TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Need Help with a Help Feature From:John Garison <john -at- garisons -dot- com> To:Kim Babinski <Babinski -at- BAUERCONTROLS -dot- com> Date:Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:09:42 -0400
This sounds a lot more like a software development exercise than it does
a documentation task.
If it were me, I'd tell my manager that I'd be glad to work on the
writing part, but that I needed to work closely with the programmer who
was going to develop the application that would detect the test,
determine the test progress, and call the appropriate documentation
pieces. I would be glad to develop documentation for all possible test
processes and write it up so that multiple pieces fitted together
semi-seamlessly depending on what the software detected. But if the
manager then said that I had to do the coding too, I'd say that it's
beyond my technical expertise (and I've been doing online doc in one
form or another since 1987).
My 2¢,
John Garison
Candidate for STC Region One Director
Vote now through August 3
Kim Babinski said the following on 7/19/2007 11:22 AM:
>
> I have been asked to begin by developing context sensitive help that
> will detect and display the project-specific details of a test in
> progress. This would not be window- or field- level help, rather it
> would dynamically linked to test sequence and the data being collected
> and would differ for each installation. This seems like it would be
> more of a software feature than an online help feature.
>
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
