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Subject:Learning from others' manuals From:"George, Eileen" <Eileen -dot- George -at- HBOC -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 21 Oct 1998 11:03:37 -0400
In reading Karen Field's and Geoff Hart's comments on learning from reading
software manuals from other products, it brought to mind a previous
incident.
I, too, learn a lot from reading software manuals for other products . . .
usually it's while I'm learning that particular software product! Some
years ago during an assignment I was on (at a different company), another
tech writer made the comment to me that "REAL tech writers don't read the
manual." She made the comment while I was looking up info in the s/w manual
for something I was working on.
On the surface of it, I think her comment came from sheer ignorance.
However, am I the only one who "reads the manual" not only to learn as much
as I can about the software I'm using, but also to analyze the document's
structure?
If I am, that's okay. I'll work through it . . . :-)
Eileen George
Sr. Technical Writer
User Assistance Development
HBO & Company
www.hboc.com
