Re: A reminder: visual and other indexes (take II)

[Mike Starr <mike -at- writestarr -dot- com>]

If the only access to the visual information you describe is in a separate chapter, then yes, we'd be interrupting the user's flow by diverting them to a chunk of reference documentation. However, I'd suggest we'd serve the users better by having *both* that chapter of visual information as reference documentation and incorporating sufficient visual information into the procedural documentation.

Mike
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Geoff Hart wrote:
<snip>
> But where possible, we should also avoid "taking users out of their  
> task", which is to figure out how to use a feature. The problem with  
> placing visual information in a separate chapter or index is that we  
> make users stop what they're doing (following the steps of a  
> procedure) and go searching elsewhere for the visual details. That's  
> not necessary nor is it kind. This is why I stated "give me a picture"  
> for things like icons; it's easy to do. If I see the image right  
> beside the step I'm trying to figure out, I don't have to go look it  
> up somewhere.
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