RE: Why not do it ourselves? (Was: using 3rd-party books)

["Carey Jennifer (Cry)" <jennifer -dot- carey -at- cdi -dot- cerberus -dot- ch>]

	<<Maybe I'm misunderstanding you. Aren't you suggesting a goal of
writing several levels of documentation for the same product? In my
experience, it's challenging enough just to get a manual out the door within
deadline, much less write two more versions of it. I've never worked with a
team that had the resources to do that.>>


Admittedly, I'm exploring this idea so a lot of details are pretty hazy.  At
this point, what I'm thinking is that the beginning manual is kind of like a
getting started manual. So, it covers the most common tasks you would expect
the user to need. Basic functionality of the app.  Those aspects are already
covered in most manuals, but in this case they would be presented in this
base level guide. This would be equivalent to an "application X made easy"
guide, or "classroom in a book".  Then the remainder of what we would
normally cover would be presented in a more advanced guide that was more
like say the "photoshop wow" book.  I'm not really talking about the glossy
presentation so much as the material covered and how it is approached. 

Sandy made a really interesting point earlier:
<<I think all users should have access to a complete reference on the
product>>

I'm having a hard time sorting out what that means.  My manuals currently
include a conceptual overview of the system, an overview of each significant
section of the application, and procedures for what I believe (hope) they
need to do with it. (Eventually there will be a troubleshooting section as
well).  Would that be considered a complete reference? If so, it would be
easy for me to reorganize a bit to model them after these 3rd party type
manuals.  But, my manuals are only about 50 pages, and I'm writing alone.

Maybe I've beaten this topic to the ground. It seems like people agree that
if it's possible, it's a good idea (but nobody, except possibly me, thinks
it's realistic).


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