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Subject:Re(4): 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 20:52:50 +0200
>Take an extreme situation: wouldn't someone who does not speak the language
>get more from the examples (especially if these are diagrams or pictures)
>than they would from the text?
As I said, this feels very much like arguing which bike wheel is more
important. There may be extreme cases where the examples alone could
provide some value (just like a acrobat could make something of a one-
wheeled bike).
But I would like to point out:
- Many tasks cannot be meaningful explained in graphics.
- An index is useless without something to point to.
- Documentation is not normally written for people who do not speak the
language (at least somewhat).
So, fascinating though your argument is, I still do not think that the
body text could be dispensed with in the overwhelming majority of manuals.
Regards
Jan Henning
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Jan Henning
ROSEMANN & LAURIDSEN GMBH
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