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: Use of Optional in instructions From:"Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> To:"techwr-l List" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:48:49 -0700
If your readers have a habit of not reading the entire instruction, than the
SME's argument is valid. Vincent's suggestion could help, or you could
rewrite the instruction to say something like "If you want to block the
operator from transmistitng audion, select the Tx Inhibit check box."
The next question is, do you need to explain to the reader why one might or
might not want to use this, or is this something your readers will all know?
Gene Kim-Eng
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Megan (ST-CO/ENG2.2)" <Megan -dot- Bruce -at- us -dot- bosch -dot- com>
> An interesting debate has started at my workplace... is the following
> use of "optional" acceptable? If not, any suggestions on other ways to
> 1. Select the Tx Inhibit check box, to block the operator from
> transmitting audio (optional).
>
> A SME has put forth the argument that a user may not catch the
> (optional) due to not reading the entire instruction.
Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
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-