Re: Defining Terms (Was Re: Judging manuals (by themselves))

[Bonni_Graham_at_Enfin-SD -at- PROTEON -dot- COM]

Steve notes:
"I think you missed the point of my "tangent" comment.  I'm not talking
about STC competitions at all, I'm asking what are the commonly accepted
definitions of reference/user guide/tutorial/quick-reference/workbook/
etc."

     Actually, I didn't, because in my first pararaph, I wasn't talking
     about competitions either.  You asked what I use as commonly accepted
     definitions.  The STC comp. guidelines are the closest I've seen to a
     standard definition.  They're the definition I commonly accept.
     They're commonly accepted by most of the people I deal with.
     Therefore, from my point of view, I answered your question, then went
     off on my own tanget.  I just forgot to turn on the "new subject"
     light.  :)

     It is a valid question.  We as a profession have got to come up with
     some kind of standard (open to reasonable variation, of course),
     because we're confusing the h*** out of our users.

     I think most people view tutorial as a step-by-step, hand-holding walk
     through the product, and look to a User's Guide for more theoretical,
     when-to-use issues.  At least that's been my experience.  Yet often,
     that's not how they're labeled, if they're even labeled at all.

     I don't know the answer offhand to how to solve this -- time for more
     brainstorming?

Bonni Graham                               |
Technical Writer                           | Most software is run by
Easel Corporation, ENFIN Technology Lab    | confused users acting on
Bonni_Graham_at_Enfin-SD -at- relay -dot- proteon -dot- com | incorrect and incomplete
President, San Diego STC                   | information, doing things
                                           | the designer never expected.
NOTE: apparently my email address needs    |
to be typed exactly as it appears here,    |          --Paul Heckel, quoted
punctuation and all, or the system gets    |            by William Horton
upset.                                     |