Re: Dropping the you? The Asian response to imperative voice. (was: Re: you or he/it)

[Monica Cellio <cellio -at- pobox -dot- com>]

> Sean Hower noted: <<no one has suggested that you could simply adopt a 
> style that uses neither you nor the user. That would eliminate this  
> entire discussion. For example: You can use the color picker to set the 
> background of your pages. can be rewritten as Use the color picker to 
> set the background color for pages.>>

The imperative can work well for direct, procedural material.  I'm
having trouble imagining how it would work when writing more open-ended
documentation, such as when giving advice about the alternatives available
to the reader.  How would you rewrite something like this (in a 
sys-admin or programming manual)?  "If most of your users are located
in one facility, we recommend using the standard client-server 
configuration.  If most of your users are in remote locations, or if 
any have slow or unreliable network connections, we instead recommend 
using the multi-server configuration with the following modifications 
[...]."

I generally find the second person to be the least-awkward approach,
even when writing for translation.  But I also take to heart the
comments about negative feedback being hard to get; thanks for the
tip.

Monica Cellio
Senior SDK Developer
I don't represent my company (which is why I don't name it).

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content 
delivery. Try it today!. http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l 

Doc-To-Help includes a one-click RoboHelp project converter. It's that easy.  Watch the demo at http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40infoinfocus.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.