Writers of user manuals: going the way of the dodo?

[Alexander Von_obert <avobert -at- TWH -dot- MSN -dot- SUB -dot- ORG>]

Hello Peggy,


* Antwort auf eine Nachricht von Peggy_Thompson -at- ccmail -dot- osti -dot- gov an All am 28.07

PP>  We're all agreed, I think, that movement is away from the
PP> clunky
PP>  user manuals of old (five yrs ago, I was writing ring-bound
PP>  manuals that were two inches thick) toward more streamlined
PP>  documentation and online help.

Shurely.

PP> I read somewhere that as
PP> systems
PP>  improve further still (don't snicker), even the clamor for
PP>  online help will recede.

May be.

PP>  Well, that may be greatly oversimplifying the case, but the
PP>  principle is true: users want intuitive systems, not systems
PP>  supported by reams of paper or screens full of online help.

That could be the ideal user interface.

PP>  Where does the writer of computer instruction fit into this
PP>  future of receding words?

Do you really expect, that a programmer can really design an intuitive,
 user-friendly unser interface? As I see it, the technical writer is the first
 who can see a product from a user's perspective. If you have followed my
 checklist, you found the suggestion, that the technical writer should do most
 of the user interface.

BTW, I should post the next part of my checklist...


Greetings from Germany,
Alexander

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