Re: Front and Back matter in User Guides (where do you put the company contact info)

["Caroline Tabach" <caroline -dot- tabach -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Thanks,
basically I needed someone more "authoritative" than myself to come up
with that kind of answer.

On 8/20/07, Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> wrote:
> Caroline Tabach wondered: <<All of our User Guides (and other
> documents)  contain the contact info (addresses, phone numbers,
> emails) of our offices at the beginning of the book beneath copyright
> info. The contact info also appears on the page that would have been
> the back cover (if we were printing). Someone looking through one of
> these books (who is neither a writer nor an English speaker), told us
> this information should not appear in the beginning of the books and
> asked why it was there.>>
>
> It's there because that's the conventional location for this
> information. Please note: I'm not the kind of person who says "do it
> because it's always been done that way". Far from it. But sometimes
> there's a good reason not to mess about with tradition. Here, the
> reason is that people have learned to look there. Always rely on
> learned skills when you can; saves having to teach people new ones.
>
> In addition, putting all this information at the front of the book
> makes it easy to find. Even if you could come up with a more logical
> location, it's easier to find this information by flipping a couple
> pages than by flipping to some arbitrary page deep in the book.
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> -- Geoff Hart
> ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
> www.geoff-hart.com
> --------------------------------------------------
> ***Now available***  _Effective onscreen editing_
> (http://www.geoff-hart.com/home/onscreen-book.htm)
>
>
>


-- 
Caroline Tabach
Technical Writer
e-mail: caroline -dot- tabach -at- gmail -dot- com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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- 

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%40web.techwr-l.com


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

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