Re: Chattiness in manuals

["David Loveless" <daveloveless -at- gmail -dot- com>]

I think this all goes back to the purpose of the manual and your
audience. Some would enjoy that, some would not.

A previous version of my company's manual included many such comments
and anecdotes. When I first started, I took a survey from our users
about our manuals. One of the questions was an open-forum, let it all
out suggestion box. One of the biggest complaints was that our users
felt like the manual was talking down to them and not giving them
enough information. We found that that particular style gave the
impression that the information wasn't important.

On the other hand, I believe the "For Dummies" books and other similar
series are more to that kind of style. It's all in the audience.

Dave
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