Re: documenting desktop to web application

[dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com]

Sean Wheller wrote:
>
> ...you miss the point. In the
> original post it was suggested that a User Manual be
> written to document functionality.

And you've *forgotten* the point.  Recording existing functionality was 
only *one* of the reasons for creating what was clearly described as 
*user* documentation.

The lack of user documentation is itself a good enough reason to create 
that documentation.  Recording existing functionality is just a side 
benefit.

>
> WEB APPS are not vertical like FAT APPS.
> That is they are very hard to document top down.

WHAT?!?

If a web application is designed with a single entry point and 
well-defined paths through the UI, how is it any different from a 
desktop application with a single entry point and well-defined paths 
through the UI?

>
> Never underestimate the power of the hyper link. Screens
> (WEB PAGES) can jump and drill in any direction. FAT
> APP dialogs are generally limited to a few dialogs
> deep, then you close them and start again in another
> direction.

Are you telling us that all pages in a web application *must* link to a 
lot of other pages simply because they *can*?  That's absurd.

Web applications contain exactly as many links as the developer puts 
into them, which is no different from desktop applications.

>
> User Manuals explain the behavior of an application is
> completing tasks.

And that's precisely what the person requesting the user documentation 
seemed to be asking for.

>
> But if the FAT APP is dead in 18 months, I would not
> bother with writing a User Manual for Engineers and
> Developers.

Again, you forget the original post, in which the client had asked for 
*user* documentation, presumably to be used for existing customers for a 
YEAR AND A HALF.

If you don't think user documentation is worth bothering with, then you 
must be working for a company producing the mythical self-documenting 
software.

--David

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