TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Kevin Rush seeks information on <<... post-production revisions, revision
etc. ... Needs: A way to add post-production changes to a manual: so it can
be found; so the TOC and Index do not need changed... I have written to user
manuals, one for scheduling and one for the registration of medical
appointments... The instructor for the next course was building her training
plan and noticed a segment was not documented in the current edition and
would like it to be added without a full rewrite of the appropriate chapter
and changing the TOC and Index since those are already in print. How can I
add the documentation for the missing process and add it to the current
manual.>>
If the manual hasn't been printed, or is scheduled for reprinting, it's
worthwhile simply incorporating the material where it would prove most
effective within the manual. Once the manual is in print, you can't change
it inexpensively (if at all), so you only really have two choices: print an
addendum that users will lose, ignore, or damage beyond the possibility of
use, or produce an online document of some sort that has much the same
nature, except that it's harder to lose or damage.
The online approach is probably the most effective, since it lets you
integrate the new material with the application (via context-sensitive help)
in such a manner that the material can't be lost or damaged (unless the
application as a whole is damaged), and is easily available whenever someone
goes searching for the information. Of course, that assumes the CDs haven't
already been released to manufacturing; if they have, you're scrod (as the
fishermen say). Putting the information in a "read me" file or leaving it
lying somewhere on the CD won't work, because only geeks like me ever read
the readme files, and even we often skim through the file and ignore
anything that doesn't particularly interest us.
--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
"User's advocate" online monthly at
www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/usersadvocate.html
"The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is
by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause
accidents."-- Nathaniel Borenstein
*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com
TECH*COMM 2001 Conference, July 15-18 in Washington, DC
The Help Technology Conference, August 21-24 in Boston, MA
Details and online registration at http://www.SolutionsEvents.com
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
