Creating inch and metric tutorials?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Christine Capazzi wonders: <<My team and I are running into a sticky
situation with the printed tutorials for our CAD/CAM software. We have four
full-time writers and one part-time writer. We currently create 7 printed
tutorials (one for each product) using only inch parts, tools, and
parameters. Due to the increased level of business overseas (it now accounts
for 50% of our sales), we are becoming aware of a need for metric tutorials.
The interest is mainly coming from the international dealers who translate
our manuals after they are completed (each country's dealer does translation
- we just hand off the files when we're done) but the noise is increasing
from the rest of the world also.>>

In all likelihood, the optimal solution is to create two entirely separate
sets of examples (one metric, one imperial). Since you're already in the
process of translating and localizing your manuals, you should be able to
rely on the translators to address this problem for you. You didn't provide
specific examples of why it would be a problem to put metric equivalents
(accurate to, for example, two decimal places), but I assume the examples
are sufficiently complex that rounding errors would lead to problems with
parts interfering, not aligning, or not fitting together. One potentially
elegant solution would be to simply express the numbers as "units" instead
of (say) inches or centimetres; that way, one example will work perfectly
for everyone, no matter where they are in the world or what units (in. or
cm) they actually use. You might have a problem ifyou want the reader to
actually create a real part as part of the tutorial (because those who use
the imperial system will create a part 2.54 times the size of those using
the metric system), but since these are only examples, that shouldn't be a
real issue.

<<1. Create one version of each tutorial first (inch or metric) and then
convert to the other measurement system. This sounds great at first, but
means we have to maintain twice as many publications in the future. We could
farm out the conversion to an outside consultant, but still a big strain on
resources.>>

It also risks the problems that I've mentioned above with conversions
(rounding errors). Maintaining the publications shouldn't be a problem if
you leave creation of the second set of documents to the
translator/localizer, and provide clear guidelines on how to do the
translation (e.g., someone ***must*** check the results of the tutorial to
be sure the parts align, fit, etc.).

<<2. Create half the tutorial in inch and half in metric. Could be a good
compromise, but the tutorial chapters get more complex as they go on. We
wouldn't be duplicating the functionality we show in each half. And the
international customers would completely skip over the inch examples,
thereby missing important functionality that we're trying to teach.>>

This could elegantly turn the problem into an opportunity if you add a few
simple words at the beginning of each tutorial: "In an increasingly global
marketplace, every manufacturer must cope with the unpleasant reality of
working in two or more* measurement systems. To help you adapt to this
reality and to showcase the flexibility of our software, we've provided
examples in English and metric units in alternating chapters." I don't buy
your argument that "we wouldn't be duplicating the functionality", since the
goal of the tutorial is to show how to use the software (which menus to open
and which buttons to push), _not_ to teach people the imperial system. It
really doesn't matter what numbers the user enters for a part's dimensions,
so long as all the parts in the final diagram fit together.

* I said "or more" because unlike the metric system, the imperial system is
not a codified standard; consider, for example, the difference of nearly 10%
between U.S. and British gallons. I seem to recall comparable problems in
the "gauge" of various objects such as wire and screws.

<<3. Create manuals only in metric and let the few countries that use inches
fend for themselves.>>

Not a good solution. If you're concerned about your audiences, it makes more
sense to stick with the larger audience, which right now is your
imperialists. <g> And as NASA recently found out with Mars Explorer, simply
ignoring metric vs. imperial differences can lead to very expensive
problems, so you'd do better to pick a solution that avoids these problems.

--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
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