TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: A reminder: visual and other indexes From:Mike Starr <mike -at- writestarr -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L Writing <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Sat, 09 May 2009 13:50:06 -0500
I'd suggest that a narrative of the UI is useless if that's all there is in the documentation, just like a few common procedures are only useful for those specific instances but no help at all for those who need to use other aspects of the UI that aren't documented anywhere at all. From my perspective, quality documentation provides *both* procedures and reference information, not just one or the other.
--
Mike Starr WriteStarr Information Services
Technical Writer - Online Help Developer - Technical Illustrator
Graphic Designer - Desktop Publisher - MS Office Expert
(262) 694-1028 - mike -at- writestarr -dot- com - http://www.writestarr.com
Robert Lauriston wrote:
> Yeah, it's very annoying when docs don't tell you how to navigate to
> the command / dialog being discussed, but screenshots of menus just
> clutter up the doc and waste the writer's time.
>
> My negative attitude about that sort of thing was probably exacerbated
> by having inherited so many docs that contained nothing but a useless
> narrative of the UI.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. http://www.doctohelp.com
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
