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This argument appears to be where we lose the user in any kind of
documentation. The user doesn't give a rat's ass what the technical
definition of a hyperlink is. I don't give a rat's ass what the technical
definition of internal combustion is. I just want to know that when I turn
the key and step on the accelerator, the engine will start.
>
> Bill wrote:
> "A hyperlink is a hell of a lot more than a jump from one location to
> another. A hyperlink is, by definition, a trigger that initiates an
action.
> Whether that action is displaying another topic, playing a movie, playing
a
> sound, sending an email, or what have you is up to you. So yes, the
> documentation is very accurate. The preconception that a hyperlink is a
> jump from one location in a document to another is what makes the task of
> following the instructions difficult."
>
> I stand by my objection.
>
> Adobe's documentation uses a broad definition of "hyperlink." But I would
> argue that most users, even tech writers using Acrobat, have a narrow
> definition of "hyperlink"--a hyperlink is something that takes you from
one
> place to another; that's why it's called a hyperLINK. (In the nearly 3
> years I've been using Acrobat, I've used the "Movie" action zero times,
the
> "Execute menu item" action twice, and the "Go to view" action type, a.k.a.
> hyperlink, countless times. I don't even remember what the other action
> types are.)
>
> The documentation is written for the users, not for Adobe's development
and
> documentation personnel. If users have a preconception that a hyperlink is
> a jump from one location to another, the documentation should accommodate
> that preconception. Accommodating the users' definition of "hyperlink"
> could have been as simple as putting in a specialized procedure, "How to
> create a hyperlink to another location in your document," and putting it
> somewhere where users would find it right away.
>
> This is a classic case of a technical writer using the mental model of the
> developers instead of the mental model of the users. We've all seen
> documentation like this that thoroughly explains the various widgets and
> features of application X in some format that bears little resemblance to
> how users will typically use the product. Then users can't find the
> information they want because their mental model is different, even though
> the documentation is "accurate." Accuracy is not the issue in this case;
> usability is.
>
> I'm seeing other posts at this moment that decry the narrow, impoverished
> definition of "hyperlink" that typical users have. Tough; we write to
where
> the users *are*, not where we believe they should be.
>
> Christine
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