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Subject:Chapters in Online Help? From:"Hager, Harry (US - East Brunswick)" <hhager -at- dc -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 12 Apr 2001 11:12:38 -0400
Hello Tech Writers,
(Aside: I tried sending this simultaneously to techwr-l and to stclwrsig-l
(STC Lone Writer SIG) but techwr-l bounced it back and said something about
"the first line of the message is identical to a message you sent to
stclwrsig-l recently." Can anybody decode this? Are these two lists on the
same server or go through the same SMTP gateway?)
Following is what I really want to discuss.
The discussion of the word "sections" in several replies to my email about
the use of the phrase "as explained in the next section" prompts me to ask
another question.
What do you think about the use of the word "chapter" in online help?
One would think that this word is also relatively meaningless or too
nebulous in the world of online help. Perhaps it is a step above the word
"section" but still not meaningful or precise enough. It may be similar to
the word "section" as when Geoff Hart said in a reply, "...when you move the
phrase online, it doesn't communicate well..."
When all is said and done, communicating well is the bottom line.
Again, please keep in mind that we are talking about single sourcing for
print and online help versions of a doc.
I have some thoughts about how to get around the use of the word "chapters"
in the online help version of the doc but I'd like to ask you all what you
think about it.
Thanks.
H. Jim Hager
hhager -at- dc -dot- com
Pittsburgh Data Center
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