Re: buttons graphics in documentation

["Jessica N. Lange" <jlange -at- OHIOEE -dot- COM>]

For years I documented a UNIX program with many obscure icons:
they were designed by the programmers (!). This was an
extremely difficult, unintuitive program </understatement>
Each of many windows had many icons, the icons never included
text which might have to be translated, and there were no tool tips.

I handled this with three approaches in the manuals:

1. In an introductory portion of a chapter dealing
with a task, I included a table with the relevant icons,
a descriptive name (what the icon did/was used for/launched),
and a sentence or two expanding on that descriptive name.
Sometimes I used a screen shot with call-outs for the icons,
but only if that particular window only had a few.

2. An "icon glossary" (as Joanne Grey mentioned) for quick
reference.

3. It was imperative that the icons be included in the body
text. Although it was inconsistent, I used both
of these styles, depending on which worked best in
that instance:
* The icon was placed in the left margin (body text was
indented 2")
* The icon was placed inline in the text, on a line immediately
following the text that referred to it.

HTH

-------------------------------------------------------------
Jessica N. Lange                             jlange -at- ohioee -dot- com
Technical Communicator, Ohio Electronic Engravers, Inc.


Ginny Allemann wrote:

> Should little screenshots of icons and buttons be placed in-line in print
> documentation (not on-line)?