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Re: When to use screen shots (was: screen dumps in books)
Subject:Re: When to use screen shots (was: screen dumps in books) From:RCURRIER <Rcurrier -at- RAINBOW -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 20 Jan 1999 13:23:58 -0800
On when to use screen shots, Trevor Holdsworth wrote:
<Choice is yours, but beware, if you have lots of screen shots and the
<software undergoes major cosmetic surgery or has functions added, you're
<going to have to be very careful checking/updating those shots.
Over the years I have become a screen shot minimalist for the reason above
and for another reason I
haven't seen addressed yet: localization. Although I would not want to
compromise the quality of my
documentation, I have to keep in mind time schedules and translation costs.
And, in my opinion,
many writers simply get into the habit of popping in a screen shot without
taking a moment to think
about whether it is really needed.
When we release a manual in English, we plan on having that manual as well
as the related software and
help files translated into seven or eight languages. The more screen shots,
the longer it takes to finish the
translated manuals because we have to get the translated software built and
running, make the new
shots of the translated screens, and import the shots back into the manuals.
Since most of our products
are Windows-based, a screen shot will be of a Windows user interface with
lots of user input.
If you are not a Chinese speaker, can you imagine how tough it is to figure
out and type the proper Chinese
characters for the user input so that the screen shot will correspond to the
translated manual text? For this
reason and for the maintenance issue mentioned by Trevor, I use the
following rule of thumb for non-tutorial
documents: Only use a screen shot when it is necessary to avoid confusing
the user. For example, I never
show installation screen shots unless special explanation is needed. ("Run
setup.exe. Do what it says." Don't
flame me. But I think we've all used InstallShield enough by now to get the
drift without showing the intro
installer screen.) By the way, PLEASE don't suggest we do two versions of
the manual: one in English with
more screen shots and one without for translation. Never enough time for
that!
Robin Currier
Rainbow Technologies
Irvine, California
rcurrier -at- rainbow -dot- com
