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Re: The coming predominance of user experience and technicalcommunications
Subject:Re: The coming predominance of user experience and technicalcommunications From:jlshaeffer -at- aol -dot- com To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:09:26 -0400
Exactly the same questions were asked about documentation for personal computers when the GUIs (Apple Macintosh and MS Windows) came on the scene.
And now for the technical writing conundrum. If applications, like checkout
registers, are being designed to be so "user-friendly" that they don't need
documentation and that the interface will walk users through without effort,
then is it possible that software applications that are typically supported
with documentation will, in many cases, make documentation obsolete? Will
technical writers become obsolete for certain types of "user-friendly"
documentation? What will happen to the market if this becomes the case?
Lauren
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