Re: Are manuals and help read?

[Fred Wersan <wersan -at- ZEUS -dot- MA30 -dot- BULL -dot- COM>]

Following on Bonnie and Karla's comments:

The issue of why people do or do not read manuals is probably more complex
than simply laziness or past experiences with poor manuals.  Part of it, I
think, is that people prefer to learn from other people. That's why we try to
write as if we are talking to the reader rather then a disembodied user. We
try to recreate the sense of personal contact. So, given the option, many
people, other writers included, would rather ask a co-worker how to do something
than look in the manual or on-line help.

Other behaviors are harder to fathom. On one of my current projects, a tester
put a problem in the log saying that a document I wrote was unclear. He
read the first sentence of a paragraph to cite the fact that users might not
understand the ramification of a reference. Apparently he did not read the
second sentence, which explained the ramifications of the reference. I'm not
sure how much further I can reduce things than two consecutive sentences. I
suspect this is not an isolated reading behavior.

So, while I share Bonnie's annoyance at Andreas's comment, I too fall victim
to the cynicism that prompts such comments. We just need to keep plugging
away trying to improve our stuff.

On a lighter, but related, note, a couple of years ago I was playing around
with musical error messages. Here's a chorus to one: (Tune: Battle Hymn of the
Republic)

Next time try to read the manual,
It gets revised semi-annual,
We work our fingers to the bone,
So read the book, leave us alone,
Cause we ain't gonna take it any more.
(smiley face goes here)

-----------------------------------
Fred Wersan
Quest Engineering Solutions
Documentation Services
MA30/807
300 Concord Rd.
Billerica, Mass. 01821
508-294-2322
f -dot- wersan -at- bull -dot- com
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