Re: Including Screen Captures

["Dave L. Meek's User Account" <dave -at- SYNERGEX -dot- COM>]

   Robert Plamondon writes:
   <snip>
   While my documents almost always have around one illustration per
   page, I rarely use screen captures, because the information they
   present is so blindingly obvious that white space would be just
   as useful to the reader.
   <close snip>

I include screen captures only when I feel the reader may need
them.  A surprising number of my readers are cell-based
programmers who have rarely, if ever, seen Windows-like
presentations.  Yes, you could say the screen captures are
"blindingly obvious," but I've talked to several of my readers,
and they all prefer having the screen captures.  They like
knowing that what they see on the screen is the same as what they
see in the manual.

On rare occasions, I'll include a screen capture *because* it is
so simple and obvious.  This situation occurs when the reader
expects a process more complex than it actually is.
I've had nothing but positive responses to that as well.  I've
received comments such as, "I wasn't expecting <product name> to
be so simple to use."

Know your audience, use what works, but don't waste "real estate"
simply to make things look pretty.



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Dave Meek

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