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There's a new set of dialog boxes in my company's software. They replace an
old set of dialog boxes that did pretty much the same thing -- inventory
management. The new dialog boxes are a bit more usable, and the new code can
be reused in a few other places in the software. So overall, it's an
improvement. Unfortunately for me, each client has a choice -- they can
stick with the old, or upgrade to the new. Multiple help files are not an
option, so I think I have to address this in the content.
One possibility I'm throwing around is putting two books in the TOC; one
that refers to the "Enhanced' forms, and one that refers to the "Classic" or
"Standard" forms. But there are a couple of gaps --
First, how can the user quickly tell which version they are using and
determine where they'll find relevant information?
Second, what about entry behaviours other than the TOC -- for example, from
the index or a keyword search? Searching for "inventory" will retreive
topics about both old and new.
The only way I can think of to close both these gaps is to put a note in
every topic that (a) explains how to tell the difference, and (b) provides a
hyperlink to information about the other version.
Can anyone think of a better solution? I'm interested in easy maintenance as
well as usability, since I'm the only writer at my company and my time is
maxed out already.
(Most of all, I'm just cranky about having to ask an already-frustrated user
to clear one more obstacle. Grrrrr.)
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