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Subject:RE: Content of Help Systems From:"Bonnie Granat" <bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 20 Sep 2005 17:10:40 -0400
Your company needs to have an orderly discussion about:
- What your users want.
- Pros of both sides.
- Cons of both sides.
- Whether one of the sides better matches what your users want.
Your other questions will be answered in the process of your discussion.
Bonnie Granat | http://www.GranatEdit.com
bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com
Cambridge, Massachusetts, US
617-319-7461 (cell) or 617-354-7084
M Parcell wrote:
>
> Hi there. I was hoping to get some feedback from you
> guys to help us make a decision at my company because
> we're debating what the content of a help system
> should be. We deliver both user guides (online only)
> and help systems. Some people maintain that these two
> mediums should have different kinds of information
> (e.g., the user guides should contain background and
> conceptual information as well as task-based
> information while help systems should contain
> primarily task-based information but little conceptual
> information). Others maintain that the help system
> should contain both background/conceptual information
> *and* task-based information. Our question is: Should
> help system content duplicate documentation content?
> Or, do these items serve distinctly different purposes
> that merit different content?
>
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