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Documenting field descriptions in printed documentation
Subject:Documenting field descriptions in printed documentation From:Alyssa Fox <a -dot- fox -at- pentasafe -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 17 Sep 2002 13:41:48 -0500
Hello,
The group of writers where I work all document field descriptions
differently and we need to come up with a uniform way of doing this so all
of our documentation looks alike. Following are some of the ways each of us
documents the field descriptions now:
1. Create a single step that says "Complete the following fields" then have
a table with the field names and the descriptions in it so all field names
are contained in one step.
2. Create a separate step for each field and its description in the
following format:
"In the Username field, enter the user name."
3. Create a separate step for each field and its description in the
following format:
"Username - Enter the user name."
4. Create a separate step for each field and its description in the
following format:
"Enter the user name in the Username field."
Are any of these preferred or standard, and if so, which one? If not, does
anyone have any suggestions as to a good solution for this?
We already have a specific character tag for fields, so that's not the
issue. What is the issue is how we document the description of those fields.
Thanks for your time,
Alyssa Fox
Alyssa Fox
VSM Technical Writer
PentaSafe Security Technologies, Inc.
713-523-1992 ext. 9695 http://www.pentasafe.com
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