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Subject:Re(2): craft vs. science vs. art From:Jan Henning <henning -at- r-l -dot- de> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 24 Jun 2002 19:58:29 +0200
>Willow, one point I want to clarify: all readers do want the same things.
>What are those things? Good index, examples, and headings. Most of us spent
>too much time writing the text, which is the least valuable part of the
>document.
Phil, I agree with you that a manual without a good index, structure, and
relevance to the reader (e.g., through examples) is probably not very good.
But calling the body text "the least valuable part" is taking it too far.
This feels very much like discussing which of the wheels of a bike is
more valuable when the thing ain't going anywhere without both. Same with
a manual: The index, headings, and examples can be magnificent - if you
have no body text, it'll still amount to nothing.
Regards
Jan Henning
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Jan Henning
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