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Information Mapping vs. Usability Testing of Documentation
Subject:Information Mapping vs. Usability Testing of Documentation From:"HSC Italian" <twins398 -at- hotmail -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Thu, 04 Mar 2004 07:16:12 -0600
Hello List,
For those of you familiar with Information Mapping and documentation
usability; is Information Mapping a form of confirming that a document is
accurate/usable, or is it more how it is layed out and chunked? The reason
I ask is that currently a co-worker is implementing some of the Information
Mapping techniques into our template.
The audience of our user guides have a max education level of 6th grade.
One style in particular that is being rolled into the template that I have
concerns about usability is numbered sub- steps. For example:
1. From the front panel, press Cancel.
1.1 if the LCD says blah, do this.
1.2 if the LCD says blah, do this.
2. Do such and such.
Again, my concern is how usable is this method for end-users with minimal
education?