TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: Reviewers who don't review) From:Paul Hanson <PHanson -at- Quintrex -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Tue, 1 Aug 2006 14:22:34 -0500
Two things I'd like to add to the discussion:
1) The software was changed to have a new user ID/password. One suggestion I
haven't seen <and I admit so skimming some posts> is how to avoid this in
the future: open the communication lines between programming/dev and the
writer so that, at some point in the future, a programmer comes over to the
writer and says, "Hey, we had a request from <so-and-so> to make the user ID
& password <whatever>. I thought you'd want to know in case you have that in
the doc." This open communication then would allow the writer to write the
doc and send a paragraph to the programmer for his review and for changes to
be made prior to the review copy being distributed to the person tha... <I
mean *who*> does not read the manual when presented with a review copy. I
admit this idea does not resolve the "reviewers who don't review" issue -
it's an idea that has helped me do my job over the last decade.
2) Personally, I'd like to read more about technical writers that have a
manual that includes the user ID/password in the documentation. I can
understand a demo/trial version of the software including this info in a
manual (or online Help), but the original post was about software used by
field reps, which I read as "not demo/trial" software. Is this a new trend?
WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l