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Subject:RE: Previous, Next and Print buttons in Help From:"Leonard C. Porrello" <Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- SoleraTec -dot- com> To:"Boudreaux, Madelyn (GE Healthcare, consultant)" <MadelynBoudreaux -at- ge -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:32:40 -0800
I tend to agree that as implemented in the example I provided, the
buttons are mostly eye candy. The exception would be when they are used
in tutorials in which the user is working through the help from top to
bottom.
Leonard
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- c
om] On Behalf Of Boudreaux, Madelyn (GE Healthcare,consultant)
Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 10:28 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Previous, Next and Print buttons in Help
What would the next and previous buttons do?
If they just take you to the next (or previous) entry in the help,
that's kind of pointless. Most people access help when they need help
with a task, as opposed to reading it like a manual, and if the next
topic on the TOC is unrelated to the issue at hand, the next button is
nearly worthless.
If they take you to the next (or previous) related topic -- that is, if
you search for "Barring foo," and 3 topics come up, and the next button
takes you from topic 1 on the matter to topic 2 on the matter, and so
forth, that could be helpful. But that seems like a programmatic thing.
Print isn't a bad button to have, but it's redundant if the help is
deployed in a browser window (unless the browser menu and navigation
items are suppressed).
"Back to menu" is nice to have. "Back to previous topic," can be useful.
But just "back" or "previous" makes me wonder which is intended.
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Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- soleratec -dot- com -dot-
Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author,
build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at: http://www.doctohelp.com/
Explore CAREER options and paths related to Technical Writing,
learn to create SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS documents, and
get tips on FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATION best practices. Free at: http://www.ModernAnalyst.com
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