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Re: Concepts (was Technical Writing Tests)

Subject: Re: Concepts (was Technical Writing Tests)
From: Jan Henning <henning -at- r-l -dot- de>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 17:17:02 +0100


I agree that there are some audiences that could care less about conceptual
information. However, that does not mean leaving it out is okay. Including
concepts does nothing to hurt the documentation. It can only help.

I can think of several disadvantages of including unneeded conceptual information:

- It takes time, pushing back the release date.

- It costs more money.

- It makes the documentation less accessible for those who do not want/need concepts. (wheat/chaff problem)

This does not, of course, mean that concepts should be omitted where they might be needed. But when audience analysis shows that they are not required, IMHO they should be omitted to make better documentation - because documentation does not exist in a vacuum but is a tool for the reader.

Regards
Jan Henning

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Re: Concepts (was Technical Writing Tests): From: Andrew Plato

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