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Subject:Re: Should I document this feature? From:Keith Hood <klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com, Joe Weinmunson <litlfrog -at- gmail -dot- com> Date:Fri, 6 Aug 2010 13:36:55 -0700 (PDT)
Document everything at the same level of granularity. Because just as sure as you don't, someone will find himself needing to do it, and then he will go "Why the ! -at- #$ didn't you tell me?" Or if you document these things but more briefly than other things, he'll complain that you aren't giving him enough information. He may be wrong, but he'll complain anyway, and then you have a CRM problem.
Since these are not everyday functions, you should make that plain in the writeups about them, and separate them from the rest of the documentation. Put them in a separate chapter of the book, or in an "Advanced Functions" book in the help system menu, or something like that.
--- On Fri, 8/6/10, Joe Weinmunson <litlfrog -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
From: Joe Weinmunson <litlfrog -at- gmail -dot- com>
Subject: Should I document this feature?
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Friday, August 6, 2010, 10:22 AM
At startup, our program looks for a license file in the application
directory. That license controls what features of the program are
activated for the user and how many users can access the program at
the same time. There are three menu functions that involve the
license: updating, reading license information, and copying a license
from one file to another. However, I can't think of any situation
where the end user can or should be using those menu functions if
they're not on the phone with tech support anyway. Should I leave
those commands out of the documentation completely? Explain what each
one does? Or take some kind of middle road? Thanks.
--
Joe Weinmunson
Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or
believe to be beautiful.
--William Morris
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