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Re: The 'user' in User Manual

Subject: Re: The 'user' in User Manual
From: "Pro TechWriter" <pro -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "Roberts, Dan x36117" <dan_roberts -at- adp -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:49:56 -0500

Yep, once again, Dan said it first. For an administrator or programmer
manual, the primary audience would be "you" and "user" would be >their<
audience.

If we were writing use cases (or using Information Mapping, which is
required where I work), we use the actor name in the Step, and neutral
voice, like this:

Step | Actor | Action

1 Engineer Select the database folder and update the form.
Notify the project lead when complete.
2 Project Lead Send an e-mail to all employees with the updated
database form link.
3 Employee Access the updated form from the e-mail link.

Or something like that. That method avoids confusion, and forces my subject
matter experts to tell me "who" is doing "what"! :-D

On 2/2/07, Roberts, Dan x36117 <dan_roberts -at- adp -dot- com> wrote:


I agree with Nancy (option 1), with the following exceptions:
1. In an Admin's user manual, the Admin would be the "you" and his/her
local
folks would be "users".


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References:
RE: The 'user' in User Manual: From: Roberts, Dan x36117

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