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Re: Chattiness in manuals

Subject: Re: Chattiness in manuals
From: "Edgar D' Souza" <edgar -dot- b -dot- dsouza -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "Laura Lemay" <lemay-lists1 -at- lauralemay -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 07:35:21 +0530

On 10/18/06, Laura Lemay <lemay-lists1 -at- lauralemay -dot- com> wrote:


Chatty technical writing, known as the "conversational style," is
highly prized and sought after in the computer book industry.



"One man's meat..."
After reading all these comments, I'm beginning to agree that User Guides
and Installation Manuals are probably not the best place to chat with a
reader who's probably under stress and trying to solve a problem as fast as
s/he can. I know that _I_ would certainly get mad at having to read two
pages of rambling to get the two facts I needed to accomplish my task.
Still, I don't really think "this will take long enough for you to enjoy a
coffee" (or similar) is actually criminal. For those that love coffee, it's
a great excuse - "the installation manual said I needed to!" :-) (I can
almost picture Wally or Dilbert using that line.)
Those who don't enjoy coffee can always push ahead to the subsequent topics
and "pre-buffer" the instructions/knowledge they are going to need for
configuration or further installation, or maybe even for ongoing use of the
software they're installing.

I must admit I actually *prefer* the chatty style in tech books, as Ms.
Lemay says. Although I'm long past actually *learning* from the Dummies
books I own, I sometimes re-read portions - just for the enjoyment! (You're
welcome to draw any pertinent conclusions about my IQ, if you want to :-)

I can also state that I have left many tech books partially read, because I
keep falling asleep after a couple of pages. Dry and boring is the chief
uniting factor for most of these :-/ Oh, that and the authors' not putting
themselves in the reader's place and asking "what would I need/want to know
at this stage?".

While I wasn't actually putting any personality in my manuals, on
instructions from my boss and mentor, I now have concrete and logical
reasons for not doing so!
I've also learnt that I must find some alternative venue to express all the
rambling and gas that's gurgling around in there... ;-)

Regards,
Ed.
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References:
RE: Chattiness in manuals: From: SaraTörök
Re: Chattiness in manuals: From: David Farbey
Re: Chattiness in manuals: From: Al Geist
Re: Chattiness in manuals: From: Laura Lemay

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