Re: Reading behavior

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

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I suspect this is not an isolated reading behavior.

** Right.  I remember having the following real-life conversation:

   QA:  The user asked us such-and-such and the answer's not
        in the manual.  Better fix the manual.
   Me:  It's in the manual.  Here's the page.
   QA:  Hmm... Nope, not there.
   Me:  Here's the paragraph.
   QA:  Hmm... Nope, not there.
   Me:  Here's the sentence.
   QA:  Oh.
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Mark L. Levinson, SEE Technologies, Box 544, Herzlia, Israel
mark -at- dcl-see -dot- co -dot- il | voice +972-9-584684, ext. 230 | fax +972-9-543917


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I think that what people want you to write is something like:

"Do not turn off the console. This means, do not turn off the console."

I get the feeling that people are hesitant to follow even the clearest, most
unambiguous direction without some reassurance that this is, in fact, what
they should do. That's why I like to use screen captures/illustrations. They
(I hope,) reinforce the text and reassure the reader.

I think that the 3rd party folks may (I say may, because I haven't read them
all and they aren't all wonderful so maybe I should say the good 3rd party
folks) be doing a better job at reassuring and supporting readers.

I think there's a connection here to the findings that Dr. Carroll reports in
the Minimalist Documentation book about how people had awful problems following
directions in tutorials.

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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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