the
information immediately. We want it to be clear, concise, easy to follow - and we
want it to work.
That's the way I write directions. I do my best to make them clear, concise, to the
point, no extraneous verbiage, but leave nothing out. I write the kind of
directions I want to see, to follow. If the user needs them, they're there!
Jo Byrd
kelli -dot- lewis -at- onyxgfx -dot- com wrote:
> In grad school I was given an assignment to turn in a piece of work that I had
> been editing throughout the semester. I turned in a user's manual that I had
> been collaboratively writing at work. After grading the manual, the instructor
> handed it back to me with the comment "I'd hate to think I was spending my life
> writing material that everyone is just going to throw on a shelf to collect
> dust." On the first page, he had written "well written but extremely dull."
>
> After 4 years of tech writing, my paycheck is still coming in regularly and
> growing...I'd rather be flayed alive and rolled in salt than read instructions of
> any kind. I take my job seriously enough to write manuals as though the user's
> life depends upon what is between those covers...what they do with them is
> entirely up to them.
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