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.
Hi Badri and all,
We generally have taken both approaches which we find necessary since
our software product is very extensive. Our "Functional Approach"
documentation we refer to as the "Reference Guide" whereas the
"Task-Oriented Approach" is called the "User's Guide". We also produce
smaller Tutorials that don't attempt to provide all the procedures but
focus on the most common tasks. These can be used for the education of
our end-users by our partners.
We have developed these paths through the process by experience since
the technical writers also end up doing the QA Testing and often have to
cover for the Support Department. I think being tightly woven into the
process and wearing multiple hats is quite helpful in this regard. The
balancing of the stress and development of systems to juggle all of
these roles though is an ongoing job.
That's the view from here,
Hal Gill
Technical Editor
Web500 A/S
www.web500.com
There are essentially two approaches that we can adopt while writing a
User
Guide.
The Functional Approach is a product oriented method where you describe
in
detail every feature that the application has. You could describe the
menus,
the fields, the buttons and what have you. You start with the product,
list
down all its features and explain those.
The Task-oriented Approach on the other hand is a much better way, where
you
have the user as a focal point. You start with the user, consider the
various tasks that he has to do and then produce your User Guide based
on
the sequence in which the user is going to go about the application.
Badri Narayanan
Satyam Computer Services Limited,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Are you using Doc-to-Help or ForeHelp? Switch to RoboHelp for Word for $249
or to RoboHelp Office for only $499. Get the PC Magazine five-star rated
Help authoring tool for less! Go to http://www.ehelp.com/techwr
Free copy of ARTS PDF Tools when you register for the PDF
Conference by April 30. Leading-Edge Practices for Enterprise
& Government, June 3-5, Bethesda,MD. www.PDFConference.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.
