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Re: Best places to put topics when they're needed twice

Subject: Re: Best places to put topics when they're needed twice
From: Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>
To: Editor in Chief <editorialstandards -at- gmail -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 09:04:57 -0800

What you're describing is a product that needs a series of different instructions customized to the each option so that users who are not supposed to access certain features never see them, rather than one single manual in which you describe them all and how to use them but just tell the reader not to use them or that they're not allowed to use them. These could be different PDFs, or OLH that is programmed to only display the features enabled for specific configurations. Better still would be embedded guides in the UI that walk the users through the procedures appropriate for their configuration, but that decision is out of the realm of documentation.

If you're writing for a regulated market, it's a mystery to me how you're even being allowed to deliver manuals that provide users with instructions for features they're not supposed to be using.

Gene Kim-Eng


On 11/5/2013 8:01 AM, Editor in Chief wrote:

Say a product had ten major options that were best selected and configured
during the unit setup, and those options affected performance, security,
convenience, compatibility with widely-used third party products, etc.

Say that some were mutually exclusive - simply wouldn't work with each
other.

Say that others can, and often do, work together, but don't need to, and
occasionally shouldn't...

Say that standards that a large chunk of customers must meet preclude those
customers accessing certain of the major product features.



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References:
Best places to put topics when they're needed twice: From: Editor in Chief
Re: Best places to put topics when they're needed twice: From: Gene Kim-Eng
Re: Best places to put topics when they're needed twice: From: Editor in Chief
Re: Best places to put topics when they're needed twice: From: Gene Kim-Eng
Re: Best places to put topics when they're needed twice: From: Editor in Chief

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