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I based my default method of help illustration on a most
unscientific method: what annoys the hell out of me when
I use online help. Example: you're staring at an app and
wondering how to use the window you're in, so you hit
F1 and the first thing you see is a title with the name of
the window (which you already know from the title bar
of the app) and a huge, helpwindow-filling screenshot of
the app window you don't know how to use, which you
have to scroll down past to find the explanation of what
the window is for and how to use it. This was common
when people used to take printed docs and just process
them into helpfiles, and I've lost count of how many times
I saw it during the early days of online help. I screencap
sections of windows, dialogs, button icons, etc., but the
only place I ever put screencaps of entire app windows is
where you may not be able to see the window on the
monitor - in the printed book. Whether that's logical or
not, I don't know, but everyone I've done it for seems to
like it.
Gene Kim-Eng
----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan W. Gallagher" <sgallagher5 -at- cox -dot- net>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: 'Old fashioned' Tech Writers
>
> On the subject of MS removing unused topics from the
> documentation, don't assume the decision is in any way
> related to a logical consideration of user needs and wants.
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