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Subject:RE: Graphics in lines of text From:"Bill Swallow" <wswallow -at- nycap -dot- rr -dot- com> To:<patrick_a_brady -at- hotmail -dot- com>, "'TECHWR-L'" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 29 Jan 2004 23:12:43 -0500
::: We use FrameMaker 6.0 to create our user manuals and documentation.
::: Recently, a marketing person suggested we insert a small thumbnail in
the
::: text of the actual button that a user pushes. So, instead of "Press
::: Enter," it would be "Press (then you'd see the graphic of the key)".
Marketing people always have such clever little ideas. ;) OK, stereotypes
aside, I've seen this practice before, but honestly, it added NO VALUE to
the documentation. The word "Enter" and a graphic of the "Enter" button are
equal in my eyes. Unless you're writing documentation for children,
beginners, or marketing people (ba-dum-ching!) the time spent putting the
graphics in AND MAINTAINING THEM in future revisions of the documentation
will not be paid back in value added to the documentation.
::: it plays havoc with line spacing;
Well, yes, but a negative vertical alignment fixes that. I've found that if
you shrink-wrap the graphic and send it 3 pts. below the baseline of a usual
10-12 pt text "single-spaced" paragraph (that's about 12-15 pt. line height)
it works out OK. Of course, you have to do this for each graphic, but if you
import by reference (or not, but I like to do so) you can copy the 1st
instance of the button and paste it all over wherever needed.
::: we don't think our users need it (the marketing person is telling us
about
::: 'eye movement' studies, and saying how much easier it is to comprehend);
Ask him for the studies for your review. Seriously! What was that
wallet/crotch line again? ;)
::: and, since many of our manuals are translated, we fear major problems if
we
::: insert graphics within the text.
Yep. There's your defense point. Graphics aren't managed in the same manner
as text in translation memory. Chances are, if you translate often and use a
translator worth anything, they use either Trados or SDLX (or others, but
those seem to be the bigger two in my experience). They work directly in
these tools, NOT your native file format (DOC, FM, QXD, etc.).
When in doubt, KISS... Keep It Simple, Silly!
Bill Swallow
wswallow "at" nycap "dot" rr "dot" com
