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I just wanted to thank Kathleen for saying what I was about to say.
There are many who will minimize the inconvenience to the reader of
using numbered callouts. I believe that if we had an inexpensive way to
translate callouts (a method that allowed for different lengths in
different languages, too) we'd do the reader a service by using it.
Bear
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+david -dot- chinell=ge -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+david -dot- chinell=ge -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Kathleen MacDowell
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 4:24 PM
To: Rob Hudson
Cc: techwr-l List
Subject: Re: "usable" screen captures
Think about usability vs localization.
For usability, what is the level of the potential user/reader?
Experienced in general or a novice in the field. For novices, I'd
definitely limit the number of callouts per screenshot and I'd use
labels.
If the content will be translated, people generally number the items
they reference, then put the legend in the text. That way only the text
needs to be edited.
Figures with numbered callouts tend to look less cluttered (depending on
the number you've inserted), but even then there's a limit. It's much
easier on the reader all around to use frequent shots with just a few
items to explain. Advantages include keeping the reference near the
content, keeping the content interesting, and less cognitive drain
(making it easier to understand).
Regards,
Kathleen
On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 10:07 AM, Rob Hudson <caveatrob -at- gmail -dot- com>
wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm struggling with "usable" screen captures. I tend to circle and
> annotate screen elements with word bubbles, but those tend to get busy
> fast. I thought about circling and annotating with circled letters,
> then referring to those letters below. Is that more or less useful?
> How do you annotate your screen shots?
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