Re: "If the docs are too good..."
Product documentation is designed as a reference guide, and is most useful for answering those questions that occasionally arise, but is seldom practical as a method of learning to actually -use- the product.
"Documentation" is a big term that includes reference guides, user's guides, tutorials, all kinds of things. I think the only generalization you can make is that *reference guides* are designed to be used as reference guides.
Lippincott, Rick wrote:
>
> It would seem to me that docs show -how- to use a system, but training
> shows -why- you would use it.
Oh, lots of documentation--printed and online--includes sections that address the "why" questions.
and...
>
> In training, I'd expect to be told an overview of the system features
> and be given practice examples to explain how the system works.
This seems to contradict what you wrote above: Does training "show you -why- you would use it" or "explain how the system works"?
I think the answer is that training is designed to be presented by a trainer who is there to answer questions, whereas documents (boradly speaking) have to stand on their own.
--David
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