RE: Release Notes

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

Zen C wrote:
 
> The person reviewing my release notes came up with this suggestion.
> 
> Add screen shots for items that have one. For example if 
> printing options are changed for something, explain the way 
> it is done and add screen shots as it would be in the help 
> file.  I know you point them to the Help system, which is 
> great, but they are lazy.
> 
> Any suggestions on this comment ? Do release notes usually go 
> out with a lot of details or is a brief outline of what is 
> changed only?

All together, now: "It depends!" :-)

We include screen shots when they serve to quickly explain something
that would otherwise require lots of words. A new printing option
wouldn't qualify; it would just be mentioned in a bullet list or table.
A new dialing restriction feature does qualify, because a good picture
of the interface pretty well explains the feature. 

But we provide a fair amount of detail because a couple of big customers
wanted it. What do your customers want? 

For new releases of existing products, almost everyone expects to see a
table of resolved issues (bug fixes) and a table of unresolved issues,
along with their workarounds. 

HTH!
Richard 


------
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
------




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