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I used to work at a place where the doc standard was to have the first
sentence in the manual be:
Welcome to the <name of product> <name of document>.
Examples:
Welcome to the Schmaltzherring API Guide.
-or-
Welcome to the Imsoferklempt User Manual.
<product names changed to expose the guilty>
I'll be setting up some new docs in a new job, and am not sure if I should
borrow this "standard". I can't decide if this is:
A) The smelliest opening line ever for a doc, resulting in both laughter
and/or sickness.
B) A nice, gentle way to guide the reader (primarily a developer) into the
great work they are about to enter.
What sayeth thee, my dear tech writing brothers and sisters? Novelists know
that the first line of a novel is the hardest. Well, this ain't a novel, but
a good opening line can't hurt.
Got any good opening lines? Send them in now - operators are standing
by.....
;-)
Andrew
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