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.
Subject:Re: When users want jargon From:"Mary T. Shaw" <smartblonde57 -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 3 Jun 2002 13:15:51 -0700 (PDT)
--- Anita Legsdin <anita -dot- legsdin -at- watchmark -dot- com> wrote:
> How far should one go to satisfy the jargon needs of
> a customer? If we put
> it in, the documentation won't be understandable by
> other clients.
> Possibilities: a conversion table that says "For
> information on X, see Y."
> or, add their unusual words to the index.
I would use *standard* terminology throughout the
manual. If a particular client chooses to deviate
from the standard terminology for something, they do
it at their own risk.
To placate those types, though, maybe you could
include alternative terminology in an introductory
section of the manual, or anywhere you place
conceptual info aside from procedures. For example:
"This section describes the tasks you need to perform
for system configuration. Note: Depending on your
site-specific conventions, these procedures may be
called "provisioning" or "xyz"......"
Alternatively, you could prepare a "dictionary" for
each non-standard client, in which you map the
standard terminology to their nonstandard jargon.
This dictionary would be a small supplement to the
standard documentation.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free copy of ARTS PDF Tools when you register for the PDF
Conference by May 15. Leading-Edge Practices for Enterprise
& Government, June 3-5, Bethesda,MD. www.PDFConference.com
Check out RoboDemo for tutorials! It makes creating full-motion software
demonstrations and other onscreen support materials easy and intuitive.
Need RoboHelp? Save $100 on RoboHelp Office in May with our mail-in rebate.
Go to http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
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.
