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Subject:Re: Minimal doc (was admin: PC vs. Mac) From:AlQuin <cbon -at- WXS -dot- NL> Date:Tue, 22 Dec 1998 22:56:30 +0100
On 22-12-1998 15:53 Tim Altom wrote:
>The problem is that "minimal documentation" has been misintepreted to mean
>"cut it to the bone". That's not what it was intended to mean. Minimalism
>means "just enough and no more". Don't pad it. Don't use it to thump the
>chest or ramble on. Analyze user needs and capabilities and provide just
>that much. The Mac manual is a case in point; it's used more as a checklist
I apply the minimal concept just being complementary to the design. Dont
tell people how to use the On-button, but inform them how to act when an
Error 2 appears.
I agree: dont cut your documentation to the bone, but to what's useful...
Checklists take, indeed, the greater part of my manuals.
Regards,
Kees de Bondt
* Firmitas, Utilitas, Venustas: AlQuin Total Quality
