Re: RE: Screen shots for online help

[Susan W. Gallagher <sgallagher5 -at- cox -dot- net>]

I personally believe that, in general, we use *way* too many
screenshots. And I believe that we use them without thinking
about whether they serve a purpose or not. We type "the blah-
de-blah dialog box opens" and plop in a screengrab, just 
because it's the Thing To Do (R). It's become so pervasive,
if you try to create a manual without a grab of every screen,
somebody is going to complain that "we don't look like every-
body else"! <sigh>

I've read a number of studies over the years that indicate
users perform as well and actually retain information better
if they look at the actual screen rather than the printed
page, and my own experience in training seems to support 
that idea. But the studies I read and my training experience
are old news. I'd sure like to see some recent research on
the subject.

IMO, technical documentation would benefit from fewer screen-
grabs and better explanations, but that's just me, I guess.
-Sue Gallagher

> 
> From: MList -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com
> 
> Goober Writer [mailto:gooberwriter -at- yahoo -dot- com]
> > If a screen shot EXPLAINS something, then by all
> > means, show it in the Help. If it's just a "you are
> > here" or "this is the screen" graphic, I fail to see
> > the usefulness... 
> 
> It's not about Help, but... we supply a product that's 
> used on a variety of platforms. The Windows users 
> always get several pages of installation instructions, 
> including screen-shots.
> 
> For the same task, users of Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, and 
> Linux get a few lines of numbered steps and... done.
> (We have no products for the Mac.)
> 
<snip>