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: similarity of work From:SteveFJong -at- aol -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sat, 23 Nov 2002 21:35:15 EST
Beena V Katekar <Beena -dot- Katekar -at- kshema -dot- com> asks about the percentage of
similarity between user manuals created for same product by three different
technical writers with defined standards. What an interesting question!
To let you know where I'm coming from, I write a column for the STC Quality
SIG that is predicated on the idea that technical documents, particularly
from the same company, can be more alike than different, even from one
product to another. So you can expect a high number coming from me 8^) What
should be similar?
* The front and back matter
* The layout and design
* The technical terminology for the product
* The function points (it's the same product)
* The level of presentation (it's the same audience)
* The procedures (not word-for-word identical, but very similar)
* The screen shots (the sample data may vary, but the screens should not)
This represents the overwhelming majority of the pages in a typical user's
guide.
What will not look similar? Probably the introductory and explanatory
portions; probably the order of presentation. With an editor on staff, the
language will be very similar; without an editor, the language will probably
be significantly different.
Depending on how comprehensive the standards are, the procedures may be very
similar; and if the writer is experienced, one procedure will look very like
another anyway. (Seasoned pros who are simply trying to document the product
rather than stamp their uniqueness on the books produce generally similar
results.
Given comprehensive standards and three writers of similar experience, I
would expect the three books to look very similar. I'm not sure what
percentage I would assign to that, but I'm inclined to suggest it could be
over 67%; that is, two-thirds of the sentences and screen shots would be the
same.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Order RoboHelp X3 in November and receive $100 mail in rebate, FREE WebHelp
Merge Module and the new RoboPDF - add powerful PDF output functionality
to RoboHelp X3. Order online today at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
Check out SnagIt - The Screen Capture Standard!
Download a free 30-day trial from http://www.techsmith.com/rdr/txt/twr
Find out what all the other tech writers, including Dan, already know!
---
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.
