TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
>Wow, is that you?
>
>You really want to tell your readers "Think like me,
>or get a thesaurus"?
>
>You really think they'll keep a thesaurus open just to read
>your help? I don't believe most will, no matter *how*
>useful the help is.
I don't want them to think like me...
I also won't let them think like an idiot.
Maybe I'm just tired of people thinking "The user did something wrong after
reading the document, so it MUST be the document." Sometimes, some users
are just too stupid to be attempting what they are attempting or a term
wasn't in the index, so it MUST be a faulty index, even when only one person
in 500 would have thought to look for something by that term.
>You really want to tell your readers "Think
>like me, or get a thesaurus"?
>
>You really think they'll keep a thesaurus open just
>to read your help? I don't believe most will, no
>matter *how* useful the help is.
You misunderstood, or I wasn't clear. I meant using the thesaurus in
CREATING the index. It takes away the skill between knowing how to create an
index that contains the terms needed to find something, and an index with so
many words that you would eventually find what you are looking for with a
dart.
<sigh> maybe it's just me. I just don't think that a quality index is based
solely on how alternative I can think of for a word.
John Posada
Special Projects; Information Technology
Barnes&Noble.com
NY: 212-414-6656
