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.
> Given my choice, I don't use character styles for UI elements, text
> strings, and so on. I don't think the value added for the user is
> proportional to the additional work required.
>
> For example, "Select Tools > Out of Office Assistant > 'Send Out of
> Office auto-replies' > OK" takes me 15 seconds to type. Apply
> individual emphasis tags to each of the four UI elements and, unless
> the tool you're using makes it easy to apply the right tag from the
> keyboard, it takes two or four times as long. <snip>
In that example, I wouldn't apply the char tag to each of the four individually, but to the entire string, including the >s between the menu items.
And since I'm using the right tool (FrameMaker), it takes me no more time to do that than it takes you to type those annoying quotes. ;-)
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
------
Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help.
Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days. http://www.doctohelp.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-