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Subject:Re: Business issues, documentation and editors From:Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sat, 12 Jan 2002 00:37:13 -0800 (PST)
> but
> technical writers generally subscribe to the premise
> that most users refer to documentation and online help
> only when they need to know *how* to do something. If
> we incorporate the "why's," do we risk overwhelming
> them?
No. You do risk producing far better documentation. Not everybody learns
by reading the "How". I rarely read instructions, I want just the
concepts.
> What ideas do you have for incorporating the "why's"
> without distracting the user from the task at hand,
> especially in a very modular, online help environment?
> A few random thoughts:
Learn the product inside and out.
> - Including the "why" into the introductory paragraph.
>
> - For every feature/procedure, write a parallel topic
> that explains why or how it could be used. In online
> help, provide a link between each topic.
>
> Othere ideas?
Provide some topics that cover the conceptual groundwork for your product.
Explain things like what it does, what it can do, why it is valuable, how
it fulfills a business need, the technologies it uses, how it uses those
technologies, why those technologies are superior to others, etc.
Andrew Plato
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