RE: Screen captures (was RE: TECHWR-L Digest, Vol 35, Issue 14)

["Boudreaux, Madelyn (GE Healthcare, consultant)" <Madelyn -dot- Boudreaux -at- ge -dot- com>]

Michael West [mailto:mbwest -at- bigpond -dot- com] wrote:

>There simply is no one-size-fits-all rule for all this.

Nor have I -- or the study -- suggested as much. 

>I do know a few things after thirty years in the business:

Ah! The experience card! You'll forgive me if I don't bother to play
mine, but suffice to say, I'm not a newly-minted tech writer itchin' to
show up the old folks. 

>1. My stuff works well and is always in demand.

Do you accept the possibility that it could ever be improved? 

>2. An instantly-identifiable mark of amateurish user assistance
material 
>is a clutter of screen captures that serve no clear purpose.

Merely plopping in a huge, cluttered, unedited screen capture? Sure,
that'll look bad. Please see my description of the techniques *I* used
to avoid this. YMMV, but there's more than one way to skin a cat. 

>3. Real-world business results trump "research" every time.

Corollary: Research can improve on real-world business results,
delivering an even better product. 

How's the flat earth down in the Antipodes? 

- Madelyn
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