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>I read an article the other day for a class I'm taking. Sorry to say, I
>don't have it with me right now and can't give you the specifics, but
>something in it has been gnawing at me and I'd like to get some other
>opinions. The article was about visual design and stated that screen
>captures should appear after the instruction/text that references them,
>never before. I certainly agree that they shouldn't appear *long* before
>the instruction, but what's wrong with having the picture just before it?
>I'm thinking it is helpful to the reader to see the screen before the
>instruction so he'll know he's in the right place when he takes the action
>specified in the instruction. Anybody have an opinion they'd care to share?
I think you're right. In fact, putting the screen capture before the
majority of the text that refers to it sounds like it's usually the best
way to arrange things. Usually you need to present a subject (with
definitions, pictures, anything else you can think of) before you can
comprehensibly say anything about it. The main place I put the screen shot
second is after a sentence like, "The Job View window opens." The
instructions that tell what to do in the Job View window then follow the
screen shot.
