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Subject:Re: Document Planning From:Guy K Haas <ghaas -at- NETSCAPE -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 10 Jun 1997 08:22:57 -0700
At 10:43 AM 6/10/97 -0400, Matthew J Long wrote:
...
>We have developed a GUI interface which allows users to access a database
>easily. The problem is that this interface has four different flavors.
>They want the End User Guide (which I am writing) to include a section for
>all four flavors. The application looks relatively similar in each flavor
>but there are components in each that are distinctive enought to warrant
>giving them their own sections.
>
>What I am wondering is whether or not I should repeat information that is
>the same for each flavor in every section, or should I write it once and
>make reference to it in the other sections. And if I do write it once, in
>which section should I write it (i.e., the most complicated flavor or the
>least complicated)?
>
>Please include advice and rationale. Thanks!
>
Matthew--
Put yourself in the place of the user. Would YOU want to jump
around for that info? or would you rather have one chunk/chapter
for each interface that contained all you needed to know in order
to use that interface?
The downside is that, yes, there is a lot of duplication, and this
could become a maintenance problem. If you are using a power tool
such as FrameMaker, you could maintain one copy of each block of
common text and include it by reference into each of the four chapters.
If it is possible to have one chapter that covers all the common
ground, then to have one chapter for the unique features of each
particular interface, that might be a good compromise.
I would avoid putting the common stuff in one of the four chapters,\
because the users who are interested in the other three would have to
be able to spot where the common stuff leaves off and the stuff that
is unique to the one chosen flavor.
--g
Guy K. Haas Software Exegete ghaas -at- netscape -dot- com
M/S MV-050 415-937-3773
Netscape Communications Corporation
501 Middlefield
Mountain View, CA 94043
My opinions are mine--Netscape's are their own.
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