Re: a question about writing instructions

[Becca Price <becca_price -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

arugh! of course, I forgot the most important part...

What do others think aobut this style of writing instructions?
it seems odd to me, but then most of the other places I've
worked have requred much more involved instructions. The stuff
I'm documenting now are (usually) pretty simple to use. 

Is this a "new style" of writing that I've not been much exposed
to, or was our house style developed by a lazy writer? (there is
some evidence to that latter comment; most of the manuals I've
inherited are GUI guides rather than what I would consider a
true user's manual)

-becca



--- Dick Margulis  <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net> wrote:
> And your question is???
> 
> ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
 >
> >I recently started in a new position where the house style is
> to
> >not write out instructions as steps, but rather in narrative
> >form. That is, rather than having step 1, step 2, etc, an
> >instruction might read (under a header like "Using the XYZ
> >Screen"): "To add an item to the data base, enter the
> specific
> >information and press Add. To locate an item already in the
> >database, enter any information you may have, and press
> Search.
> >If more than one item matches your criteria, you will see..."
> >You get the idea. 
> >
> >This is a made-up situation; no comments about the design of
> the
> >mythical page or database or use thereof, please! My question
> is
> >strictly about format.
> >


=====
becca -at- di -dot- org (primary address)
     What is courage now?
     Is it just to go until we're done?
     Men may call us heros when they can say we've won
     But if we should fail, how then?
     What is courage now?
        --"Fellowship Going South", by Leslie Fish

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