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I've run into the same situation, as many others here have, and it's pretty
much a d -at- mned if you do, d -at- mned if you don't situation. As a Tech Pubs
manager, I irritated my writers by requiring that they document the typos
as-is. The reason being that, to the user, if it's misspelled on the screen
and correct in the manual, the user will look at the disparity as a problem
with the manual. Simultaneously, I tried to work with the SW developers to
let the TWs review onscreen messages and dialogue boxes to ensure that they
were spelled correctly and conveyed what the developer intended. We only
achieved a moderate amount of success because the SW developers felt that we
were reviewing their development effort versus the onscreen text.
Nonetheless, from the user perspective, what the equipment does is always
correct because that's the reality. The pub supports the reality and, even
though your intentions are good, if you correct onscreen typos in text, the
user typically associates that with an error in the pub, not the SW. After
I left that company, the writers took it upon themselves to correct all the
onscreen typos in text. The company had never before had so many complaints
about incorrect documents as they did after that.
Regards,
Pete Sanborn
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-81537 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-81537 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of
TDean -at- envirosys -dot- com
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2001 4:27 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Software Text Incorrect
If there is a misspelled word (of course this could apply to crazy
programmer abbreviations) on the software screen, would you show the field
name or term in your documentation the way it is represented in the
software?
I usually point it out to the programmer, but it is not my responsibility
to make them change it.
So I spell or treat the term the way it appears on the screen in the user
guide, and then I explain the unabbreviated or correct word in the field
definition - or paranthetical phrase depending...
I was just wondering how other writers handle this? Especially in a company
where the software screens do not heed to any specifications on terms or
styles, this is something that is frustrating. I read somewhere that the
technical writer should not try to compensate for the software's
shortcomings - if the documentation does not match the software, then the
users get confused. I know I would.
Tina Dean
=^.^=
*
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